Stalker of Squirrels

Roughly two weeks have passed since they made the stone hamlet their home and also realized there was a sign outside the small place with the name, 'Rochester'. The two story buildings were made into homes since there were basements, the one of the left closest to the gate was furnished first. The top floor was for Ace, Bonny, and the twins. It was a tight fit but between the double bed and the small area for the twins there was a small living area so they didn't have to wonder downstairs to relax, there was also bathroom but it was a half bath. The ground floor was a mix between a tiny kitchen and living room for easy access and relaxation, underneath the stairs was a bathroom with a bath tub. The basement was furnished for Jae and Nick, underneath the stairs was a tucked away mini library, just to the left of the stairs as a living area and behind the radio stand was the bedroom area with a half bath between the bedroom and mini labrary.

The second two story building that was right by the first was furnished next before they started furnishing the facilities. The second story was decorated for Basil, Madog, and Zhi since Madog refuses to let Zhi sleep anywhere that wasn't near them. The bedroom area on the top floor was a double bed with a single bunk bed on top that went across head of the double bed, at the end of the double bed is a couch that leads into the living room area and to the right of the living area and some feet from the stairs was a desk, in the corner behind the stairs was the half bath. The ground floor was the same as in the other house beside the furniture looking different and in different spots, the bathroom with a bath tub was also underneath the stairs. The basement was furnished for Unity which was minimal, the half bath was underneath the stairs the bed on the other side of the wall from it and a living area just below the bed area.

The long building that was beside the houses was made into a open floor workshop, anything that doesn't involve fire or smelting was the first floor since the floor was wooden and the basement was the more dangerous workshops. The building they were held up in for awhile was made into a medical bay and the basement below was a storage space for various things. The two small buildings beside the medical bay and in front of the green house was made into a radio receiving tower and a radio transmitting tower.

"Have you made connect yet?" Bonny asks as she lends into the archway of the radio tower, Ace looks over before shaking his head. "We can hear them but they can't hear us still." The wolf replies as he stands up before stretching, "Has Madog returned from Rosabell?" Ace asks Bonny as he walks beside her to the medical bay. "Yes, he got back just a little be again. He pulled the sleigh into the medical bay so Basil can get the medical stuff out of it first." The rabbit explains as they open the door to see Basil filling the selves beside his desk, "Good afternoon!" Bonny states happily as she gives the fox a hug. "Glad you got back safe." She whispers with a soft smile as Madog returns it with a much bigger smile, "It was calming actually, nothing bothered me and it was strangely peaceful. How is Unity doing?" Madog says as he helps Basil sort through the bags on the sleigh. "Memory hasn't return and still spacey." Ace answers as he looks over at the greenhouse where Unity stood zoned out, "She is healing well beside the gash to her skull, most of her wounds should be healed enough by the end of the month to not need bandages or stitches anymore." Basil states as he places the last items away.

"Hello?" Jae questions as they wave a hand in front of Unity's face causing the tall woman to regain focus and look down at the slime, "Where was your head now?" Jae asks as they return to checking on the crops. "I was remembering my time before the vault." Unity answers as she went back to putting dirt and fertilizer in the pots, "You lived before the world collapsed?" The slime asks in surprise as they look up from the berry bush. "From what I can tell, yes." The woman states as she starts placing the finished pots along the sides of the middle path, "What was your life like before?" The pink haired slime asks as they help place the pots. "I was in the military from what I remembering hearing, I had a teen son, and I was going to court against some guy but that was very distant and muffled." Unity says as she stands up fully again after placing the last pot, Jae opens their mouth to ask another question but the door to the greenhouse opened causing the two to look over to see Madog.

The fox grins at them as he pulls the sleigh off to the left of the door, "I brought gifts from Rosabell!" He states before opening some of the bags to retrieve the seeds and some equipment for farming. "We need to gather animals after we build a place for them." Jae says as they help put the gardening items in different corners of the greenhouse, "I haven't seen any animals near us so we will have to travel pretty far like last time for animals like that." Madog states as he opens the slide doors to the greenhouse and pushes the sleigh out. A frown appears on the slime as they follow the fox outside, "We need them before the boys are toddlers, so how bout we start building next month and when we finish we go find animals?" Jae offers as they follow Madog to the gap between the houses. "Yeah, sure. How is Nick holding up?" The fox asks as they give Nick a small wave as the man returns it before heading inside, "They are doing well with minor tasks but Basil said it'll take a few months for it to fully heal and after that it'll take time to regain full movement." The slime explains as a smile cross their lips as they talk about Nick.

"So, I heard from Zhi that you and your husband officially asked him to be your lover." Jae grins as the lend against the fox as they enter the house where Zhi was heading up the last bit of stairs, "He said yes but he has worries how we will love equally, though I feel like Zhi has an issue with announced love because he was fine with showing us love before we asked and now he is nervous." The fox whispers as he looks where Zhi disappeared to. "Have you talked about it with him?" The slime asks as they sit down on the couch that was tucked away in the space between the railing to the downstairs and wall, "Every time I do, he says he don't wanna talk about it. I think it is because it brings unwanted memories of what has happened so far in his life." Madog states as he rubs the side of his face as he thinks about last night.

The bear released an annoyed sigh as he looks from his desk over to the pair on the bed, "Zhi, unless we don't communicate with each other and that being the only main reason that this relationship falls apart then we should be fine. Talk to us and we can help each other." Basil states as he gets up from his desk and heads over to them. "And what if it feels too much to talk about?" Zhi asks as he lends against Madog's chest, teardrops in his lashes as he tries to keep his emotions in check but they knew he was a bit of a cry baby. "Then we will try to bring that subject up once a week until you feel like it is safe to talk about it." The fox says after he kisses the human's forehead, "This isn't us diving in, this is us taking steps to make sure you have no confused feelings." Basil states as he sits down beside them. "And with those steps, we are making sure we don't get lost so deep breath and know whenever you are ready, we are here." The bear smiles as he gives them both a kiss on the cheek.

"Mom, what happened next?" The small voice caused Unity refocus on things around her, confusion fills her as she looks down seeing a sink filled with dishes before her. The dark brunette pulls away and looks behind her to see a boy around 10, maybe younger, sitting on a small couch as he watches her with big doe eyes. "What?" Unity questions as her eyes scan her surroundings, this didn't feel right. Where was she? Where was her people? Why wasn't she in Rochester anymore? "What happened with to Zhi, Madog, and Basil? Did they stay together at the end?" The boy asks as he watches her carefully, the woman steps closer to a shelf where a picture of her, a woman, a man, and two little boys sat on; They were positioned to look like a full family photo. Unity grabs the one with her harshly, why was it so detailed, why does everything feel so real, so ungodly real? "Are you having an episode again, ma? Do we need to get momma and dad?" Another voice speaks up causing Unity to look up from the photo, an unnatural pink covers the boy's skin causing the woman to look at the other boy to see he has the same. "Why are you pink?" The dark brunette asks as the photo crashes to the floor, "You can't be pink!" The woman yells as a pain rips through her mind. "Casper, go get dad!" The black haired boy yells as he runs over to the phone beside the fridge, little footsteps alert her to the other boy running.

Unity screams as her body hits the floor, the pain in her head becoming unbearable. Louder footsteps echo from the hallway where the boy named Casper, that shouldn't be named Casper, went. "Una!" A familiar voice yelled an oddly familiar name, the man kneels before her as he helps pull her into a sitting position. "Ace?" Unity whispers as she holds the sides of her head, "Una, take deep breathes. Basil will be here soon with your medicine." The wolf states as he waves the boys down the hall, he didn't like letting them see her this way. "Those are your boys." Unity whispers as she closes her eyes in hopes to relieve some of the pain, "But how did they get so big? Why are we in a vault? Why are they calling me mom? Who's momma?" Questions leave her as the door to the room opens. "How bad is it?" A voice of a familiar bear enters, "She was telling stories about our past again, she fell in pretty deep." Ace replies as he pulls back her left hand for Basil to have access to her arm, "Una, your mind can't handle that anymore." Basil scolds as he readies a needle causing the woman to furrow her brows. "What are you doing?" Unity asks as she pulls her arm away from the bear, her heart pounding in her chest telling her to run. "It's a calming agent, Una, we been over this before." Basil states as he grabs her arm into a tighter grip, "Please don't make this harder then it has to be." Ace pleads as he holds her right hand in hopes to comfort. The sharp burn made Unity snap her head back to her left arm, the needle is in and injected. No, no, no! She didn't want that! Panic fills her as she starts to fight against them, Basil drops the needle by his bag before quickly wrapping his arms around her to keep her from injuring herself or anyone else. Whatever was in that needle was not a calming agent as her eye lids start to struggle with keeping open.

A gasp leaves the dark brunette as she sits up straight in her bed before looking around herself, fear of still being in that place that look like her old vault. Instead, her bedroom in Rochester greets her. Her fireplace was burnt out reasoning why it was so cold down in the basement, she pulls herself to the end before slipping on a pair of slippers and heading over to the fire place to start it up again. "Una?" Basil's voice calls from the top of the stairs making the woman freeze in her actions, Unity looks over her shoulder and up the stairs behind her to see the bear standing on top of the stairs. "What? What did you call me?" Unity whispers as she the dark silhouette of the bear doesn't move, the woman pushes herself into a standing position before walking up the stairs slowly. How did Basil know about her name in her dream? Why was he just standing there? Why couldn't she see any detail of the bear even when she was so close? Unity stood toe to toe with the hybrid but he doesn't speak, what was more bothering than that was she could only hear her own breathing. "Can't sleep?" Basil's voice coming from the kitchen made Unity look over to see the bear in the light as he pours some water into a kettle, the dark brunette was scared and confused as she looks in front of her again to see the shadow of the hybrid gone.

"How?" Unity asks as she looks behind her, the muscles in her back were tightening up as fear starts to pump through her screaming to run. "How, what? That's quite a vague question, Unity." Basil states as he sets the kettle on the stove before opening the small top left door to start a fire to use the stove top, "You were standing right in front of me, Basil! How did you get over there!" The woman yells in panic making Basil look over at her quickly. "Whoa, Unity. I just got down here a minute ago, you were zoned out when I arrived." Basil says as he closes the small door of the stove, "No one but you were down here when I arrived." This did not ease Unity as she wraps herself in a hug-like manner in hopes of comfort. "Listen, you said you've been having trouble sleeping. Running on so little sleep or no sleep for so long can cause you to see things or hear things that aren't there so how about you drink some tea with me and we both go try sleeping again, yeah?" Basil speaks up after a few minutes have passed, Unity nods as she walks over before taking a seat in the chair Basil pulled out for her.

Basil made them Rosehip tea, he sets the cup before her after he took a seat. "It's going to be bitter but regardless it tastes quite nice." Basil warns as he watches Unity take a sip before grimacing, silence settle between them. Ceramic cups and sleet hitting the buildings were all that was heard between the two, the fear inside Unity finally settled down after she finished her cup of tea and realizing nothing has happened since the lights where on. "Basil." Unity calls out quietly as the bear hums in acknowledgement as he looks from the window towards her, "Do you believe there are other realities?" The woman asks making Basil raise an eyebrow before looking down at his half empty tea cup. "I don't know, I never took time to think about stuff like that since I am pretty busy and time I do have to think, I mainly thing about people I love." Basil responds as he looks up back up, "Why do you ask?" Unity frowns at the answer but she lends back in her chair as she tries to think how to summarize her dream. "I had a dream about a vault and everyone here was in there." Unity states as she looks up at Basil, "It could be that your memories are mixing together and that isn't surprising, it might take a bit but the memories with untangle themselves." Basil explains as he finishes off his tea before standing up. "I am heading off to bed, who you mind cleaning the cups?" The bear asks as Unity shakes her head as she stands before grabbing both cups and walking over to the sink as Basil heads back upstairs.

The dark brunette heads back down the stairs, she starts up a fresh fire in the fireplace before walking over to her bed. She takes off her slippers and slips underneath the thick covers before feeling her muscles in her back tighten again and fear makes itself known, Unity opens her eyes. She scans the room in front of her but she sees no one, nothing was in there with her but as she tries to move, her body refuses. A presence behind is now acknowledged as she hears whispers of her name and small hands pressed into her back, she wanted to scream but all she could do was lay there.

Sometimes dreams can feel so real that it seems like another reality. With that in mind, how do you know what is in your mind and what is before you? How do you know what you are experiencing is just a very realistic dream?

Ace push the wooden slide doors to the hamlet open, Madog stands guard as everyone files into the abandoned land. The fox slam the doors shut behind him before placing wooden bars on either side to prevent them being opened before following the group into the first single story building to the left, the uneven stone floor wasn't ideal to sleep on but for now it was better than the snow. The group settled down their sleeping bags after placing Uxue out of the way, Madog and Jae set up a fire in a fire place which everyone was happy about.

"We scouted out the areas earlier, the two tall builders have basements so we can create them into two bedroom homes then there is a building between this long building and the other so that could be another home," Ace explains as he lays out a small map of the hamlet, "The long buildings could be used for medical and dining hall, the basement under the two long buildings could be used for crafting and storing." Bonny nods as she looks at the written arounds as her husband points at them. "Bathrooms?" Jae asks as they lends over to look, "The long buildings on ground floor has bathrooms but you got to walk out and around to the other side to access them." Ace replies as he taps on the wall behind him. "Based on what we seen, they are working fine but you need to bring water with you. No pumping." Madog adds as he walks over to them with a smile, "Hopefully we can change as soon as we get settled in." Jae says while they look over their shoulder at Nick.

The talking gets distance as Jae focuses on Nick, the other was cleaning up his shoulder as he hums to himself. The slime crawls over to his good side before lending against it, "How are you holding up, handsome?" Jae asks quietly as the injured man looks down at them with a soft smile. "I would said I had worse but this is the worst I ever had and I am holding up quite well, how are you?" Nick says as he leads his head on top of Jae's, a smile appears on the slime's lips as they close their eyes. Tiredness finally setting in after hours of staying up to keep Nick's fever broken, "I'm very tired, will you cuddle me while I sleep?" Jae asks softly causing a giggle to leave Nick as he nods.

The sound of Jasper crying caught Bonny's attention quickly but Ace was to first one up on his feet to pick their sons up and move them away from the fire place to their sleeping bags, "We need to let them crawl, that could be a reason why they are fussy." Bonny states after awhile trying to calm their babies down. Ace frowns at the thought of letting the young ones crawl since it was not secured for them but Bonny sat down at the opposite end of the sleeping bag with Casper and started to unravel him, "We can keep them between us and they can crawl, no worries about the fire or bothering anyone else that is resting." The rabbit states as she looks up with a grin towards her husband. "You are smart, bonbon." Ace states with a smile as he unravels Jasper so he could join his brother, "I love you." They both said in unison making them burst out in giggles as they watch their sons.

Madog leans into Basil's side as the doctor kept creating salves and sorting the medicine, "Can you take a minute to cuddle with me?" Madog whines as Basil looks down at him with a gentle smile. "I will once I sort the medicine for the injured and finished the Salves." Basil reminds the fox with a soft tone before his eyes trained on Zhi, "Mad, can you go see why Zhi has been wearing that scarf over his face? It been hiding his lower face since the stone tower." Basil requests in a hushed tone. The fox nods as he pulls away before heading over to Zhi, "Hey, baby." Madog greets with a smile as he sits down beside him and pulls him into his side. "Hi, Mad, did Basil say no?" Zhi greets before he questions the fox. "Basil will join us after he finishes being a doctor first but we have a question," Madog states as he eyes Zhi's scarf, "Are you hiding injuries?" The fox asks making the man look away well his hands hold the scarf closer to his face.

A heavy sigh leaves the fox as he gives Basil a look before returning his gaze back to the human, "Let me see." Basil orders after walking over and kneeling in front of the two. Reluctantly, Zhi removes the scarf showing frostbite covering his cheeks and bridge of his nose. The bear frowns as he gets up to get his supplies, "You have blisters so you are in stage 3 of frostbite, it'll take a week or so to recover but you should have came to me." Basil explains as he sits down in front of Zhi as Madog pouts. "We are a team, Zhi. You need to tell us if something is wrong, no more hiding." Madog states as the fox's frown never left as he watches Basil apply some skin cream to help with the blisters. "Sorry." Zhi whispers after Basil came back from putting away his medicine, "Just don't do it again." Madog says while pulling Zhi onto his lap after Basil pulls Madog into his side.

The thatch roofing above made her brows furrow as confusion falls over her before slowly turning her head to look around the room, the faces of people sleeping didn't help jog her memory of where she was. Hell, she doesn't even recognize the faces. A groan leaves her as she pushes herself into a sitting position, her body screams in protest as she takes in the visual wounds on her body. A sharp gasp leaves the injured woman as she looks over at one of the babies crying but soon the other joined too, tears cloud her vision as she falls into a memory.

"22 has successfully delivered a healthy baby girl." A unknown man calls out looking up from his clipboard to the observation room where two people stood. The woman holds out her arms in hope they'll have mercy on her, "Terminate it." A man's voice orders over the medical coms before walking away from the window. "No! Please, god, no! You promised I could raised one!" The woman on the table screams as she pulls against the metal restricts, "22 is becoming hostile!" A woman in a doctor's coat yells as the metal restricts start buckling under the pressure.

Shaking brings the woman back causing her to look over at a hybrid with bunny ears, "Uxue." Bonny whispers as Basil looks over his shoulder as he readies the medicine. "Uxue? Who or what is Uxue?" The woman asks as she gently removes Bonny's hand, the rabbit was taken back as she looks over at Basil. "Memory loss." Basil answers Bonny's silent question, "You are Uxue, that is your name." Basil explains as he kneels in front of Uxue as the woman shakes her head before bracing herself when dizziness overcomes her. "If that isn't your name, what is your name?" Bonny whispers as she looks over her shoulder at Ace where he was caring for their sons, Ace was focused but his ears show he was listening like everyone else. "My first name was Unity. I wish to be called Unity." The woman states as she lends against the stone wall, Basil reaches over carefully checking her wounds after making sure she was okay with it.

"Well, Unity, do you know who we are?" Jae asks as they looks down at Nick who was just as confused as everyone else, "I know Nick and Zhi." Unity points out before flinching when Basil went near her head. "You have two head injuries, please let me look at them." Basil clarifies while Unity looks at him with hesitation before closing her eyes to allow the bear to work, Bonny looks over at Ace with a heartbroken look before looking back at the injured woman. "Well I guess we should reintroduce ourselves, I am Bonny. The man helping care for my sons is Ace, my sons are Jasper and Casper. The bear is Basil, the fox is Madog and the slime is Jae." Bonny says as Unity reopens her eyes to intake everyone.

"There is no guarantee her memories will come back and you shouldn't force it either because that could do more harm then good." Basil explains to the others as he watches Unity trace her old scars, Bonny sighs with worry as she crawls in front of the woman that is now going by Unity. "Yes?" Unity asks softly as she looks through her lashes at the hybrid in front of her feet, "What do you last remember?" Bonny says as Unity lift her head up to get a clearer view of Bonny. "I remember- I remember-" Unity stumbles over her words as she tilts her head in confusion of herself, "I don't know, right now my memories are all jumbled up." Unity clarifies as she looks over Bonny's shoulder towards the crying babies.

Ace rummage his and his wife's bags but he found only one jar left for his sons, "Madog, can you see if there is any food near us?" Ace asks as he hands Bonny the jar. "I'll try!" Madog replies as he pulls on his winter wear before pulling on a semi empty bag in hopes to bring back food as he leaves the building, Unity hums softly to herself as she watches Bonny care for Jasper.

"Let me see my son!" The woman screams at the man on the other side of the glass, "22, this behavior is unacceptable. Calm down or else." The man in the lab coat states as his hand hovers over a yellow button. "Unacceptable?" The long dark brunette yells in anger, "Taking my kidney and half of my stomach is unacceptable! Promising to let me see my son is-" A scream tears from the woman as her body hits the ground. Electricity runs through her body, pain unbearable for a few minutes before laying on the cold metal trying to catch her breath as she watches the man in the lab coat walk out of the room behind the glass wall.

"Unity, are you okay?" Basil question pulls her from her mind causing her eyes to snap to the bear, "Just remembering." Unity replies as she takes the bowl Basil was offering. "Eat as much as you can, you been asleep for over 24 hours." Basil explains before standing up and heading over to Nick and Jae, "Tomorrow, we should start planting in the green house." Jae says as Ace looks at her in confusion. "Green house?" He asks as Jae points at a long glass house across the yard, "That is a green house. They are used to grow plants out of season and if I start planting seeds I have in my pack in there, we should have some food by the second week." The slime explains as Ace lets out a surprised noise. "Can you get started now?" The leader asks as Jae nods happily, "Definitely and when I finish, I'll go find Madog if he isn't back." They state as they grab their pack and head out towards the greenhouse.

Bonny lends against the wall beside Unity, the dark brunette looks over at the rabbit in curiosity. "I have some questions" Bonny begins seeing this as an opportunity to finally get some answers. "Hopefully I have answers." Unity replies softly as her eyes drift back to the windows, "Have you had any children before?" Bonny asks watching Unity's eyes drift to the floor as sadness fills her while she nods. "How many?" The rabbit asks as she ignores the look her husband was giving her, "Before the scientists or after them?" The woman asks softly causing the hybrid to tilt her head in confusion. "All together." Bonny answers mildly confused as the dark brunette lifts her head, "Seven in total." Unity states as she closes her eyes and lead her head against the stone wall. "Where are they?" Bonny asks as she heard Ace getting up from their sleeping bags, "They are no where, they are dead." Unity whispers as she pulls away from Bonny's touch. "Bonny! I know what she did back in Rosabell was insensitive but what you are doing now is insensitive too." Ace spoke through gritted teeth, he was upset with his wife's behavior but he couldn't completely blame her. Everyone was curious about the woman's past but poking at it so soon was rude.

The door opening caught Ace's attention quickly as he looks over he watches Madog walk in with a smile, "Jae found potatoes in the greenhouse. I found a lot of foods!" the fox states as he walks over to the table that Basil brought in last night. Madog empties his bag on the table before restoring his tools back into it, Bonny walks over quickly along with Ace. "Cattail roots can be used to create a soup and when we settle in, we can create flour with it though you did accidentally grab some that aren't cattails but it is fine, they are easily to identify since they don't have the puff seed on them. Rose hips can be eaten raw or to make a tea. Persimmons can be eaten raw or can be turned into a jam, hell once we get settled in they can be even made into a wine." Bonny explains as she separates the first three that immediately caught her attention, "There are pine trees?" Bonny ask as she picks up a pine cone and looks over at the fox. "Yep, two hours out there is a forest of pine trees." Madog explains as he sits down by the sleeping bear, "They can be used for something, right?" Ace asks as he eyes it in her hand. "Pine cones can make a tea that gives vitamin C by double and if we go back to get pine bark, we can make flour from it but if anyone falls pregnant we need to be careful because the tea can be harmful, I remember reading that in one of the vault books you got me." Bonny explains as she places the pine cones aside, "Wild onions and garlic will go lovely with fish or any meat really, barberries can be eaten raw or made a tea." Bonny explains as her husband hands her a few more plants as she separates the real ones and the ones that are deadly.

"I found some maple trees near by that have been dug into, after I warm up I'll get some buckets to put on the spigots." Madog states as he watches them sort the plants, "Great idea, Madog and thank you for finding all of this." Ace says as he looks over at Bonny after she tugs his shirt. "Chickweeds! The tender leaves and stems can be eaten raw or cooked, the star chickweed and mouse-ear chickweed can be eaten as a cooked greens, and the star chickweed can be eaten raw." She explains happily before Basil's voice made her jump, "Chickweed can also be made into poultice to relieve itching and can be eaten to help with constipation." Basil spoke but his eyes stayed shut. "Thank you, basil." Ace responds after a few seconds of silence has passed before looking at the table, "Mullein can be used to make tea, Chicory leaves can be used to make a bitter salad or chicory root can be used to make decaffeination coffee." Bonny whispers in hope Basil can get some sleep. The rabbit grimaces as she picks up the hickory nuts, "If push comes to shove, we can eat the hickory nuts." Bonny states making Ace raise a eyebrow as Bonny looks up at him. "Hickory nuts taste nasty that makes you want to spit them back out and there is nothing you can do to make it taste better." Bonny explains as she places them off to the sorted pile, "Black walnuts, they are tasty but we need to be wearing gloves to handle them because they can give us painful skin irritation. Good thinking on putting them in a bag, Mad." Bonny states as she smacks her husband's hand away to prevent him getting hurt by the black walnuts.

"The trees for the black walnuts are in the area of the pine trees but on the lower side so they are kind of difficult to get to, I got them because I remember Basil saying that they were a use for medic stuff." The fox explains as he lays down fully after Zhi crawls onto the sleeping bag beside him, "I didn't know that." Bonny says as she smiles at the three before looking back at the table. "That means the trees with Acorns are close too." Bonny states as she sorts the buckeyes from the acorns, "Don't eat the buckeyes, Ace. Those will kill you." The rabbit states which causes him to drop the buckeye onto the table for her to sort.

Ace looks over his shoulder before smiling at Jae, "That is a lot of potatoes." The wolf states as Jae sets the basket down by the table. "That is one of three baskets, I left the other two in the greenhouse as back up." Jae explains as they rub their back, "Good thinking and tomorrow we should start a proper look over and see if we can turn some of the buildings into sleeping quarters or something." Ace states as he walks over to the twins as the begin crying.

Even though Unity lost her memory of her being Uxue and maybe some valuable knowledge of medical teaches, they were still lucky. They had food growing around the Hamlet and food inside it, Ace thought this would be there end but it seems that beginnings just have a funny way of starting.

Bonny watches her husband cradle their sons as she cooks in the kitchen, a smile rests on her lips as she turns to open the fridge door before frowning a bit. "Ace, can you radio Uxue and see if she can bring us another food box?" Bonny asks as she closes the fridge and turn off the stove, "Yeah, is there anything in particular you want?" Ace asks as he settles his last 6 month old son down on the bassinet. "Milk, I need it for the baby food." Bonny answers as she walks over to her sons, Ace picks up the walkie talkie as he walks up to his window to see how bad it was outside. "Oh, can you ask her to bring wood too? We have only five left." Bonny asks after the corner of her eye caught sight underneath the stove, "Definitely, hopefully she can get out." Ace states as he realized the blizzard is back again. The blizzard has been keeping them stuck for 5 months now and for about three weeks the blizzard would stay before disappearing for one week.

"Uxue." Ace radios, he waits a few seconds before repeating himself. "I'm here, I apologize, I was in the food storage." Uxue finally radios over, "What do you need?" The dark brunette asks as she pulls over a food crate to start packing Basil's request. "Can you bring us some milk along with a food crate and wood?" Ace asks as he looks over to his wife to confirm the request which she nods to, Ace looks down at his walkie talkie after a few seconds have passed and there was no response. "Milk-" Uxue's voice came through static-like making Ace furrow his brows, "You aren't getting through." Ace radios over but this time all he got was static which made him frown as he looks over at Bonny. "Hopefully she heard you." Bonny speaks up as she scoots over to make room on the couch, "I hope so too." Ace whispers as he sits down behind her as he looks out the window.

Uxue let out a frustrated sigh as she grabs one food box and a wood pack carrier, she wasn't angry that she was helping the others. She was angry at the walkie talkie and the radio, it was exhausting going weeks without hearing anyone and it's frustrating not talking to anybody just as long. Uxue stack the food boxes on top of one other before strapping the pack on her back before lifting the boxes and heading towards the entrance. The dark brunette grinds her teeth for a second before letting out a strained breath as she treads through the snow as fast as she could, Uxue kicks the door of Basil's home as she looks over her shoulder but not much was able to be seen due to the blizzard.

"Thank you." Basil states pulling Uxue from her thoughts as she looks back over to the bear, "The top one is yours." Uxue says as Basil carefully took it out of her arms before bidding her goodbye as he shuts his door and walk further into his home. "Madog, you are not suppose to be laying on him." Basil announces as he looks over the couch seeing the fox laying his full body over the human, "He said he was cold." The fox retorted as Zhi weakly whines. "This is not what I meant when I say come lay on me! I wanted to cuddle!" Zhi cries out as the hybrids laugh in response, "Should have said cuddle then." Madog teases as he gets up and allow Zhi to move around into a comfortable position before cuddling into the human's side.

Bonny rushes over to the door when she heard Uxue kicking it, "Milk?" Bonny asks as she allows the woman inside. "I told you last week that you got the last of the milk." Uxue states as she sets the food box on the empty couch before pulling off the pack as setting it in front of it and turning around to face Bonny. "Is there something wrong with our cow?" Bonny asks as confusion filled her as she starts putting food away, "The animals hardly have any food left so they went into survival mode." Uxue explains as she rubs her hands together for some more warmth. "How much more do they have to last them?" Ace asks tiredly as he places an arm over his eyes, "Maybe a week." Uxue replies as she looks out the window after hearing something crash.

Ace pulls himself up as the sound of crashing got more frequent, "See anything?" The wolf asks as he steps beside her to look out the window. "No." Uxue states in almost frustration as she walks over to the door, "I'll go investigate." She states as she leaves out the door quickly. Ace looks over at Bonny, worry cover his face as he walks up to her. "What's got you all worried?" Bonny asks while she closes the fridge door before looking at him, "Basil and Uxue might be right." Ace states as he pulls her into his arms. "We can't leave Rosabell, Ace. This is our home and how are we going to travel with our sons?" Bonny worriedly expresses as she lends her head against his shoulder, "The doctors finished creating a bassinet pack that should protect them from the cold for a good while." Ace reminds as he looks over at his sons. "I know but it's not tested and I don't want our sons to be the testers." Bonny explains resulting a hum from Ace as he feels the same but he knows as well as Bonny that if something happens they have no choice.

Jae jogs down the stairs as the rapid knocking doesn't stop as they round the corner, Nick was opening the door. "Pack your bags! We got to go!" Uxue yells cutting Nick off before turning around and rushing off to another home, Jae and Nick share a look before Nick closes the door. Confusion of noises leave Nick as he tries to understand what is happening, "Nick! Nick!" Jae calls out as they shake Nick. The tall man looks down at Jae as his eyes focus again, "We need to pack, grab one bag and only get what we need to survive." Jae orders as they pull away and run up the stairs leaving Nick to slowly build up in speed as he grabs a pack and start putting in anything that would help against the cold weather.

The door opening made Madog jump from the couch, grabbing his sword as he stands in front of the curtain that hides the front door. "You need to pack! I need the bassinet packs!" Uxue's voice feels the house causing everyone to relax as she finally pulls back the curtain, her eyebrow raises at the sight of the sword before looking up at Madog. "What is going on?" Basil asks after a few seconds pass, getting up from the couch as he shakes Zhi awake causing the younger male to whine in mild annoyance. "A snow tornado is heading our way, the smaller buildings are already ripping apart due to the wind." Uxue explains quickly as she grabs the bassinet packs from Madog, "Tornado? In this weather?" Madog queries as he looks up at her in confusion. "They are rare but the weather made it possible for one to appear." Basil states as he starts packing a bag, "Start packing, Uxue make sure Bonny and Ace knows how to safely put their sons inside!" Basil yells as Uxue lets out the door quickly.

"Time to place your sons into the pack bassinets!" Uxue yells as she slams their door behind her as Ace and Bonny look up in confusion, "Why?" Ace asks as Bonny quickly stumbles out of bed as Uxue moves stuff of the dresser to make room for the mobile bassinets. "A snow tornado is heading our way." Uxue explains as she starts lining a blanket in one of the bassinets, "There is a second pack on the ground, fill it up with anything to help with your sons and Bonny. The others are filling theirs with anything that'll help with surviving the cold." Uxue spoke up when a few moments have pass. Ace pick the bag up as Bonny carefully settles Casper into the blanket lined Bassinet before putting Jasper in the other when Uxue is done, "Now, you both with carry your sons. I will carry both the packs." Uxue states as she pulls on her medical pack then pull the shoulder baby pack on.

The dark brunette help the two pull their coats and help slip the bassinet onto their backs before grabbing a lantern and opening the door. The front door slams into the wall causing the door to crack, Uxue holds up her arm to help break the wind from her face as she trots into the snow. She waits a few feet outside before following behind the two parents to make sure they don't fall or get lost as they head towards the gate, Bonny reaches over and grabs Ace's hand. Worry rushes through them as they hope their sons stay warm enough to travel but fear quickly overcomes as the dining hall crumbles in front of them, Uxue pulls them back quickly to her and stabilizes them as they wait for the strong gush of wind to pass before heading towards the gate again.

It took roughly twenty minutes to get to the gate where the others hold their lanterns and huddle against one another, "Lets go!" Basil yells out but the wind greatly muffles his voices but Uxue nods in understanding seeing him wave them towards the game. Uxue made sure the parents were between Basil and her as they scale down the mountain, Madog was leading with Zhi right behind him as they test the path in front to make sure it was easiest and safest to use for Ace and Bonny.

It was probably some hours before they safely got off the mountain but the winds were getting powerful enough to push them off their feet seeing the doctors had to stabilize the parents a few times and Zhi falling due to the strength, due to that Madog holds Zhi close as they lead. The fox looks behind him as he stood at the edge of the woods, making sure no one loses sight of him as Zhi buries his face into his shoulder. Zhi's nose and cheeks showing early signs of frost bite but shelter was no where in sight for them to treat him or anyone else. Once the group caught up and entered the dense woods, they were a little happy that the trees broke the roar of the wind and the strength of it but the bite of the cold was still as painful.

Gasps fill the air as snow suddenly fills everyone's line of sight, blinding everyone as they hold their arms out in attempt to grab on someone near them. Jae and Nick immediately settled down in the snow, worried they will get lost as they huddled into each other's arms. Madog pulls Zhi close to him, holding his waist as they turn around and walk towards where the group was behind them as they call out but the howling winds that use to break due to the trees were amplified by them, successfully drowning out their shouts in hopes to know where their friends and family were. Uxue holds Bonny's hand as the dark brunette search for Ace, she was confused since the wolf was just inches from her and now she can't seem to find him. Her heart pounds in her chest as worry rush through her, she made a promise to herself to kept the Rosabell settlers safe like they did with her but she already lost the leader of Rosabell. Basil trots through the snow as he calls out for his lover but it does nothing as his words are swept away in the wind, the snow making impossible to see the trees as he carefully moves his arms around himself in hopes of grabbing onto one of the people he knows.

Ace holds Jasper between him and the tree to prevent most of the wind and cold seeping into the blanket his son cries, worry and fear sinks into Ace's bones as his calls for Bonny dead in the wind. It felt like hours had passed before Ace could finally see properly and he instantly wished it stayed blinding for a bit longer as he recognized an oversized lanky wolverine rushing in his direction, he didn't have many options since he had a baby in his arms. "Ace! Behind me!" Uxue calls out causing Ace to look behind him, his legs move before his mind even processed how she found him. Bonny grabs Ace's arm and pulls him towards where Madog and Zhi waited for them, Bonny didn't want to leave Uxue behind but Uxue reminded her that her sons come first. "Where is Uxue?" Basil calls out when he saw everyone in sight before him as he trots over to them, "She is fighting a beast! She told us to run!" Bonny yells as she rushes towards them.

"Basil-" Madog calls out but was cut off, "Go! I got them!" Basil responds understanding Madog wanted to help the woman. "Over Here! I need help!" Jae's voice caused Madog to halt his movement, he wanted to help Uxue but his friend was calling out to them. The fox shakes his head, quietly apologizing to Uxue in his mind as he rushes over to where Jae's voice was calling out to them. Madog and Jae called out to each other for ten minutes before the fox finally saw them, he took in the sight. Jae was against the tree as Nick's body lend against their body, a tree branch pieced into his right shoulder and into the tree behind Jae. It was keeping him in place and making it dangerous for Jae to move because if they did, they would indirectly hurt Nick. Even though they were a slime, it would be dangerous to liquefy in this weather since there is no safe place close enough for a campfire to warm them up.

Several footsteps sounded behind Madog making him look over his shoulder, his stomach dropped. Everyone was with him, no one was with Uxue. "Basil! He's bleeding a lot!" Jae calls out as they look over Nick's shoulder, the movement caused Nick to cry out and soon after much louder footsteps were heading their direction. "Basil work quickly!" Madog calls out as Basil rushes pass him while he pulls out a crossbow along with Ace after the wolf handed his son to Zhi, Zhi huddles close to Bonny as they move over to a large tree to try to keep out of the way and immediate sight.

Basil carefully holds the branch from behind Nick before slipping a hand between him and the tree, "I hate to say this but it's going to hurt so take a deep breath and try not to scream." The bear warns as he watches Nick take a few deep breathes before giving him a nod as he places his hands over his mouth knowing he couldn't prevent a scream. Basil tightens his grip before yanking back causing Nick and him to stumble but Basil quickly steadies them as he holds Nick to his side, "We can't remove the branch until we find shelter, are you okay to walk? Basil says as he which spots with Jae so they could be Nick's crutch. "Yeah." Nick whispers as heavy breathing left him as he lends against the slime.

"Fuck!" Ace exclaims as the massive wolverine finally enters the opening, Uxue's body between his jaws. The beast drops the body before charging towards Ace and Madog, bolts pierce into the monster's fur but it didn't slow it down. The canines jump out of the way in the last second causing the wolverine to crash into the trees behind them, "Aim for the eyes!" Ace yells out as he loads the crossbow again as the beast gets up. The wolf levels his crossbow as the beast charges in his direct, Ace fires the bolt as he hears Madog's crossbow fire. The wolf pushes himself from the ground as the beast tumbles as it howls in pain, Ace's body slams into Madog causing the fox to yelp in confusion but Ace quickly places a hand over Madog's muzzle and placing a finger to his own lips before removing his hand. The two stayed still as the wolverine climbs back onto its feet, the beast growls and snarls as it blindly searches its surrounding. Time felt still as everyone held their breath and quietly watched the creature move slowly away from them, painfully slow Ace moves up as he could no longer see the beast.

Ace rushes towards his lover and Zhi, "How are the babies? Why are they so quiet?" Ace asks as Bonny finally realized how quiet everything was. They quickly removed the helm and the hood of the blanket from the twins, "Basil, they're purple!" Bonny calls out as tears well up in her eyes clouding her vision. "We need shelter and a campfire. For now, take the snap bags from my pack and use those to warm them up." Basil explains as he trots towards Uxue's body as Madog opens Basil's, the fox pulls out tight fibered packets before snapping the materiel inside the packets and handing it to the parents.

Basil grimes as he searches Uxue's body before pulling her body as carefully he could onto his back, the fox tilted his head quizzically as he watched Basil before loud cries forced him to cover his ears as he looks back towards Ace and Bonny. Relief, relief rushes through the group as the twins cry. "Lets get moving before we lose someone." Ace announces as he stands up before looking over at Basil in sadness, "Basil, they're dead. We can't carry dead weight to us." Ace carefully states but the bear shakes his head. "They aren't dead until they are warm and dead, Ace." Basil shot back as he carefully lends down and grab his bag before straightens up again, Ace opens his mouth again but Madog waves him off causing him to shut up acknowledging that this is a fight he wouldn't win with the doctor.

Zhi held Jasper close to his chest in hopes to keep the little one a bit more warmer as he follows close behind Bonny, Madog leads the front as he trots several hundred feet before then to scan for shelter and wait for them to caught up to do it all over again. It would take roughly a hour before Madog finds a stone radio tower, "Shelter!" The fox calls out making the group speed up. "It has stairs, be careful walking up!" Basil warns them hoping they keep the warning in the back of their minds due to already having so many people down, Ace and Madog scale the stairs first to make sure it was safe.

Madog looks over at Ace before testing the door handle, the fox growls in frustration as the door didn't bother to budge. Ace looks behind him as he carefully turns on the deck before forcing the wooden window open, the wolf carefully looks inside but saw no life inside. "Abandoned." Ace announces as he switches spots with Madog, the fox climbs inside before letting out a yelp. "Are you okay!" Ace asks worriedly as he moves over to the window, "Fine! I fell." Madog replies as he pushes himself off the ground before dusting himself off. The fox turns towards the door, no locks or bars so it was iced shut from the outside. "It's iced!" Madog announces as Ace let out an annoyed noise, "Can you kick it from the inside?" The wolf asks as he looks down at the group. "Definitely, I'll work on the door and you help the others up." The fox states before he starts kicking the door while Ace walks down the stairs making sure to not slip, "Madog is working on the door, we should start heading up!" Ace calls out as he reaches for Bonny.

Madog let out a sound of excitement as the door swings open, he turns around letting the fill out the small stone room before realizing all that was inside was a table with a chair and nothing else. "Is the coast clear?" Bonny's voice made him gives a thumbs up as he takes off his pack to get some more light into the room, "Based on the snow on the floor and the hole in the ceiling plus roof, it is safe to start a fire." Zhi announces as he enters the room causing the other two to finally realize there was snow in middle of the room. Zhi hands his bag to Madog as he settles at Bonny's feet as he cradles the second twin in his arms a little tighter, the fox removes the snow quickly and starts making sure the hole wasn't obstructed in anyway before setting up a campfire.

"Bring Nick over here." Bonny calls Jae over as she gets up from the seat causing Zhi to follow the rabbit, Jae moves the wobble Nick over to them before carefully as they could, settle him down into the chair. "I hurt." Nick whispers as he head falls back, he felt horrible. "I know, baby, Basil will help you feel better." Jae whispers as they run their hand through the man's hair in hopes to comfort him as they watch Basil follow behind Ace entering the room, Ace closes the door behind him before walking over to help Madog with the campfire. "Let me see the boys." Basil orders as he walks over to Bonny and Zhi, Bonny handed him Casper.

Bonny gives Basil a smile as he happily returns, "They are fine despite everything, Bonny. Give me the packets, get them by the fire, and feed them." Basil states as he takes the hot packets from Bonny before placing them in his bag. The bear turns to Nick and Jae, a frown settles on his lips as he notices Nick barely conscious. "Basil, is there anything I can do to help?" Ace asks as the fire started to roar to life, "Can you start warming Uxue up and doing CPR?" Basil asks as he empties out if bag before grabbing a small handsaw. "Basil-" Ace starts but is taken back as the bear turns towards him, tears evident in the bigger man's eyes. "Ace! I get it! You don't like her, you don't like how she acts but that woman just fought to protect us and every second we take up to debate if she is dead or not takes time away from saving her if she is still alive in there!" Basil snaps, Madog gentle places a hand on the bear's arm but the bear pulls away. "If you don't want to help me than help your fucking wife." The bear growls before turning towards Nick, the silence in the air was awkward and deafening.

The slime holds Nick as the man screams in pain while Basil pulls out the rest of the branch before setting it on the table, "Can you get my sewing kit?" Basil asks Jae as he eyes the 1/4" hole in Nick's shoulder. "Basil!" Madog calls in surprise as he pulls away from Uxue, her chest moving under his hands in the midst of doing CPR caught him off guard. The bear looks over his shoulder before a grin appears, "Warm and alive." Basil states happily as he takes the sewing kit from Jae. "Mad, do what you can confidently do. If she becomes conscious, make sure you keep your hands off to refrain of causing anymore unwanted damage." The doctor explains as he sews Nick's wound after cleaning it the best he could as the man takes deep breaths through grinded teeth, Madog frowns as he looks at her clothes before looking over at Basil. "What?" Basil asks as he bandages Nick's shoulder before moving out of the way so Jae could help them pull their upper clothes back on, "I don't feel comfortable removing her clothes and we have no clothes to spare for her to wear." Madog expresses his concern and uncomfortability as his husband walks over.

The bear nods as he gently moves the fox, "Thank you for getting her to this point." Basil says as he starts to examine her. "Basil, maybe we should make a privacy wall?" Bonny speaks up making Basil look up, "Any ideas how?" The doctor asks as he carefully turns her head before grimacing. A good seven inch gash that traveled from her cheekbone across her temple and through the hairline, the gash went deep enough for him to see brain matter. "What?" Bonny asks after Basil's look darkens, "Brain has been damaged. She is going to have various issues waking up." Basil states as he looks over to Madog moving the table. "What are you doing?" The bear asks as he watches his lover, "I am going to saw the table in half then put a sheet from my bag over them to create a divider to give some privacy for Uxue." The fox states as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Ace lays out a sleeping bag for Nick and Jae helps the man lay down, Nick was barely able to hold his head up anymore due to tiredness. The wolf started laying out other's sleeping bags carefully around the fire and avoided putting any too close to the makeshift divider so it didn't accidentally fall due to any tossing and turning at night, "We don't have a lot of food." Bonny states as she watches Madog empty out all of the bags. Ace frowns as he looks over at Bonny, "Okay, can you make any of it baby food?" He asks as Bonny gives a soft nod as she lends against the wall. "Madog, once we wake tomorrow. We need to go look for a settlement or a house for all of us to go to." Ace announces causing the fox to nod as he watches Zhi sew Uxue's clothes back together, Zhi looks up after feeling eyes on him causing the fox to look back down at items from the bags.

"Basil, how is she looking?" Zhi asks as he sets the coat beside him and started working on the sweater, "Should take between a hour or two to patch her up completely but I'll need someone to keep an eye on her during the night." Basil explains as his shadow against the wall move along with his movements as he stitches up wounds. "Why?" Ace asks but a sigh quickly leaves him when he realized he sounded annoyed, he didn't want that but it was already too late. "I put a metal plate but the brain still has a chance of swelling and that could kill her." Basil speaks up after a few minutes of silence as he was focused for a good while, "Zhi?" The bear calls out causing the miner to look over towards the divider in curiosity. "Is she okay?" Zhi asks as he walks over before Basil holds a hand out from behind the divider as he holds a t-shirt and tank top, "She is fine so far but do you know any knowledge on her tattoos or previous scars?" Basil asks while Zhi takes the top clothing pieces from the bear's grip. "No, she always covered up I had no idea she even had them." Zhi explains as he walks over to where his sewing kit was, Basil's sigh was loud and mostly out of tiredness as he stood up and stretches before evidentially getting back on his knees to continue to patch Uxue up.

It was hours before Basil finally settled into his sleeping bag beside Madog, his body ached as he pulls the fox closer to him in order to make their sleeping bags as one so they could cuddle. Basil just wanted cuddles now and to know that his husband was there, Madog groggily wakes to watch Basil unzip their bag and rezips before being pulled into the bear's chest. The fox giggles as he allows the bear to bury himself between his neck and shoulder before whispering sweet nothingness to each other as they fall asleep again, the fire slowly dies out in the early morning allowing the cold to seep back in.

Ace rubs his eyes as a shiver runs down through his body while he got out of his sleeping bag, the leader refilled the campfire and starting it up before giving a nod to Zhi to signal that the man can go to bed now. Ace looks over where the cut table and sheet was set aside to before looking over at Uxue, still no clear signs she is going to wake soon or ever. "Staring won't magically wake her." Bonny groggily says as she looks at her husband, "Was I being a douchebag?" Ace asks as he walks over to his sons to see how they were doing. "A little but it's understandable." Bonny replies as she sits up as the twins started to cry, Casper was handed to her before some of the baby food she made last night. Madog groans as the whines from the babies woke him, he pulls away from Basil before lazily looking over at Ace. "After we eat, we go search." Ace states as he looks over at the fox as he feeds Jasper and himself, Madog pulls himself out of the sleeping bag and grabs a bit of food for himself to eat but made sure it wasn't too much.

"We will return in four hours." Ace announces as he helps Madog pull his bag on, "Okay, be safe and don't push yourselves too hard." Bonny calls out as they head out the door after biding 'goodbyes' and 'i love yous' to the group. Jae looks over to Nick in worry before Basil enters their line of sight, "When did he start sweating?" Basil asks as he feels Nick's forehead before a frown settles deep on his lips as a fever is present. "He wasn't sweating when we went to bed but that is all I know." The slime replies as they watch the bear get up, he retrieved some simple supplies before setting them beside Nick. "This bottom bowl needs to be filled with snow or anything cold to keep the water in the top bowl cool, damp rag on Nick's head and keep doing that until the fever goes down. I don't have much medicine on me so I'll give him a pill every two hours and if that doesn't work I'll inject some medicine." Basil explains as he helps Jae set up before placing the damp rag on Nick's forehead and nodding to the slime as he stands up.

Bonny kneels beside Uxue's body as she looks at the bandages, "She is cold." Bonny states as she touches the injured woman's skin before looking over at Basil. "Does she have to be in a tank top and shorts?" Bonny asks as Basil nods while walking over, "I need as much access I can get to her injuries if anything goes wrong. I will get a blanket from her bag but for not I must make sure her brain is okay." Basil explains as he settles on the other side of Uxue before pulling back bandages on her left side of her head. "Will she wake up?" The rabbit asks as she looks away from the injury as she already felt sick from just the glimpse she got, "If she isn't in a coma then she will wake sometime today or tomorrow. If she is in a coma then she'll wake between two weeks to four weeks." The bear states as he carefully turns her head towards him as to get a better look before pulling away to grab his sewing kit. "No swelling, that is a good sign. The next forty-eight hours are crucial for her." Basil says as he stitches her head wound up before placing a clean patch on and getting up to retrieve a blanket.

The door opening caught Bonny's attention making her look up from her sons, "We found a walled Hamlet. We explored it and it been abandoned for some time, it is basically all stone so everything is in good condition." Ace explains as Madog grins behind him. "We can start moving as soon as Basil gives us the go ahead," Ace explains as Basil looks up from his papers, "As soon as Nick's fever breaks we can move." Basil states as he looks back down at his work. Everyone nods as Madog closes the door and settles down beside Basil, "This is actually happening, we aren't going back to Rosabell." Bonny whispers as she lends against Ace. Those words sink in everyone's mind, realization hit them. This is a new chapter in their life and there is no going back.

"How is Zhi doing?" Bonny asks as she stood beside Basil while watching Madog help Zhi walk from one side of the room to the other, "He is doing quite well beside his fears of falling or reverting back to how he was. This week has been good to him, he can talk a decent amount before getting a sore throat and even though he needs a walker, he can get a few feet without needing too much help." Basil explains with a soft smile before turning to Bonny. "How are the little ones?" He coos as he sees the babies in the slings, "They are getting better at sleeping through the night and besides the pink skin, they are doing great." Bonny replies as she hands him Jasper. "Is Ace going to put the swing back up on the tree for them when they get older?" The bear asks as he rocks the baby in his arms, "That tree is getting too old, it might not be a good idea to do that. We don't want a branch falling on them." The bunny replies with a grin as she lends against the bear.

"I wanna see the babies!" Madog whines as he trots over after placing Zhi in the wheelchair, "I thought you didn't like them." Bonny teased as she lifts Casper out of his sling. "I don't like caring for them." Madog corrects as he rubs the small wolf ears, "When they grow their teeth in, it's gonna be a bitch." Madog comments as he pulls away from Casper. "Yeah, I am not ready for that." Bonny says with a heavy sigh before giving Zhi a small wave as he wheels over to them, "Do you want to hold one of them?" Bonny asks sweetly with a soft smile but Zhi shakes his head. "I don't want to drop them, maybe if I get my strength more built up then yeah." Zhi replies quietly as he gives her a smile to reassure her that everything was okay.

Basil hands Jasper back to Bonny after she places Casper back in his sling, "Does anyone know how the rest of the unit is?" The bunny asks as she follows them out of the medical bay. "Enyo avoids Ace like the plague, Nick been hanging out with Jae more with the livestock and farming, and Uxue been leaving the settlement more doing who knows what." Madog replies as he waves at Jae while walking towards the fountain, "I asked Uxue to search for more medical supplies since Enyo went into a rage and destroyed half of our storage room." Basil spoke up as he shakes his head. "What?" Bonny was stunned by this, "Why? Does Ace know?" She asks as she looks around the settlement from her spot to see if Enyo was anywhere. "Yes, Ace was about to throw her out this morning if it wasn't for Nick asking to give her another chance." Basil explains as he sits down on the rim of the fountain. Madog shakes his head as he looks over towards Jae before gasping, "What?" Basil and Bonny asks in unison as they follow his eyes. "Oh my god!" Bonny whisper yells as they can barely see Nick and Jae behind the barn kissing, "I thought Enyo and Nick were a thing?" Bonny asks in a hushed tone to no one in particular. "Nope, Nick broke it off with Enyo a few weeks back. I heard him tell her that he felt something more with someone else." Basil spoke up as he lends against his husband, "Now we know that the someone is Jae." Madog states as he returns Nick's sheepish wave. "and now they know that we know." Bonny giggles as she waves at them.

Ace flops beside Bonny in the dining hall before laying his upper half on the table, "Tired?" Bonny asks as she lends over and starts to rub his shoulders. "Very. Enyo is one hell of a headache." He whines as he closes his eyes, "Do you think we need to remove her?" Bonny asks in a hushed tone as she watches Enyo walk into the dining hall. "If this isn't gone by tomorrow then yeah. We can't risk anymore of our supplies getting ruined or Jae getting stressed because Enyo can't seem to let Nick go." The wolf huffs out as he shot a glare Enyo's way before shutting his eyes once again. "How much are we down?" Bonny asks as she looks over at her babies where Basil was caring for them to help give Bonny a moment to breath, "Medical supplies are down by over a half, food supplies are down by a quarter, and everything else is half down." He explains as he sits straight up with a groan of pain. "It is going to hit fall soon..." The bunny whispered in worry as she watches Nick finally enter the dining hall.

"Hey." Nick greets with a grin as he lends against the bar as Jae walks over, "Hey yourself mister." Jae jokes as they lends against the other side. "When will you be able to eat?" Nick asks quietly as he takes a seat on one of the barstools, "After I finish Ace's and Bonny's meal, they wanted to wait so they can eat together." Jae explains as they give Bonny a soft smile before looking back at Nick. "I also wish the same, I want to wait to eat until you are ready to eat." Nick explains as he smiles at them, Jae laughs as they pull away from him. "Okay, do you want your usual or something light?" The slime asks before bursting into giggles again as Nick blows them a kiss, "The usual with a side of kisses please." He teases with a grin before jumping in his seat when he heard the door of the dining hall slam shut. He looks over his shoulder before noticing Enyo is gone, he let out a sigh of release before lending back against the bar.

Bonny lay Jasper into his bassinet before she looked over at Ace, "I hate to say it but Enyo needs to go, she is causing unwanted stress. I know she is going through a lot of emotions but it doesn't justice destroying our rations or supplies." Bonny speaks up after her thoughts felt to loud in her mind. Ace looks up from his book with confusion for a few seconds before realizing what his wife is talking about, "Okay. I'll do it in the morning." Ace replies as he opens his right arm after his wife sits down on the couch beside him. "Just like that?" Bonny asks as she lends against his side, "Just like that." Ace confirms as he moves the book between them. Ace and Bonny felt the same for Enyo, they understood that losing so many people in such a short notice was tragic but there were healthier ways of letting out anger that wouldn't put the settlement in danger during the colder months.

"You can't do this!" Enyo yells as she stood in her doorway before Ace, "I can and I am, it has been decided that since you can't keep yourself together or let your anger out in a safer manner that you need to go. You cost us months of food, you destroyed medical supplies and causing us to send someone out to restore what you did, and we have to look for materials for builds and repairs." Ace explains as his folded his arms in annoyance. Enyo frowns as she looks back into her home before back at him, "We can do this the nice way where you pack your stuff and you leave by noon or we can do this the mean way where I drag your ass out and you have nothing but the clothes on your back." Ace states as he glares. He was done being the nice guy, he was done giving chances when he knew and his wife knew the person wouldn't change. She furrowed her brows before glaring at him, "What I learned about you, Ace, is that you won't do it. You ain't going to touch me." Enyo says as she slams her down shut and lock it.

It happened all to quick for her, the door slamming to the wall, her being dragged out her door and being thrown outside the gates. She was baffled. Ace never once did this before, he seems all bark and no bite but it was proven wrong today. "You made your choice and if I never see you near my settlement ever again, it will be on sight." Ace states coldly before shutting the gates behind him and walking back to his home.

The door opening caught Bonny's attention making her turn around in confusion, "That was fast." She states as she walks down the steps and over to him. A surprise gasp leaves Bonny as Ace pulls her into a sudden hug, "What's wrong?" She asks softly as her husband gently shakes his head. "I just throw her out, she has nothing but I tried giving her a choice." He whispers into her shoulder, Bonny rubs his back as he softly cries. He hated looking like the bad guy but it had to be done to protect everyone inside Rosabell, nonetheless it never eased his heart remembering all the people that are out there with little to no protection.

Basil frowns as he holds out his hand, he watches the white fluff fall into his paw before melting away quickly. His eyes look up as snow continued to fall and his worry start to raise, he turned away from his home and made his way to Ace's home. He slams his fist against the door before it opens seconds later, "Basil? What's wrong?" Bonny asks in confusion before staring past his shoulder then up to the sky. "Snowing." Basil and Bonny said in unison before Basil watched Bonny rush back inside to get Ace and Basil rush off to Jae's home. "Ace- Ace-" Bonny calls as she shakes his shoulder, "What?" Ace calls out as he rolls onto his back in mild annoyance. "It's snowing and it's dropping fast!" Bonny announced in fear as she looks out the window before her sons, Ace climbs out of the bed and rushes to the front door before coming back to Bonny. "I'm going to get help the others get the everything in sheltered areas and wood, can you seal off the windows?" Ace asks as he pulls on his shoes and coat, "Yes, yes. Go quickly and bring back another blanket for the babies!" Bonny calls out as he rushes out the door.

Jae rushes out of their home with Nick following close behind, "Why is it snowing?" Jae asks to no one as they met up with Ace. "Weather been too calm the past month and we knew something big would happen we just didn't know when." Nick replies as he rushes over to the animals and Jae rushes to the farms. Ace left with Madog and Uxue to get wood as much as they could before the storm said otherwise. Uxue looks over her shoulder, looking between the trees before looking back at the other two. She was on edge but she didn't understand why, just like how she felt with the flood that day.

The three worked hours cutting down thin-ish trees and loading up their sleighs as the snow piled up and the temper dropped frequently. "We need to head back now!" Uxue calls out as soon as the wind started to pick up, she didn't want any one of them to get stuck in a blizzard. "Ace lead in the front!" Madog calls out as he straps in the wood and his axe along with the other two, Ace nods as he started to pull his sleigh. The wind and snow causing him to squint as they follow the barely visible trail up the mountain to their settlement.

Zhi looks over his shoulder before a shiver runs down his body due to the cold getting pass the closed curtain, "Madog will be here in a few!" Basil calls out as he slams the door shut and takes off his shoes before pulling the curtain back to walk into the small living room area. "Where did he go? Why is it so cold?" Zhi asks softly with concern as he watches the bear sit down beside him, "He went to get wood and winter has hit us a little early." Basil explains as he lends back and turn the radio around before turning it on to hear what is happening in other settlements.

Ace pushes his way into his home before slamming the door shut, "It's not letting up? Bonny asks as worried filled her as she tries to keep the house warm with a bit of wood in the stove. "We assume it's a blizzard." Ace states as drops a blanket onto the sofa before walking up into the kitchen and placing the wood underneath, "Is everyone safe?" She asks as she takes the blanket and starts placing it around her babies. "Everyone is inside, we all have food to last until it is over. Uxue is staying in the dining hall so she'll be fine. We are all okay." Ace explains before flopping down on the couch and looking out the window, "We got this." Bonny states as she sits down beside him. They were all worried but they prepared themselves for unpredictable weather. Ace was confident they will pull through this but worry still whispered in the back of his mind.

An annoyed sigh leaves Uxue as she slams the metal cabinet shut, "Why do you care?" The dark brunette asks as Enyo follows close behind her as the doctor steps into the storage room. "Because everyone is mourning but you!" Enyo screams as her glare never waivers as she slams her hands against the older woman's back, "Sven meant something to us! Brittania did too!" Enyo yells again. "No. You were attached, you made bonds. I didn't, I never did. I never will." Uxue states coldly as she pulls out a few supplies before stopping beside Enyo and lead her head close to Enyo's ear, "Monsters can't have any good, remember?" Enyo's shoulders fall as she watches over her shoulder as Uxue leaves the storage room.

"She's still angry?" Basil asks as Uxue sits down beside him, "Is Zhi still dissociating?" Uxue shot back as she slams down the supplies before looking at the bear. "Well, that's a yes." Basil says as he keeps his eyes down at the papers, "Have you found any thing on why the babies are pink?" She asks in a more gentler tone as she puts the supplies away in their spots. "Nope, everything is clear. It's not cancer, not disease we know of, and no sun irritation. So far, it's just a harmless skin pigment." Basil explains as he lends back in his chair and closes his eyes, "Have you told her that it was skin pigment?" Uxue asks as she pulls the papers in front of her in hopes fresh eyes can see anything. "Yes but..." Basil starts before a heavy sigh leaves him, "Tell me." Uxue demands as she looks over at the bear. Basil looks over his shoulder looking out the window spotting Enyo leaving the medical bay before he looks over at the dark brunette, "This isn't their first baby, they tried before. A little girl with the same skin pigment, Bonny and Ace were worried for the first month but got over it. She was seven years old when she suddenly just dropped, I couldn't find anything wrong with her." Basil explains as he covers his face as he tries to hide his tears. "What was her name?" Uxue asks carefully as she rubs the bear's shoulder with care, "Anny." Basil replies as he sits up straight and takes the handkerchief Uxue offered.

Uxue stood on Jae's porch as her eyes locked onto the gravestone hidden away to the right of Bonny's and Ace's side, it was obvious that unless you were looking for it that you would have missed it. "Uxue, can I help you?" Jae's voice pulls her back to reality causing her to turn her head back to the slime, "Yes, I want to know Anny and Basil said your home is the best to get more answers without upsetting the parents." Uxue explains as she noticed them frown in disappointment in her bluntness or maybe her asking questions of the pass? She doesn't know but she wanted to know more, more about Rosabell so why not start with the people that built Rosabell? "What do you wanna know about Anny?" They asks as they lead Uxue inside, the doctor looked around carefully noticing a few things out of place but it wasn't a mess. "Why did you care for her?" Uxue asks as she looks behind the couch seeing a play area for a child, "Bonny and Ace was... overwhelmed, she was their first and still being young they had to go on expeditions and work around the settlement." The slime starts as they walked upstairs. "I am not saying I never did but I hardly leave on expeditions anymore due to personal reasons." Jae explains as they open the door close to the bathroom, the door opened into a child's room. "I had two children before I met Ace and Bonny, I understood what it took to raise one so I opened my home to them." The slime says as they sat down on the small bed, "Assuming you noticed by now but their home is small, they haven't had time to expand and definitely not now when your unit is killing each other." Jae snaps noticing how unbothered the woman was.

"If my unit is so much of a bother then why don't you kick us out?" Uxue asks as she puts down a painting of a pink little girl with Bonny and Ace holding her, "What?" Jae was taken back by the woman's response. "Sorry, let me phrase it in a vault manner." Uxue snickers as she looks over to the slime, "Remove us from the premises since we are disturbing the peace, Jae." Uxue states in a cold manner before stepping out of the room. "Why is it you are closed off!" Jae yells as they rush after the bulky woman, "Because monsters can't have anything good." Uxue responses as she rounds the stairs. "What does that mean?" Jae asks as they stood in front of the door, "It means what it means, if you want context then do what I do. Go investigate." Uxue states as she pushes the slime out of the way and leaves their white picket fenced home.

"Uxue?" Bonny's voice called out in confusion, the bunny turned to the taller woman before a frown takes over her lips. Bonny understands what she is looking at now, "You don't have to tell me, I got the jest of it from Jae and Basil." Uxue says as she looks over at the hybrid. "But I do have a question that is bothering me." Uxue states as she walks over to Bonny, "I may have an answer." Bonny responds as the doctor looks at the house. "Why didn't you and Ace upgrade your home? It seems a little short sighted since now you have no where to put your children when they grow older." Uxue asks as she follows Bonny into her home, "Well since people being dropping like flies, we can turn one or two homes into a child's space and even if we don't, Jae can make space for us." Bonny states as she carefully takes her babies out of their slings and into their cribs. Something between a huff and a chuckle leaves the doctor as she takes a seat on Bonny's couch, "The unit homes? No. Jae's home? Maybe. No parent would want their child halfway across the settlement so the unit homes are out of the question, maybe Jae's home but anxiousness and worry will consume you. So back to my original question, why didn't build a second story? It's been roughly 20 years since Anny." Uxue explains her thoughts before turning her head slightly when Bonny got up in her face. "Why do you give a damn what we do?" Bonny whisper yells in anger before pulling away, "You avoid babies like the plague so you don't understand how losing a child makes it hard to think." Bonny states as she walks over to Casper and Jasper to make sure they were okay.

The sound of Uxue getting up from the couch caught Bonny's attention, she watches the vault dweller head towards the door before noticing a shimmer on the side of her face due to the candle light. "Wait! I have a question!" Bonny calls out as she moves from the bedroom area to behind the tall woman, "I have an answer." Uxue replies as she opens the door, refusing to look at the smaller woman as her other hand is moved to her face. "I assumed you didn't have any children and I want to take that back so have you had children before, Uxue?" The bunny asks as she places a hand on the other woman's arm, minutes passed before Uxue removes her hand from her face before turning to Bonny. "Never take back your assumption unless you have a gut feeling." Uxue replies before leaving the bunny's home, Uxue nods her head to Ace as she passes him on the steps.

Ace returns the nod before giving Bonny a confused look when he reaches her, "Why was she here?" Ace asks as he gives her a kiss on the cheek before slipping past her to see his babies. "She wanted to know why we haven't made more room for the babies." Bonny states as she closes the door once Uxue was out of sight, "Also wondered about Anny." This made Ace look up again in confusion. "She knows about Anny?" He asks in a quiet voice as he looks around the room to see if there was any paintings left of her in the open, "Basil and Jae must have told her but don't worry about it, she wasn't being mean. She was just curious." Bonny explains as she pulls Ace into a hug, she needed comfort because she felt in her gut that she said something wrong to the bigger woman.

"You should go home." Uxue blatantly states as she sees Bonny walking up to the watch tower as she heads up, "I can still carry my weight around here and it is just to watch until morning." Bonny replies as she follows Uxue up the stairs. "You had children a month ago, they are still unpredictable and will need their mother." Uxue shot back as she sits in the chair furthest from the stairs, "Uxue, just let it go. Ace and me know what we are doing." Bonny snaps as she looks at the taller woman. Uxue raises an eyebrow before releasing a heavy sigh, "Bonny, Ace was suppose to be here, so why did you two which places?" Uxue asks as Bonny took the other chair. "Because I am mostly cooped up and it has been awhile since I had time away from the babies." Bonny replies carefully as her eyes scanned the land before them. The dark brunette gives a soft hum before pulling a book out of her bag and start to read.

A few hours have passed before Bonny finally speaks up again, "You had a child or maybe children. What happened to them?" Bonny looks over at Uxue in curiosity. "No." Uxue bluntly states as she turns a page in her book, "No?" Bonny begins but she was cut off quickly by the other. "Here let me say it in different ways and maybe you can understand it; Incorrect, negative, certainly not, nah." Uxue states as she looks up from her book with a glare, "Here's a question for you, why did you change your assumption from I never had a child to I had a child?" The taller woman asks as closes her book and places it beside herself. "Because after I accused you of never having a baby, you were crying." Bonny replies in a softer tone as she watches the woman's face harden in an unknown emotion before looking away from Bonny. "I wasn't crying and I never had a child." Uxue states as she kept her eyes before herself.

Bonny frowns as she stood up and walked in front of Uxue's line of sight, "Based on everything I seen so far from your unit, I don't believe that. Y'all lie, hurt each other, use each other, and recently been closed off from one another." Bonny snaps at her with anger in her eyes as she places her hands on her hips. "Really?" Uxue asks in a sarcastic way as she lends back into her chair, "Yes. I've also noticed Enyo putting you down every second she can and as well as using you but you cut that off the second she got with Nick. I remember that day because she was pissed off the whole time, my question is why do you let Enyo do that?" Bonny explains before asking. "Old habits die hard." The dark brunette replies as she closes her eyes, "I will admit me and Enyo are like water and oil but just like water and oil, it takes time to separate the two." Uxue explains as she opens her eyes. "Okay, so this was happening during the Vault?" Bonny asks as she sits back in her chair, "Yeah, I met her when she was 18. I fell head over heels for her, I didn't realize how toxic she was. I realized after a year she was just using me to go see outside or just to have a fun time but it didn't hurt any less." Uxue explains before shaking her head.

"Bonny!" Ace's voice caught Bonny's attention making her stand up to look over the railing to her husband, "They won't go back to bed, can you please come home?" Ace asks as Bonny looks over to Uxue. "Go, I will be fine here." Uxue states feeling the bunny's stare on the side of her skull. "Thank you." Bonny says as she grabs her bag and races down the steps before walking beside Ace to their home where Jae was most likely watching their babies, "Did you get any info?" Ace asks quietly as he pulls her into his side. "A little about Enyo and her but not enough to connect my dots." Bonny explains as she huffs out in annoyance as she lends her head against his shoulder. Bonny was happy that Uxue opened up a little to her but she wished she knew all of Uxue's story right now regardless.

Zhi blinks a few times before weakly looking over his shoulder to confirm his thoughts, he was in between a bear and a fox. A soft hum leaves him as he places his head back on the fox's shoulder, he wonders how he got here, what has happened. He barely remembers anything since the Sterre incident so maybe it only been a few days? He can't confirm nor deny it. A heavy sigh leaves him as he slowly and carefully crawls his way off the bed, his feet hit the wooden ottoman. A quiet curse leaves him when the ottoman wobbles a little, he gets onto the ottoman and watches the two sleeping for a few moments to make sure either have woken or went back to a deep sleep again.

The thin man braces himself as he tries to stand up, a few times didn't work landing him back onto the seat he was on. Taking a deep breath Zhi pushes himself up and off the ottoman, he holds out his arms to steady himself but his body hits the floor echoing in the quiet home. A soft cry of pain follows after as he weakly pushes himself up on his arms, "Zhi!" Madog calls out as the fox's hands pull him into his lap. "You need to slow down, you been gone for a month!" The fox explains as he watches Basil slowly getting out of bed and making his way towards them, "Your body needs to be retrained to do things like walking again, being asleep for a long time changes you." Basil spoke in a calm voice as he retrieves a homemade wheelchair. Madog carefully puts Zhi in it. The miner tries to speak but all that came out was a quiet crock earning him sad looks from the pair, "It's okay, Zhi, it takes time to get everything back but with our help we will get you better in no time." Madog states with a weak smiles before looking at Basil.

The fox helped Zhi to the bathroom as Basil went to make something to soothe Zhi's throat, Basil stares at the door worriedly since it been awhile since they been in there. It would be a few more minutes until they exit, "Sorry, Zhi was self conscious I think so I had to reassure him that everything would be fine." Madog whispers into Basil's ear after placing Zhi in the living room area. "It's fine, did he have any issues?" Basil asks as he hands Madog the drink, "Not that I can see but he is wobbly." The fox replies before moving over to Zhi with a soft smile. "Place your hands on my wrist. Good, now when you want me to pull the cup away from your mouth just use your finger to tap twice and I'll remove it." Madog explains making Basil smile from behind Zhi as he lends against the counter, Zhi gave a weak nod as he holds Madog's wrist.

The bear picks Zhi up and placing him in the middle of the bed once again that night, Basil pushes the chair into the corner of his room. He crawls into bed with the other two before gently giving Madog a kiss on the forehead and whispering them both goodnight, the fox cuddles Zhi's body into his as he falls asleep. They were happy Zhi's consciousness is back but they are worried that tomorrow would be overwhelming for him when they take him to the medical bay.

Basil's assumptions were right as irritation builds up in him for Zhi as Enyo breaks Zhi's personal bubble to coo and hug him, Madog frowns as he looks at Basil to receive a nod from the taller man. "Hey! Fuck off!" The fox shouts as he got in Enyo's face making her take a few steps back with her hands in the air, "Whoa, whoa, calm down. I haven't seen him in months-" Enyo starts but was quickly cut off by Basil. "A month. One and you didn't give a damn until now. You never visited, you never asked about him, you didn't care. So do everyone a favor and shut down the show." Basil states coldly as he moves pass the ex-leader to the medical bay, "I didn't know where he was!" Enyo starts up again making Madog turn around. "The fuck you didn't, you were the first person I told in your unit! Ace even asked if you wanted to see him and you said, I quote 'Seeing him wouldn't do anything but remind me how useless he was.' so FUCK OFF!" Madog yells at the end before turning around a storming after his lover and Zhi.

Zhi looks down at his hands as he weakly tries to stop his tears, was he weak? was he useless? He tried, he really did. He didn't mean to fall victim to his mind but the hurt was too much. "Zhi, Zhi, it's okay, we're here." Madog coos as he kneels in front of Zhi, gently wiping away his tears. "We aren't going to leave you, we are staying here by your side. We promised, remember?" The fox asks as he watches Zhi close his eyes, a heavy sigh leaves Basil as he rubs Zhi's shoulder, "We are your family now, Zhi. We aren't leaving." Basil states with confidents as he heads off to get the physically treatment ready. Zhi opens his eyes as he gives a weak smile to the fox, "There you go, see, you are okay." Madog says with a smile of his own as he stood up. Mad knew it would be a lot day for Zhi with treatment and people but he would be here there with him along with Basil, the pair would never let anyone hurt Zhi again not when he went through something so terrifying for everyone else.

"When is Basil coming back?" Bonny asks as she gently rocks Casper, "Tomorrow, why?" Ace answers before adding an question as he looks up from his book. "Casper is more pink then before-" Bonny starts but Ace quickly cuts her off, "Uxue said he is fine that all it is, is because of the hard crying. He did just finished crying just seconds ago." The wolf tries to reassure but the look she gave him told him that she was still worried. With a heavy sigh he gets up and walks over to the bed before sitting beside her, "The moment Basil gets here, I'll request him to look at Casper." Ace states as he pulls her into his embrace carefully to not disturb the baby. "Thank you." Bonny whispers after a few moments as she gets up to lay Casper in his bassinet, "Are you watching tonight?" The bunny asks as she crawls underneath the covers. "No, Jae and Eirik are watching tonight. They volunteered for Zhi and me." Ace replies as he carefully climbs over his wife to get to his side of the bed, "I haven't seen him in a week, I hope he's okay." Bonny whispers as she cuddles up against her husband before trying to get some sleep.

"Good evening, Jae!" Eirik calls out with a soft smile as he waves towards the sleepy slime, "Not so loud, people are sleeping." Jae states as they walk up the steps. "Are you ready to test out my weapon tonight?" Eirik asks as he holds up the gun that he shot the beast with a week ago, "Yes!" Jae shouts before a cuss drop soon after as they looks around them to make sure no one was exiting from their homes. "I thought we were suppose to be quiet?" The black haired man teases as he sets his night bag down beside one of the chairs before readying it up for Jae, "Leave me alone!" Jae whines as they set their miniature bag on the long end table. "Tell me about the weapon." Jae says as they take the weapon from Eirik, looking it over.

Eirik sits down in his chair as he thinks back to the vault with a soft smile, "My husband, Nikon made it. He called it the 'Windslicer' because no matter how strong the winds and if you use only the powdered pellets, it'll never ever go off course." Eirik explains as his eyes look out into the darkness. "But the weapon is best suited during windy days or surroundings with loud machinery." Jae looks over their shoulder with confusion, "Why?" The slime asks as they lower the weapon. "Because it is quite loud." The black haired man states as he takes the weapon back, "Have you ever used it back in Settlement 22?" The slime asks as they sat in the chair beside the long end table. "Only once." Eirik answers as a wicked grin spreads across his lips before shaking his head and looks over with a soft smile, "Anyways, it's an good weapon for picking people off. If you are able to keep your hands steady and aim for the ear canals then people would be confused what is happening, the powdered pellets won't kill them instantly and depending on what powder you use depends how they react." Eirik picks up several different hardened powdered pellets.

"Which one is your favorite to use?" Jae asks as the lends forward on the end table in between the chairs, "The yellow one: it will immediately numb whenever it hits, it'll start thinning the blood and it takes roughly three hours to kill someone if they aren't bleeding out." Eirik explains with excitement before he carefully puts the pellets into separate small bags. Jae watches carefully before lending back and grabbing their bag, "Want to get high?" Jae asks as they pulls out a tiny bag. "Definitely." The man said with a grin as he opens the lantern as he grabs a fire stick, Jae holds the blunt out and Eirik lit it before turning away to blow out the fire stick.

"Got another question." Jae finally speaks up after a few minutes, "Shoot away." Eirik replies but not bothering to open his eyes as he stays relaxed in his chair. "How many people have killed?" The slime asks as giggles leave him as he tries to keep themselves from turning into a puddle, "With the weapon or with the sabotage?" The question leaves him as he lazily looks over at the hybrid. "What sabotage?" Jae asks in surprise as their eyes widen looking over at the man, "The sabotage that made my unit leave." Eirik grins as he closes his eyes again. "That was you?" Jae whisper yells as they lead over the end table, "Why? What made you do it?" The slime questions as Eirik's laugh fills the air. "Enyo's parents were idiots. I knew my parents shouldn't have said anything to them, the moment they learned about the gas they were like 'Oh No! How could you?' and 'What about the children?' God, they were so annoying and even more when they decided to change the rules and how to run the vault" Eirik's voice grew in anger before shaking his head, "For fifty years they stopped the gas, so it was fifty years of build up. Accidental sabotage but I'm not mad, they finally understand it now." Eirik explains as he runs a hand through his hair.

"I killed two people with the Windslicer and over 20 people with the sabotage but they didn't stay dead for long so technically I only killed one person." Eirik states as he closes his eyes and lends back, all the while Jae process the information. The slime didn't know when it happened but they felt strangely sober again and just as Jae realized that, they also realized that the man in front of them was a serial killer. The slime looks down at their feet before slowly getting up, "I am going to get some water." Jae states as they look over their shoulder at Eirik. The man waves his hand, unaware of everything around him as the slime tries not to race down the metal stairs or tried to keep a normal enough speed as they head towards Rosabell's leader.

Bonny shoots up in her bed, the sound of rapid knocking wasn't what woke her. The sound of her babies crying did, she shakes Ace before getting out of bed after confirming that the man was waking. "What is it?" Ace asks groggily as he sits up watching Bonny pick up on of the boys, "Get the door." Bonny barks in annoyance from lack of sleep and crying babies. The wolf nods as he stumbles out of bed and rushes to the door, a distressed slime wasn't on his list of things to see tonight but there they were. "Jae, what's wrong?" Ace asks in confusion as he lends out the door to see if anyone else was around, "Can we talk inside?" Jae asks quickly, every bump in the night making them jumpy as they thought that Eirik might have realized what he confessed. "Shit, yeah, come on in." The wolf said as the step aside allowing the slime to rush in, "Jae?" Confusion left Bonny as she looks at the nervous slime. "What's wrong, baby?" The motherly side left the bunny as she set her son down, they were quiet again but peace was a limited luxury, "Eirik is a bad man." Jae blurted out making the other two furrow their brows. "What makes you think that?" Ace asks as they watch the slime sit down on the couch and Bonny follow close after, "Because he confessed to me that he was the one that sabotaged the vault." This took them back as the couple looked at each other before looking at the slime. "You are sure that he said the he, Eirik, did that?" Ace asks carefully, he was shocked.

Ace knew whatever happened that the vault dwellers were going to fight, he knew some hearts would be shattered as he walks out of his home. Ace walked up to Enyo's home knocking on the door, the tired woman opens it after a few seconds has passed. "Ace? Why are you waking me up?" She asks in confusion as Nick steps into view behind Enyo, choosing to ignore the thought of why Nick was there. "We got information on Eirik and I wanted to tell you first since this is your team." The wolf starts causing Enyo to straighten up but the confusion never left her, "Eirik confessed to sabotaging your vault." This took a minutes for them to process before Enyo shakes her head rapidly, "No, no, no. Eirik would never do that! He had people he loved in there, he had a family!" Enyo states as she turns to Nick but Nick was still processing what he heard. "I am sorry but based on what I received it seems he knew what he was doing and what he was doing it for." Ace quickly adds as he hears a door to his left open, "What is going on?" Sven's voice was recognized quickly causing everyone to look at him before back at each other, "Ace just told us that Eirik sabotaged the Vault." Nick replies as he slips pass Enyo. "What? That can't be! If he did then... then..."Sven trails off as he looks pass Ace's shoulder, "Did you lie to us about Sonja?" Sven's question caught everyone off guard but soon made clear when they see Eirik standing in front of his group's houses.

"That Sonja killed Monat? That Sonja couldn't accept Monat or Nikon?" Eirik asks as he tilts his head back, his body still showing he was relaxed still. "What I said about Monat is true but I lied about Sonja's actions." Eirik clarifies a bit as his eyes darted to Ace, Ace freezes when he finally sees in the darkness that Eirik is holding a weapon. "Then tell us the truth, you bastard!" Nick yells stomping in Eirik's direction but his approach was halted when Eirik lifted the windslicer, "Now, now. You must wait for me to respond before trying to attack me." The black haired man teases as a weak smile covers his face. "Sonja wasn't a bad person nor was Monat but what they both had in common was sleeping with my husband. Sonja was always head over heels for him, the week they stopped seeing each other was the week they were trying to cover their tracks but I already knew." Eirik starts as anger starts to show, "I also found out during that week that my husband as been sleeping with Monat! My husband fell pregnant and it wasn't MINE!" his voice grew in rage as he moves the gun towards Sven. "I thought it was Monat's but I remembered that Monat couldn't give his wife a baby, you were the one that slept with him. Just like Monat's wife and Brittania, you were infamous for sleeping around Sven." Eirik snares as everyone felt fear sink into them.

"Penny said she wanted a baby and you both agreed for me to help her!" Sven yells as he holds his hands out in front of him in pure fear, "IT'S NIKON, HE! RESPECT THE DEAD!" Eirik screams as his finger moves to the trigger. "Sorry! Sorry!" Sven replies as he falls to his knees, he didn't want to die. "Hey! Hey!" Enyo calls out catching Eirik's attention, "Did Sonja kill Monat or not?" Enyo asks as she listens to Ace carefully crawl around her home. "No. Sonja proposed to Monat the week before the expedition, reasoning why they didn't see each other because Sonja wanted to give Monat time to think about it without her making Monat feel pressured. That happiness clouded her judgement that day." Eirik's anger softens as his eyes drift off to the side, "I hated it, they destroyed my life and they were off to be happy." Eirik's anger returns as his eyes locked onto Enyo, "You watched me leave the settlement the day Monat died and didn't question it so thank you." This made Enyo's stomach drop, her body lends against the door frame as she thinks back to that day when he left with the windslicer.

"Why are you doing this? Why did you sabotage the vault?" Nick asks as he takes a step back, "I am getting rid of people that ruined my life. Sonja, Monat, and Sven stole my husband from me. Made me lose my cool, I didn't mean to kill him. I swear, I was just angry." He whispers as he lowers his gun a bit. "The gas wasn't suppose to kill, the gas in low amounts is harmless. It was why people never seemed to age or were still strong despite their age. I just wanted my wife back and I got it but you made us leave!" Eirik's voice raises as he points the gun at Enyo, "The dead should stay dead, Eirik!" Nick yells as he covers Enyo with his body. A wicked smile covers Eirik's face, "Is that right?" The black haired man asks as he points his gun at Sven. "Yes..." Sven answers unsurely as he looks straight into Eirik's eyes seeing nothing but evil, he never thought Eirik would do something so cruel.

Two shots rung out and two bodies hit the ground, Enyo's screams filled the air as she ran over to Sven's body. Nick looks pass Eirik's to see Uxue silently standing there with Ace to her side, Uxue quietly hands the gun to Ace before walking away. "I'm sorry." Ace states as he watches Enyo cradle Sven's body, "I wish I was faster." he states before following after Uxue. Nick slowly moves over to Enyo, he rubs her back as he tries to process everything. It all happened so fast, he felt lost as his head pounded against his skull.

Basil was definitely confused as he opens the gates to Rosabell since the settlement was never this quiet, Madog side steps in with his weapon drawn as he looks around for any noticeable monsters about. "Ace!" Basil calls out when he noticed the wolf coming out of the medical bay, "Where is everyone?" the bear asks as he got closer to the leader. "Graveyard." Ace replies weakly as he sits down on the fountain. "Why? What happened?" Madog asks as he runs over after closing the gates, "Eirik confesses to sabotaging the vault and killing Monat." Ace states as he lays his head in his hands. "He also killed Sven before he died." he continued before a sob ripped from him, "I wasn't fast enough and Zhi won't open his door, I am scared. I am so fucking scared for these people." He yells as Madog pulls him into a hug. "I'll get my spare key and check on him." Basil states as he walks off to his home, he knew Zhi had fell into depression but he didn't know how bad it was until today.

"Zhi?" Basil's voice filled the small house as well as his footsteps as he walks further in, "Zhi, are you here?" The bear asks as he rounds the wall before stopping in his tracks. "Oh, hun, you couldn't answer even if you wanted to, huh?" Basil's voice softens as he kneels in front of the dissociating man that was laying on the rug in front of his bed, "Come on, darling, Mad and I will take care of you until you come back." He whispers as he cradles the thin man in his arms before walking out of the small home. The bear was quick to get to his home, not wanting to add anymore worry or grieve to the others. He carefully lays the man in the middle of his bed before leaving his home to retrieve the fox, "Madog, follow." Basil orders once he noticed Ace heading away from his husband. The fox tilts his head in confusion by the urgent tone as he followed the big man from the fountain, "What is wrong?" Madog asks as they entered their home.

Basil pulls back the curtain to their dimly lit room, "I need you to watch Zhi as I go make him something easy to eat and as well get a bath ready so we can clean him?" Basil asks causing the fox to snap his head to the bed then back at the bear. "Clean him, what?" He whisper yells as he looks back at Zhi but the man didn't respond in the slightest, "He is stuck in his mind, Mad. His body isn't fighting to live anymore, he needs help and we made a promise to him if he EVER needed us to care for him that we would." Basil explains as he finally pulls his eyes away from the bed to Madog, "Was that a lie?" this made the fox take a step back in shock before looking down at the ground. "No, I adore Zhi but I never thought it would get this bad." He whispers causing the bear to pull him into a hug, "I didn't either but regardless we must help now," Basil said as he pulls back a bit to see Madog. The fox gives a nod as he pulls away completely, "I'll do the bath if you do the food?" Madog asks as a gentle smile appears on Basil's lips as he nods.

The fox quietly walks over to Zhi, "I don't know if you can hear me but don't worry, Basil and I will be here until you get back. We'll care for your body until you are ready to take that reasonability again." Madog whispers as he carefully pulls the thin male into his arms and heads to their bathroom, he knows this was going to be a long journey. He remembers the day Basil fell into a similar headspace but the bear was more conscious compared to Zhi, Basil needed help back then too. Reminder to shower, to eat, to drink, and to breathe. Madog remembers feeding Basil when the bear's arms just felt too heavy to do so, remembers helping him shower when he was too overwhelmed to even try, remembers holding him at night in fear Basil's mind wound consume him in the way Zhi's did him. Madog also vaguely remembers when he also fell victim to his mind when he thought Bonny was gone, vaguely remembers Basil caring for him and Ace but those memories were to far and before Rosabell to get a firm grasp on anymore.

"Were there any movements?" Basil's words broke Madog's thinking, the fox looks up from Zhi as he steps out of the bathroom. "Huh? Ah! No, he didn't say or move at all." The fox replies after a few seconds of processing Basil's question, the bear's shoulder sink a bit as he nods. "Hey, he'll be okay Basil. We aren't going anywhere, he isn't going anywhere." Madog gently reminds with a soft smile, "Our love is strong, we can take it." Basil cracks a smile as he gently kisses Madog's forehead before placing lending his head against Zhi's for a second or two and pulling away. "I'll do laundry after I bring you two food." He states as he walks back over to the stove, "Okay, thank you." Madog replies as he walks back to their room. The fox carefully moves Zhi into the middle before the knock on the door gets his attention, "I got it!" The fox calls out as he walks pass the curtains and opens the door. "Bonny! How are you?" Madog asks with a smile as he looks down at Casper and coos at him, "Is Basil home? I need him to check Casper and make sure he is okay." Bonny asks quickly as she rocks Casper. "Yeah, he is in the kitchen. Come on in." Madog replies as he steps aside and closes the door behind her before pulling back the curtain that covered the doorway into the rest of the house.

The bear looks over his shoulder when he heard his name being called, "Bonny!" He states happily as he puts down the wooden spoon and turn down the heat before moving towards her. "Can you see if Casper is okay? He been real pink and it is just not going away." Bonny quickly asks as Basil carefully takes Casper from her. He moves pass her to his small medical area, he carefully lays the few week old baby on the table before doing some tests he was able to do. A soft smile rests on his lips as he picks up Casper and hands him back to Bonny, "Skin pigment, possibly a genetic he got from someone further up in either side of the family." Basil calmly states as Bonny furrow her eyebrows. "How did you get that?" She asks as she looks down at the babbling baby, "Because he is pink everywhere and there is no signs screaming he is ill. He doesn't he act ill, Bonny. He is a healthy baby boy." The bear explains with a loving smile as he leads her back to the front door. "Thank you, Basil that means a lot to me." Bonny states as she gives him a side hug before leaving. A soft laugh leaves Madog as he lends against the archway, "You know, our love for our friends is unmatched." The fox jokes making the bear laugh in response as he pulls the fox into his arms.

The second the gates closed was the second Madog got into Zhi's face, "Who's your lover!" The fox demands as Zhi pulls away in fear. "Why?" Zhi asks as he looks over his shoulder where Nick and Sven stood, "Because whoever YOU are dating was the one that knocked up Sterre!" Madog yelled making everyone stare at the hybrid in pure shock, well besides Basil. A few moments pass as everyone sinks in the information, "She was pregnant?" Sven asks quietly as he kneels down to the ground. "Fuck-" Sven was caught off by someone slamming him to the ground, pain blossoms across his face as he hears the person above him say it was his fault.

The bear-like man reached Madog before anyone else could, he pulled his husband off of Sven quickly. "Madog! Madog!" He yells as he wraps his arms around the fox, "I get it, I get it." Madog yells into Basil's fur. Angry tears running down his face, Sterre's body haunting him behind his eyelids. She didn't deserve that, no one deserved that. "Where's Sterre?" Bonny's voice made the yelling quiet down, everyone looked at each other as Ace walked up to Bonny. "Lets go to the bedroom, baby." He whispers as he leads her away from the stressful situation so he can calmly tell her, he knows it won't stop her heartbreak but it will allow her to mourn in safety.

"You slept with Sterre?" Zhi asks making Sven scramble onto his feet, "It was months ago! It was during are break!" Sven quickly responded as he tries to touch Zhi but the taller male pulls away. "You slept with her and didn't even think about asking her if she was pregnant!" The miner yells, fury and sadness building up in him as he watch Sven with hateful eyes. "It was only one time. Why would I ask that?" The younger male was confused why everyone was angry at him, he just found out. "Because it only takes one time, you moron!" Zhi screams as he storms away, his heart broken once more.

Basil leads Madog away to their room, he needed his husband to calm down and collect his thoughts before he did something he regret later. "He's a fucking idiot." Madog snaps as the bear helps take off his shoes, setting them beside the door before heading over to the closet to get something comfortable for his husband to relax in. "I am not surprised that any of them are." The bigger man states as he pulls a few clothing pieces from the closet and drawer, "What do you mean?" The fox asks as he flops onto his back. "Sweetie, I love you, I do but they grew up in a vault. Of course, they are gonna be stupid." The man replies as he walks around the bed before getting down on his knees. "They aren't all stupid, some of them are pretty smart." Madog mumbles trying to give some of them a benefit of a doubt.

It would be around midnight when someone shook Madog's shoulder, "What?" The fox whines as he turns around in his bed. "Mad, love, it's time for you to relieve Jae from their post of the night so they can rest." Basil's voice made Madog whine again as he pushes himself up in the bed and slowly out of it. "Fine." Madog replies as he heads off to change as Basil went back to the door to talk to whoever. After a few minutes Madog arrives at the door, "Hi, Zhi." The fox greets as he kisses Basil goodnight before following the vault dweller to the guard tower to relieve Jae and Nick.

"This is our tower now, begone!" Madog says dramatically making Jae laugh while Nick shakes his head, "So far, nothing has been unusual." Nick states while getting up and grabbing his night bag. "Nice, these are the best nights." Zhi weakly smiles as he spoke, taking Jae's seat, "Goodnight!" Jae yells as they quickly rush after Nick. "Are you sure you good?" The fox asks finally looking at Zhi, noticing his red eyes and the broken look. "Yes, just because I am sad doesn't mean I can't help protect the settlement." The taller one replies as he lends back into the chair and gazes out into the land before them.

A comfortable silence rest around the two as hours past but silence doesn't last much longer as Zhi looks over at the hybrid, "I have a question." The curly haired man states making Madog lazily lend his head in his direction as a sign to continue. "What was your life like before you got here in Rosabell?" Zhi asks softly watching as the fox sit up straighter in his chair, "Why do you wanna know?" Madog asks as a heavy sigh leaves him. "Because you know so much about me now, about my life before but I know so little about you. I want to know how you got your injuries." Zhi replies as he goes back to watching the land before them.

"How bout this, I give you an unknown fact then you return an unknown fact because there is many things I still don't know about you." Madog states trying to make a deal as he looks over at the man, "Deal." Zhi replies with a soft smile. "Lets do this, how old are you? I'm 28 currently. How many lovers have you had? I had about 7 in total. How many scars do you have? I have one, it is on my left hip." Zhi starts as he turns himself in his seat, excited to know more about someone. "I am 148 years old. I have currently one lover, never had any before him and nor do I wish to have any after him. I have two scarred areas but they are no normal scars. I have a hole in my right ear where I was tagged and a dipping scar where I use to have my tail." Madog answers as he looks over at Zhi, resting his head on his fist.

"Never felt any romantic feelings for anyone else?" Zhi asks confusion feeling him as he watches Madog shake his head, "Why? How can you be so in love with Basil and never felt that emotion for anyone else?" Zhi was baffled as the fox laughs, "Because what you felt most likely wasn't love, it was most likely sexual want or you confused it with platonic love." Madog starts as he gazes out into the night sky. "And I say that nicely because once you feel love, once you truly felt it. It'll be so powerful that it changes you, changes how you look at life. I say this because my love for Basil overwhelms my other emotions I have ever felt in my life and it is still the strongest emotion I carry to this day." Zhi softly hums as his brows furrow, he wants to understand it. He wants to feel want Madog is feeling but he couldn't, only emotion he felt so strongly for was sadness.

The miner lets go of a heavy sigh before looking back out into the darkness, "How did you get the hole in your ear and why are you missing a tail?" Zhi asks another question as he thinks back about his scar. "During my time back when I was a baby, full hybrids were used for hunting practice and half hybrids were stored away for looks. I am unfortunately a full hybrid, my parents died during a hunt trying to get me to escape but back then I didn't know better. I wouldn't escape until Basil came along, I met him 40 years ago." Madog released a heavy sigh as if preparing him, "I lost my tail around 100 years ago, it is a trophy in some old fuck's mansion. It is somewhere in the west by a volcano named Ever Sleep." the fox lends forward, placing his head low between his knees as he tries to calm himself. "Would you like me to get Basil?" Zhi asks softly causing the fox to nod his head, it was seconds later he heard Zhi rushing down the stairs.

It felt like forever before he was in Basil's arms again, he felt like he was stuck in the past running away from those bastards that tied him up and cut his tail off. It felt like his mind was tearing apart before he finally felt Basil's arms around him, his familiar voice whispering to him that he is there now. Zhi quietly stood in the corner as he watches the fox cry into the bear's chest, regret settles into his heart. He didn't want to hurt Madog, he was just curious. Roughly a hour had passed before Madog finally calmed down in Basil's arms, "Zhi, will you be okay watching alone?" Basil asks as he lifts his lover in hopes to carry him back to bed. "Of course! Please take care of Madog." Zhi replies quickly while waving his hands as he took a chair, "Goodnight!" He yells as he watches the two walk away from the tower.

The sunlight reaches across the floor as giggles fill the bedroom, "Stop tickling me!" Bonny squeals as laughter leaves Ace as he pulls his hands away. "How are you feeling?" The wolf asks as he pulls himself out of bed but soon after he felt a pillow hit his back, "Like I have to pee, thank you very much." Bonny huffs after she threw Ace's pillow at him and pulling herself also out of bed. "I meant are you hungry." Ace laughs as he picks up his pillow and watches his wife scurrying off to the bathroom's direction, "Get me something light to eat, please!" Bonny's voice drifts softer as she enters the bathroom. The wolf shakes his head before heading out of their small home, he bids good morning to a few people he saw awake and working. "Good morning, Jae!" He calls out after he sees them in the kitchen after entering the dining hall, "Do you have anything light for Bonny or do I need to wait?" Ace asks happily as he takes a seat at the bar that faces the kitchen. "It'll be a few, I just finished making Zhi's meal. He hasn't slept yet so I want to get something in his stomach before he goes to bed." Jae answers quickly as she hands the meal box to Brittania before heading back into the kitchen.

"Good morning, Bonny!" Brittania's voice filled the quiet dining hall causing Ace to pout as he turns to see Bonny slightly waddling into the building, "You could have stayed in bed, I was getting the food." Ace whines as Brittania and Bonny laughs before they parted ways. "I know but I want to talk to everyone." Bonny replies as she sits beside Ace before giving him a soft quick kiss, "Thank you nonetheless." Bonny smiles as Ace nuzzles into her hug as soon as she said it. "You two are too cute." Jae states as she sets their meals in front of them, "How's the baby feeling? Do you think it's two?" Jae asks as they smile down at Bonny's stomach. "Definitely got to be two or one very big baby. I already look 9 months pregnant! I am only 7 along!" The bunny's voice filled with excitement as Ace grins as he pulls away from her, "We thought of names already though. If it's two girls, Lacey and Macey. Two boys, Casper and Jasper. One girl and one boy, Monat and Nikon." The wolf states before he started to eat. "Wow, Monat and Nikon? I mean I understand, they were loved by the vault dwellers but we had no personally connections to those names. You really want those names for your kids?" Jae was carefully with their tone but words were blunt and true. Bonny gives a soft smile, "No, no we don't have any personal connections but Sterre did and she asked if I'll consider it. Last night I thought over it with Ace and we feel if it is one of each we will, in memory of not only Monat and Nikon but in memory of Sterre." Bonny explains as tears start to cloud her vision, it hurt to remember that night. Sterre and her laying in the middle of the settlement watching the stars, she remembers Sterre's big smile and hope when she asked. It hurt even more because she asked Sterre to help raise her babies and now Sterre is gone. "I'm so sorry, Bonbon, I didn't mean to make you cry." The slime states worriedly as they reach over the bar to wipe away the bunny's tears, "I miss her, Jae, I miss her so much!" Bonny yells as Ace pulls her into a hug.

The bells ringing made Ace pull away from Bonny before rushing out of the dining hall, Bonny and Jae followed close behind. Before then the gates were open, the wooden bar broken on the ground as a large skeletal like creature stood a few feet in the settlement. "Jae can you keep the monster in a lock?" Ace asks as he waves Brittania over, "Yes, hold on!" The slime replies quickly as they rush over to the undead being. "Brittania, protect Bonny and get her somewhere save!" Ace orders as he rushes over to Madog while watching Jae turn into a puddle at the enemy's feet, "How did it get in!" Madog yells as he aims his crossbow before releasing a bolt into it's chest where what seems to be a heart beating in it. "No idea!" Ace responds as he loads up a crossbow for himself, "It didn't work!" Jae's voice caught everyone's attention as they watch the beast rush quickly turns Bonny and Brittania.

Brittania's heart pounded against her chest as she shoves Bonny into the medical bay where Basil catches her, the navigator slams the door shut just in time as the large hand of the skeleton slams into her back. A scream rips from her feeling pain blossom into her body as while losing feeling in her legs, "Shoot! Shoot it!" Brittania screams after noticing no one was firing anything. Ace hesitated before firing the bolt after realizing if anything happens, Brittania was ready to sacrifice her life. "I am going to cover myself over the enemy!" Jae yells as they run over, "I'll get the fire!" Madog understands what plan Jae wanted to do. Ace loads another bolt as he watches the creature throw Brittania somewhere in the settlement, he heard no screams which made his heart ache. Another friend gone. "Enyo! Go find Brittania!" Ace orders, Enyo shot him a glare. He learned she didn't like taking orders but right now there was no time to argue, they might still have time saving Brittania if she is still breathing.

An animalistic scream leaves the skeletal beast as Madog shot a fire bolt into it, the beast started to swing its arms but Jae's slime harden due to the fire. It took only a few seconds before the beast was almost like it was frozen in time if it wasn't for the moving eyes and the fire. "Eirik! Shoot it with the gun of yours!" Ace orders causing the man to quickly now as he adds a small pellet into the weapon before firing it off square into the beast's skull causing the slime to shatter along with the bones of the enemy. "Water, Madog!" Ace states as he watches the fox scurrying off to get water for Jae and as well for the fire, "Once Jae is back together, Sven and Nick, you both will clean up the beast's remains. Zhi and Eirik, repair the gate." The wolf orders as he looks around but Uxue was no where to be seen. Hopefully she was with Enyo and they were saving Brittania but that thought was cut short when he heard Bonny scream in pain, this caused Ace to slam open the Medical Bay's door.

"What happened?" The wolf asks as he rushes over to his wife side where she was laying back on the bed, "The fear and stress of what happened forced her into labor!" Basil yells as he rushes over with a cart of supplies. "No! No! They aren't ready!" Bonny screams as she grabs onto Ace's arm, "Is there anything you can do to undo this?" Ace asks as Basil adjusts Bonny's legs. "Like it or not, they are coming and no one can't undo this." Basil states as he puts Ace's hand into Bonny's. "Don't let go of her hand and Bonny, your body is ready to push so don't stop pushing!" Basil orders before sitting down on a stool.

"Thank you." Jae mumbles as they lay on the ground, "You're welcome, how ya feeling?" Madog replies before asking as they help the slime up. "Like I was on fire before ice cold water was dumped on me." The slime replies causing the fox to laugh. "Sorry but you did great!" He replies before turning to help Sven and Nick in cleaning up, "Can you look for Enyo and Uxue?" Madog asks as he picks up a broom which Jae nods in response. Jae closes the medical bay's door before heading off to the directions of the farms, "Enyo! Uxue!" Jae calls out after not seeing them for a good while. "Over here!" The doctor's voice calls out in the direction of the cemetery, the slime took a deep breath before walking over to them. "She didn't make it?" Jae asks softly when she reaches Enyo's side, "No." The leader states bluntly as they watch Uxue dig. "Do we know what caused it?" Jae asks making Uxue look up, "Drown in her blood." Uxue replies as she looks over to the dark cloth covering the body. "No autopsy?" The slime asks as she sits down beside Enyo making the woman glare at her, "Why? We were there, we know how she died." Enyo snaps making Jae hold up their hands. "Sorry, I just thought that is what Uxue did regardless since she did it back in Settlement 22." Jae explains quickly, feeling uncomfortable now. "Only if I wasn't there and didn't have the full story but I was there." Uxue quickly explained as she placed a hand on Enyo's knee, "And you, you need to stop it. You can't be mean to someone that has questions. You know damn well they weren't being mean about it, they were curious." Uxue watches Enyo deflate before mumbling an apology to the slime.

"Breathe than push, Bonny, breathe than push." Basil's voice was on repeat as the bunny screams out in frustration and pain, "What do you see! GODDAMN IT!" Bonny yells as she lends her head against Ace's arm. "I see the top of the baby's head!" Basil replies as he stands up quickly to prepare himself to get a safe grip on the infant, it wasn't long before Basil lifted the baby in view for Ace and Bonny. "It's a boy." Basil says before Bonny screams again, "I feel another!" She cries out causing a slight panic in the bear. "Ace, you need to grab the other table!" He yells as pulls the infant table closer to set the baby down so he could get ready for the other, Ace forces Bonny's hand off his before rushing over to the other table across the room. "I thought you were sure there was one, Basil!" Ace states out in mild annoyance having to leave his wife's side as he pushes the extra infant table over and sets it close to the bed. "The test isn't always accurate!" Basil snaps as he stands up again when he sees the top of the other's head, "I see the head!" He announces as Ace grabs Bonny's hand again. "You are doing so well." Ace whispers into her ear as she lends her head against his shoulder, "A boy!" Basil shouts as he pulls the baby into view. "Congratulations, two boys. Whenever you finish catching your breath, I'll go get the book." Basil states as he names the boy with black tuff on it's head to Ace and the one with white to Bonny.

The door opening catches Ace's attention, "Sorry." Eirik immediately apologies as he stood in the doorway. "I just wanted to say I placed two cribs in your home so you don't have to worry about where to place them later." Eirik says as he returns Bonny's wave, "Thank you, Eirik!" Bonny says happily tired as Basil returns with a small book. "Yes, thank you, Eirik." Ace responds as he watches Eirik leave before he turns back to Basil. "Alright, What are the twins names?" Basil asks as he opens the book, "The white haired one is Casper, the other is Jasper." Bonny says quickly as Ace lays the newborns on their infant tables. "Alright. Bonny, you will stay here with the babies until the morning. Uxue and I will make sure there is no issues before allowing you out of here." Basil states making Ace's shoulders slump, "Would you like a bed to sleep by your wife later, Ace?" The bear asks not even looking up from his book. "Yes!" Ace yells happily making his wife giggle as she turns to see Uxue walking into the medical bay.

"Uh oh..." Uxue was surprised seeing two little beings on the infant tables, "Basil?" she asks with confusion as she makes a wide birth between the babies and her as she makes her way to the bear. "Don't worry, I'll handle the babies if you handle Bonny." Basil answers quickly in order to calm the woman as her frowns deepens when the babies start to cry, "They are hungry but they'll have to wait, Uxue could you clean her? I don't wish to any uncomforted when it isn't an emergency." Basil asks before stating why as he gets up to put away his book and help Ace calm the babies until Bonny is ready. "Of course." Uxue replies as she quickly pulls the curtains before getting a wash tub and rag.

The fox tilts his head as he watches Zhi past Nick and Sven towards him, "I just realized you said you were 148 YEARS OLD!" Zhi exclaims as he stood in front of Madog. "Wooooooow." Madog breathes out in shock as he blinks a few times, "It took you ten hours to register my age?" The fox asks with a grin as Zhi huffs in annoyance. "How are you that old!" Zhi demands as he throws out his arms before letting them hit his sides, "I don't know. How is Ace 106? How is Bonny 248? How is Basil ONLY 60? How is it that Jae doesn't remember how old they are?"Madog shot back as he lends on his knees. "How old was everyone in your unit?" The fox asks again as Zhi takes a step back before looking around him, "Why do you care how old we are? You're the one that seen the world build and fall over and over again." Zhi states as he sits down by the fox. "I answered your question, you answer mine. That was the deal." Madog says with a grin making the miner groan as he closes his eyes, "It been 6 years since we left the vault so Enyo is 26, I'm 28, Sven is 29, Sterre would be 34, Nick is 36, Sonja would be 38, Brittania would be 41, Monat would be 46, Eirik is 49, and I don't know Uxue's age." Zhi answers as he looks over at the hybrid. "Interesting, your leader is the youngest and it seems you don't have much knowledge on your medic." Madog muses as he looks at the medical bay, "Well, of course... I do..." Zhi starts before slowing down in realization as he tilts his head while his eyes drift to Eirik. "No. No. I don't know much about anyone to be honest." This caught Madog's attention as he looks over at the taller male, "Didn't y'all grew up together?" He asks in confusion as Zhi looks back at him.

"We all grew up in a vault together but that is all we have in common, I have vague memories of Eirik and Nick being married and having kids, Sven being a heartbreaker, Brittania had a child but I don't remember seeing a partner, Sterre had a husband and two kids, Enyo had a fiance but she was also having an affair, Monat had a wife but she died, I remember nothing of Sonja or Uxue." Zhi took a deep breath before looking around him, "I don't know them, I don't know what their life was like in the vault." Fox hums as he lends against Zhi's shoulder. "Then how do you know who is telling the truth and who is a liar?" He asks softly before standing up and walking away to the medical bay after seeing Basil waving him in. Those words settle into Zhi's mind as he slowly gets up and heads back to his hut, how does he know?

"I found the reason." Basil states confidently as he sits down in front of Bonny, "My dear friend, congratulations, you are pregnant." He announces with a big grin as he watches Bonny's eyes fill with tears. "You're serious?" She whispers out her question while looking down at her stomach, placing her hands on top of it. "You're serious." She states this time before looking back up at the bear-like man, "How far along?" Bonny hits him with another question as she gets up to go tell her husband. "Roughly between 3-4 months!" Basil yells as he watches Bonny rush out the small privacy room, he chuckles as he makes his way out into the medical bay.

"Miss Ali-" Basil starts before Sterre waves her hand with a small worry smile, "Please, I have been here for almost a year now. Call me, Sterre." The scientist speaks up as she stands up. "Ah, yes, sorry. Sterre, please come this way." Basil replies as he escorts her into the privacy room. "Your tests are back and we discovered that you are pregnant, you are about 2-3 months along." Basil states calmly as he watches the information sink into Sterre. "Wha- Are you sure?" Her voice shakes, her shoulders slump as her eyes fill with an unknown emotion. This was not good news. "Sterre, this is the second test. The first test could have been a mistake but two test came back positive. I am sorry but it's confirmed." He softens his voice, he didn't want to cause anymore stress. Sterre weakly pushes herself off the chair, "Okay. Thank you." It leaves Sterre in a monotone like way as she leaves the room and the medical bay.

Laughter and cheers fill the dining hall as soon as Bonny and Ace revealed the pregnancy. "I am not helping you care for a baby." Madog says after lending over to Bonny, the bunny laughs as she shakes her head. "No, I don't expect you to care for my baby but when they become a kid." She jokes causing Madog to laugh, "I'll be the best uncle!" He yells as he lends over to his husband to steal a kiss who happily gives. The door to the dining hall slams open as Jae and Enyo runs in, "Congrats, Bonny!" The two yell as they rush over to the table. "Thank you!" Bonny replies quickly as she was pulled into her husband's embrace.

To say Ace was stressed would be an understatement, "Please stay." He begs as he watches Bonny pack an expedition bag. "I am not staying here while you leave to go see Vault 22! I want to see it too!" Bonny huffs out in irritation. She been wanting to see a vault for years and a month ago, the residents of Vault 22 have accidentally told Bonny what the big expedition was. "Bon, please, look at it from my side. You are pregnant, carry our child. What if something happens to you? What if something happens to the baby? Hell, what if something happens to you both?" Ace pleads as he kneels down in front of his wife, tears starting to fall down and pass his cheeks. A heavy sigh leaves Bonny as she cups the hybrid wolf's face, gently she rubs her thumbs across his cheeks to wipe away the tears. Several moments pass between them before Bonny lends down and gives a quick kiss on his lips, "Fine, I'll stay but you better bring stuff back for me." Bonny demands as she gives into his pleading gaze.

A horrible feeling sinks into Basil's stomach when he realizes Sterre was going with the expedition, his mind was screaming at him to get her to stay but he shakes his head. It wasn't his business, her group can protect her but remembrance sinks in. No one knows besides him, no one knows she is pregnant. "If you keep staring you are gonna burn a hole through the poor girl." Madog jokes as he walks over to the bear but his mood shifts when he realizes the worry and fear surrounds the man, "What's wrong? Is she gonna harm us?" The fox whispers as he lends against the man's side. "No." Basil answers before putting an arm around Madog, "and I am staying here, remember? We decided to keep one medic behind for Bonny." He gently reminds the smaller male as he pulls him further from the group at the gate.

Once the two were far enough Basil lends down to his lover's ear, "Keep an eye out for Sterre, she's carrying." He whispers as Madog's squints his eyes. "Carrying?" He asks as he looks over at Sterre but a chuckle catches Madog's attention again, "Not like a trap, carrying. Carrying as in baby. She is pregnant, you himbo." He laughs as he tries to keep his voice down. A soft whine leaves Madog as he shoves his hands against Basil's chest, which does nothing to the big man. "I am not a himbo! Why did you say carry? That is our code word for explosives!" He snaps but it was between playful and serious, "Sorry, love, I was trying to be secretive in case someone heard us." Basil replies as he lowers his voice again. "Why do I have to watch out for her? Why not her team?" He asks as he looks back at the ex-vault dwellers, "Because she hasn't told anyone and I am the only one that knows due to doing her tests." Basil explains as he lends against a brick wall. A horrible feeling settles into Madog's gut as he turns to look at Basil, "Okay." Madog gives in. He gave Basil one last kiss before heading back to the group which was heading out the gates.

A scowl covers Sterre's face before she quickly looks over at Madog, "Why do you keep looking at me?" She asks quietly as to not alarm the group in front of them. "No pictorial reason." The fox said casually as he places his arms behind his head and looks forward, "I got a question though." He says quickly after before glancing back at the scientist. "And what would that question be?" She asks with annoyance as she looks at the group, "Who's the father?" Madog asks making Sterre snap her head to him in shock. "What?" Sterre whispers harshly, "What do you mean?" she glares at him as her hands tighten around the pack's straps. "Don't play dumb now." Annoyance fills Madog as he scuffs, "Who's the baby daddy?" the question was now more clear. Sterre's face covers in worry for just a few seconds before hardening into a glare, "That is none of your business and you know it isn't." She whispers with harshness. "Nah, nah you see it is my business when someone's lover lets their pregnant partner go on a dangerous expedition." Madog voice is quiet but it still shown how angry he was, "Because I know damn well if I knew Basil could somehow get pregnant and was going on a expedition I would lose my absolute shit. I would pull all the stops to prevent them from going so who the fuck is the shitty person that decided it was okay for you to go?" he didn't mean to be so harsh but if her lover wasn't going to protect her then damn him to hell because he was gonna to.

Silence grew between the two, which made Madog angrier by the second. "I don't have a lover and he doesn't know. No one but you, Basil, and me." Sterre finally whispers as her eyes shift to the ground, guilt filling her as she remembers the person's words. "Why the fuck doesn't he know?" He asks as he pulls her a bit further behind to talk above a whisper, "Because he said and I quote 'It was a moment of weakness and nothing else.' so I never told him because he is happy with someone else and I'll be damned if I be a homewrecker." Sterre replies as she starts to wipe away her tears, slowing down to a stop. "Can we please stop talking about it?" Her voice was small and sounding defeated. Sterre didn't want to remember that night nor the morning after, she doesn't want to remember how happy he is with Zhi and she doesn't have the heart to hurt Zhi even if it was indirectly. "Shit. Uh- Yeah, okay. Come on, lets hurry up before the group notices what's happening." Madog quickly says as he gently pulls Sterre closer to the group, hoping no one noticed.

It took roughly a week to reach Vault 22 and standing before the entrance was shocking, there was no door anymore. Any metal was gone, hardly ever a trace it was there. "What happened?" Jae asks as they carefully walked into the tunnel that was once a metal hallway, "A dangerous gas." Sterre replies, "It ate away at anything or almost anything." the scientist follows Jae further in. "Are you sure there will be medicine here?" Ace asks Uxue as he follows her down a separate hallway when they got to a four way split, "If I remember correctly the gas couldn't eat through wood, plastic, glass, or clothes." Uxue replies as she glances over her shoulder, "So the medicine should be safe." She sounded confident but Ace didn't sense any confidence from her.

"Sven." Zhi whispers as he lends down, placing a hand on the man's shoulder. "Sven, they didn't make it, remember?" Zhi's voice gently reminds the bigger man, "But there is no evidence of that! Look! Where is her body? Her clothes? Her bones?" Sven's voice raises as he looks around a destroy cafeteria table where he last saw his baby sister. "Hell, there is no evidence anyone died here!" He screams as he looks around the room, "They must have survived, escaped!" Hope filled Sven's voice but heartbreak covers Zhi's face. "No, Sven, no. I hate to be the bad guy here but they didn't survive, they didn't make it. The gas ate it all away." Eirik states after overhearing Sven, "We saw what happened that day, we know they didn't make it." Eirik sighs heavily as he rubs Zhi's back. Sven's shoulders slump as he looks down at the spot where he last saw his baby sister, "No hope? Not even a little?" Sven asks with a shaky voice while tears fill his eyes as he looks at Eirik and Zhi. Heartbreak fills him all over again as he watches his friends shake their heads, why couldn't he have hope that everyone survived?

Brittania didn't know what to believe as she stares down at the note before her, "Enyo..." She calls out to her leader while holding out the fragile paper. "What is it?" Enyo asks as she grabs the paper, when she started reading it she didn't know if it was a cruel joke or hope. "Do not tell anyone about this note." Enyo orders as she shoves it into her back pocket, "Regardless, we will check Deadfall before we head back to Rosabell." She states as Brittania nods in acknowledgement. If it was false then no one's hope would be broken, if it was true then it would be something to celebrate for.

Nick stood beside Jae and Madog in shock, "Sir, that is a very big hole." Jae says looking at the exploded area. Nick nods with a hum, his hands on his hips as he looks at the damage, "I have a funny feeling we can't fix this Vault into a settlement." Madog speaks up as he looks around himself. "Unless I suddenly became magically, there is no way we can." Nick whispers as he rubs the back of his head before looking over at the two. "Sorry, I hope this didn't crush your hopes too much." He sheepishly grins as he felt a sweat drop run down his face, "You are good, we prepared ourselves for the worse." The slime replies before they pick up a book. "What's Deadfall?" Madog asks as glances over Jae's shoulder seeing a word etched into the book's cover, "Deadfall?" Nick whispers as he looks over at them. "Deadfall is a settlement that fell to a sickness not too far from here." Nick states as he walks over to them, confusion washes over him when he sees the word on the book's cover. Why would that be craved into a children's book? Hell, he knows that book and that definitely wasn't there before that dreadful day.

"Told ya!" Uxue smiles as she opens the last plastic cabinet, "I knew we had medicine for pregnancy." Ace laughs as he opens his bag. "Do we take everything?" He asks as he watches her look through the medicine, "No, some of these are deadly to a baby. Here, these are what your wife needs." Uxue explains before having him several pill bottles. "Deadly? Why would someone want to do that?" Ace was confused by her words as he quickly takes the medicine, "In the vault you can have only so many children every 18 years. It was to keep us from overpopulating." She plainly explains as the doctor stood up. "And when you hit 13 you are put in an Unit, units are constantly sent out into the wastelands." Uxue states as she grabs various medicines, "What? Why?" Ace's voice raises in disgust and disbelief, "Because that is always how it has been, just like when you hit 65 you either get to choose when you hit 70 if you die or leave the vault to never return." Her voice was calm and nonchalant about it all. "And none of this sent you a red flag?" Ace asks as he runs a hand through his hair, "Ace, I get it. Looking from the outside in, it seems horribly. Cruel and inhumane but you grew up in the wasteland where there is no restrictions." Uxue starts as she lends against a wooden desk. "However, we grew up in a vault for a great portion of our lives. Yeah, we got to go scavenge but we hardly talked to anyone when we did. That was life to us, that was normal to us. So at the time, no, there was no red flags and when you're in a vault: what you consider a red flag sometime isn't one in there." Uxue explains as she watches Ace take in the information.

Enyo looks amongst the group before giving Brittania a quick glance, "We are going to stop by Deadfall." She announces making the group's faces show confusion at her words. "Why? Did the radio say they need help?" Eirik asks before seeing Nick hold out an old children's book, "I was about to ask you if we could stop by Deadfall." Nick intersects as Enyo grabs the book. "Jae found it and further into the damaged fields, Deadfall was also craved into the wall." Nick explains as a sigh leaves his leader, "We also seen it in the medical bay." Ace speaks up as he sees the word etched into the book cover. "It was craved into a wooden desk." Uxue explains as she pulls out a note, "and this piece of paper but it seems some of the words faded away." Uxue hands over the paper to Enyo before stepping back into her stop. "We found the word written on several tables," Sven says, hope evident in his voice as Zhi rubs his temples. "Let me guess, some of us believe they survived?" Eirik asks as his arms wrap around himself as he watches Brittania give a soft nod, "I sent Sterre ahead, if it is incorrect in any way then she will meet us on the road that parts back to Rosabell's direction. If not, we will continue our way to Deadfall." Enyo explains as Madog's stomach feels like someone was burning it. He forgot, he forgot to keep an eye on Sterre and now that horrible feeling is back.

Each hour that passed made the pain in Madog's gut worse, why was no one else worried? Was it because they didn't know she was pregnant? Regardless if that was the case, shouldn't they be scared even just a bit? No, instead everyone was oddly calm and quiet as they walk through the fallen town the settlement Deadfall resides in. "What if we can't get in?" The fox finally breaks the unbearable silence as he sees the settlement's gates in front of them in the distance, "I have yet met a settlement that has turned anyone way that wasn't during a storm warning." Enyo replies as she glances over to him and gives him a soft smile in hopes to calm his nerves. Madog returns the smile with a weak one of his, that didn't reassure him.

Eirik takes a deep breath before he slams the side of his fist against the metal doors of Deadfall, he takes a step back to stand beside Brittania as memories when they first arrived replay in his head. "Who is there?" A voice calls out, "Old Residents of Vault 22 and current residents of settlement 22!" Eirik shouts back as he tries to calm him. A few moments pass before the gates open, gasps fill the air in disbelief. "Mother?" Enyo whispers as she hesitantly steps closer to the familiar woman, the older woman gives a soft smile while opening her arms. "Hi, my little warrior." She whispers as she pulls Enyo into a tight hug, "How? I thought the gas got you." Enyo couldn't believe this. It seemed like a dream as she lends her head against her shoulder, "We did too back we woke up just fine, well, we woke up starving and injured but we were all alive." Enyo's mother explains vaguely as she pulls her further into Deadfall.

"Havana!" Sven's voice fills the air as he rushes forward, wrapping the little girl in his arms. "Havana, you are okay!" Happiness fills him as tears fall down his face, a fleeting though passes his mind; miracles do happen. "Enyo?" A familiar man's voice calls out making Enyo look over her shoulder, "Cobalt!" She yells as she pulls away from her mother and runs into her husband's arms. "Nice to see you again, love." He whispers into her hair as she sobs into his shoulder, he never wanted to let her go again. "Eirik!" Nikon's voice reached him before he could react, feeling a body slam into him. The pair fall to the ground before laughter leaves them, "Nikon!" He cheers as he holds his husband's face in his hands while giving him gentle kisses. "Zhi! Nick!" Two women voices shout out to the men making them turn around, "Mom!" They say in unison as they run over to hug their parents.

The fox hybrid trots over to Uxue, who was lending against a brick wall. "I hate to be a party pooper but I don't see Sterre here." He whispers as Jae nods behind the fox, "She is probably with her husband." Uxue calmly replies as her eyes stayed on the reunion before her. "Why are you so worried? She is going to be okay, she can handle herself quite well. I would know, she is one hell of a shot." The doctor jokes as she pushes herself off the wall, "I have a bad feeling!" Madog whisper yells to Uxue making her head snap in his direction. Uxue sucks her teeth as she remembers Harun saying Monat had a bad feeling before his incident but this time she was here. Why was there a bad feeling? "Okay. What do you want to do?" Uxue asks as she looks at the two hybrids, "We want to explore the settlement for Sterre." Jae speaks up as the fox nods. "Let me ask where Sterre is first and if I don't get an answer, I'll wave at you both to go ahead and search." Uxue explains before making her way to Enyo's Mother, Esther.

Jae huffs in frustration as they watch the doctor walk away, "What if they lie?" Jae asks looking at Madog before he looks back at the slime. "I have a feeling they will because something about this settlement ain't right." He replies as he grabs the slime's arm, "Let's go, we need to find Sterre and get the hell out of here." He didn't want to be here anymore. The people of Deadfall gave Madog and Jae a bad feeling, they looked so uncanny to them and they were hiding a malicious intent behind their eyes.

Madog believes whatever happened that dreadful day did kill those people because whatever these people are, is what woke it that vault. These people stole their bodies, hiding behind a false identity, and memories that isn't theirs. They smile too wide, they are way too friendly, they almost seem impatient, hell maybe they are impatient but about what? Madog hopes he doesn't find out. He hopes he can find Sterre and get the group out of here. "Madog!" Ace's voice calls out as he jogs up to him, "Where are you going?" He asks as he looks over his shoulder to where the people of 22 were. "I am off to find Sterre, I have a bad feeling something happened to her." The fox states as he lets go of Jae's arm, "Yeah, something is off." Jae whispers as they watch Ace nod in agreement. "I don't blame you for feeling like that, I feel the same way since the gates opened." Ace whispers as he starts walking further into Deadfall, "Then should we leave immediately and come back for Sterre later?" Jae asks as they jog up to them. "No, better to get Sterre so we have the whole group and then hightail it out of here." Ace reasons as he gave a quick glance around them.

The smelt it first before they even saw it, it took a few minutes to even find where the bad odor and iron was coming from. Jae gagged as they tried not to vomit at the sight in front of them, the slime almost didn't see her recognize her if it was for her ginger hair standing against the shadows of the alleyway. "We need to go!" Jae yells catching Madog's and Ace's attention, they jog over before having to immediately cover their noses. "Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!" Madog yells as he takes a step back, "I know we knew something was wrong but fuck, I didn't think they were cannibals!" he cries out as the sight forces him to look away. "Ace! Ace! What are you doing? We need to go and tell them!" Jae calls out as Ace walks further down the alleyway, "If someone told me, my friend died I wouldn't believe them." Ace replies as he lends down as fiddles with something. "Okay?" Madog's voice filled with confusion as he tries to watch Ace but ends up looking away, "We needed evidence." Ace spoke as he jogs back to them, holding a bloody bracelet.

Uxue looks over when she heard rushing footsteps, the doctor groans as she pushes herself off the wall and walks over to them. "Where the hell were you three? I didn't give you the signal to go exploring." She whisper yells to them as she pulls them over to where she was. "What did they say?" Jae shot back a question of their own, "Esther said Sterre is with her husband." Uxue replies back calmly as she lends back against the wall. "That's a bold face lie." Ace states as he holds out the bracelet, "She is in an alleyway, dead, and eaten." Madog explains quickly when he notices eyes were on them. The woman was quiet as she pulls the bracelet out of Ace's hand, "I need to stop ignoring my gut." she whispers as she stands up straight. Her mind kicking into gear, "Madog get Nick and Zhi, Jae get Brittania and Eirik, and Ace get Sven. I'll get Enyo. Try to get them out before we have to fight to get out." Uxue whispers before making her way to Enyo.

"Enyo!" Uxue calls out making her leader pull away from Cobalt, his glare doesn't go unnoticed by the doctor. "What's up?" Enyo asks as she walks over to the taller woman, "We need to head back to 22, the Old Watchman radioed me saying Sterre is with Baxtiyor." Uxue hopes she understands the message as she watches the gears move behind Enyo's eyes. After a few moments Enyo nods, "Unit 10 and fellow companions, we need to head back!" her voice rings out catching the residents of Deadfall off guard. "What? Why are you leaving so soon?" Esther asks as she places a gentle hand on her daughter's shoulder, "An emergency, mother. You understand since you ran a vault and now a settlement, we have many people to take care for." Enyo replies with a forced smile as she watches her people reluctantly pull away from their people. Madog, Jae, and Ace were standing beside their assigned people and they now noticed they were in a good position to protect the whole group for a few minutes if they were attacked.

A discouraged groan left Esther before she covered it with a cough, "Hopefully, you visit soon." She gives Enyo a smile as she watches everyone collect their packs and head towards the opens gates. Uxue was relieved that the settlement forgot about the gates and that they were so close to it, "Of course." Enyo replies quickly as she forces her group to move quicker. "No one talk, no one look back." Enyo orders quietly after they got a good hearing distance away, this cause confusion amongst the unknowing part of the group but regardless they listened.

It would be hours of silence that Sven finally breaks, "Okay. I can handle this anymore. Why are we leaving them behind? Why aren't we staying?" The man asked as pain fills his voice. He doesn't understand, his sister was right there, hell the whole vault was so why were they leaving it all behind. "They are not who we think they are." Uxue replies, "They may look like our people but whoever they are, they aren't them." Sven stops walking as he throws up his hands. "What? What are you talking about?" He asks as everyone around him slows down to a stop. Uxue digs into her back pocket before pulling out Sterre's bracelet and holding it out to Sven, "Ace and his group found it." Uxue starts as the confusion doesn't leave Sven's face, "She wasn't with her husband, hell maybe she was. Sterre is dead, they found her in an alleyway. Dead and eaten." There it was, horror and realization covering the unknowing people's faces. "We should have ended them!" Nick yelled as he runs a hand through his hair, "They are going to attack people that have no idea what they are!" Enyo shakes her head as she tries to remember anything that gave away them not being human. "We don't even know what they are or even if they can die." Jae speaks up, "They're right. They could be Wendigos, Skinwalkers, or anything else in that matter." Madog confirms as he folds his arms.

"Come on, we need to get back to Rosabell." Enyo orders, she didn't want to be so close to Deadfall when they settled down for the night. The group forces themselves to move but their movements were slow. Ace didn't blame them, didn't comment on it because he understands in a way. Being so happy finding someone you thought you lost years ago, just for it to be ripped away from you in just moments after. A heavy sigh leaves Ace as he sends Madog to the front of the group, he places Jae in the middle before he takes the back. They needed to be prepared if anything happens and right now, settlers of 22 were not aware enough to keep their guards up so they'll have to be the ones for now.

No one could ignore the dark clouds in the sky, it was confirmed any time now it will rain and not a little but enough to flood. "Sven can you tell the person in the radio shack to broadcast that our settlement's gates are close and any wanderers or travelers should seek safety near them." Enyo asks as she rushes around her office, the past few days have been a mess and now there is a storm threatening to wipe out anything in it's way. "Yeah, of course. I'll remind them on my way to the mines." He replies quickly as he hands her a blue folder she has been looking for, a soft thank you leaves her as she heads out the door of her office.

"Close the gates!" Sterre yells close to the guard's face, not because she was angry. Oh absolutely not, it is because the winds were deafening. The winds picked up after the radio broadcast that the gates of settlement 22 would only be open for another hour before closing until the storm passes however they didn't expect for the winds to be so strong so they left it open for an extra hour since the travelers and wanderers would have difficulties. Sterre's shoulders relaxed a bit when the gate finally closed and locked before being braced for any flooding, Sterre double checked the guards to make sure everyone was ready for the long day ahead of them.

Uxue slumps against an armchair in the lounge as she closes her eyes, it felt like the days she was in Deadfall. People were coming in with horrible windburns, bruises and cuts from being thrown in the wind, to some coming in to make sure their hearing was still okay due to how loud the wind was. No, she isn't upset that people were coming in. No, she isn't upset that some of the things were minor. She is proud that they came in because it could have been something dangerous but regardless, it still made her tired.

Sven grins while he shakes his head, lightly pushing on Zhi's shoulder. "That is my snack, you little shit." Sven jokes as Zhi's laughter fills the air as he lends against the younger man, "But you said I could have it!" The slightly shorter male points out as he pops the chopped up carrot piece into his mouth. "I said you could have HALF." The brunet restates as quickly grabs one of the sweet mini yams, "Half, all of it. Same thing." Zhi smiles as he lays his head on Sven's shoulder.

The head miners look at the entrance of the resting room when they heard someone call their names, "Leader Grigorescu and Leader Fabian, Leader Danielsen that the mines are closing now." A young lady yells into the mines, her voice bouncing off the walls. The two men heavily sigh as they start to pack up, Sven heading out first to get the young lady to stop yelling into the mines. After a moment, Zhi was behind him following them out of the mines along with the other fellow miners. Sven places a warning sign on the mines to make sure no one goes in without acknowledging that fact that their life is at risk more than normal if they do.

"We checked everything around the settlement, we are prepare for a flood." Brittania confirms as her pencil glides across the paper, "Are you sure? Will you check again?" Enyo asks as lets her hair down from her ponytail. "No, Enyo. This is the sixth time, I am not sending people out to just repeatedly reassure you everything is fine so believe me when I say that we. are. fine." The blonde's voice is harsh as she looks up at the brunette, Enyo frowns while her shoulder slumps. She knows Brittania wasn't being mean to hurt her feelings, she knows people are tired from the stress this week has caused but it felt targeted. "Enyo. Enyo, please, look at me." The navigator's voice softens as she gets up from her chair to pull the woman into a hug, "No matter what happens, just know it was no one's fault. We have no clue how strong this flood will be, this is our first flood if it even does flood. All our knowledge is out of books we read in the libraries or learn from the older generations, so don't beat yourself up if anything goes wrong." Brittania reassures as she holds her leader, the stress of overthinking finally gets to Enyo. She cries into the navigator's shoulder as she hopes they make it through this, she hopes the settlement can withstands this storm.

The wind was deafening, the rain hit hard against any surface it met against, and the high rising water of the flood shown no mercy as it rips through the settlement. Everyone thought they were prepared for the flood, everyone thought that the settlement could handle ANYTHING that hits it but they were wrong, so wrong. Sven held Nick and Zhi close to him as they sat on top of Nick's craftsman shop, they barely made it. Zhi was almost taken by the harsh waters if it wasn't for the other two's quick reflects. Brittania and Enyo sat on the roof of the unit's home with worried and distracted looks on their faces as they watch the storm carry on, Eirik was trying to save a civilian but he got swept away with the current. Uxue and Sterre were in the medical center, they had no time to get to cover when the water took them.

It would be days until the storm finally passes and a few more for the flood to disappear. The survivors were in shock, the flood leveled their settlement to the ground besides a handful of buildings. Everything they worked for was gone, everything they build was gone, and they had no clue where anyone was or even if they were alive. Enyo's and Brittania's stomachs ache with hunger but hunger wasn't on their minds as they searched amongst the survivors for any familiar faces, the girls raced to the boys when they immediately recognized them. Zhi screams in happiness as he pulls Enyo into a hug as Brittania hugs Sven and Nick, "Eirik got taken by the flood." Enyo says quickly while she pulls away. "Fuck, okay, let's get ourselves taken care of and we'll go look for the rest of our unit." Sven's voice was rough from hardly talking, hell, it hurt to talk even. The groups agrees quietly before looking amongst the ruins of their settlement for food, supplies, and anything else that could help them.

Groans of pain left Eirik as his arms shake while he pushes himself into a sitting position, his body ached as he scans his surroundings. He could see a radio tower off in the distance with '22' sign on it, he relaxes noting to himself that the tree he fell out of obviously prevented him from going to far from his settlement. Eirik as careful as he can be, moves himself into a standing position. Grimace and pain crosses his face as he starts heading back to his settlement, his right leg feels broken and there is back radiating from his lower back as he stumbles across the uneven landscape.

"Medic! Medic! We need a medic!" A stranger's voice calls out, Enyo's looks over her shoulder. Curiosity got the better of her and she was glad that she let herself give into it, there lending against the big man was Eirik. He was battered, bruised, and broken. A young lad rushes over to Eirik as well as the unit, "Eirik, oh my god, Eirik. I thought the flood took you!" Brittania cries out as a pained groan leaves the man when she hugs him. "Please, ma'am, I need to see the damage." The young medic gently reminds her, she quickly pulls away as she apologies. "I got caught in a tree, I also fell out of that very same tree." Eirik chuckles a bit as he thinks about it, "Is there anything to eat? I'll eat bark at this point." The man states as the medic starts to clean the wounds the best he could and dress them. "Yeah, yeah." Zhi quickly replies as he runs back to their spot to grab the bowl he was eating out of, racing back and handing it to Eirik. "Did you see Uxue or Sterre?" Nick asks as he makes makeshift crutches after hearing Eirik's leg is broken. "No, I saw no one even near me. I don't think anyone was lucky enough to be as close as I saw to the settlement." The injured man answers as he sets his crutches beside him on the wooden crate, the unit's shoulders slump in disappointment. They hopes starting to fade but they hope none the less that the other two were alive.

"Uxue! Uxue!" Sterre calls out as she walks through the debris and unresponsive bodies, fear rushing through her rises with every passing thought about what could have happened to her. Distance yelling to her left caught her attention, Sterre starts moving in that direction but the closer she got, the more she slows down. She recognize the voices, Uxue and Sonja. Sterre lends against a sturdy tree as she peeks around the trunk of it. Uxue was holding her side, laying on the muddy ground as Sonja stood above her with a gun pointed at her. "Sonja, for the love of anything in this world, stop!" Uxue yells as she pushes herself back in hopes to create distance but Sonja just follows, "Why? You helped throw me out." Sonja sneers before slamming a foot into the doctor's chest. A scream rips from the injured woman, her hands wrap around the engineer's ankle.

Uxue doesn't know what was scarier, the gun being pointed at her head or the empty eyes staring into her soul. The doctor closes her eyes, she was too weak to fight against the former ally of hers. A shot rung out, just as confusion fills her a body slams against hers. A scream of shock leaves Uxue as she pushes the body off her before realizing it was Sonja, a bullet hole between the eyes explains what happens but it wasn't self inflicted. "Are you okay?" A distance voice yells as a several footsteps grew closer, Uxue looks over to see a group of four heading her direction. "Yes but no." She replies when they finally get close enough, she weakly pulls herself in a sitting position before lending back on her elbows. "Ah, name's Basil. I am my group's medic." A large man announces as he kneels down beside her, "I am a doctor back in my settlement. Name's Uxue." She quickly replies before a sharp gasp cuts through the air when he moves her leg to see if it went straight through. "Basil is my husband! My name is Madog! I am the hunter!" A man with golden eyes spoke happily as he gave the area a quick look area before staring off into the destroyed forest, "Name's Ace, I am the leader and this is my wife, Bonny. She is a chef but like all of us, variously talented." A man in all black speaks up after a few moments of silence.

"You can come out." Madog rises his voice, he could easily see a woman peeking out from behind a tree. By the look on her face alone, she was terrified but he doesn't know if it was them or what happened pier. None the less, the woman finally pushes away from the tree and stumbles her way towards them. "Sterre!" Uxue shouts, she moves to get up but Basil was quicker to push her back down to keep checking her. "I am assuming she is her friend but as a doctor, you should know you can't do much to help her if you don't help yourself first." He states quietly as he starts wrapping up the wounds after getting them as clean as possible. "Yes, please, I am in better shape then you so please don't worry too much." Sterre says as she sits down besides the doctors, her eyes scan the four strangers. "Are you- um-" Sterre starts but she doesn't know how to phrase the question without seeming rude, "Ace and me are only half mutants, older generation. Basil and Madog are not full mutants but pretty close to it, they are a newer generation." Bonny explains, understanding what Sterre wanted to ask.

The bear-like man helps Uxue walk back to the groups' settlement, Madog scouted ahead of the group. His eyes and tall ears making sure no enemies were out to get them or anymore survivors needing help. They had to stop every now and again to let the injured rest but after a few hours, they made it to a small settlement up on the mountain where the forest was at the base of. The gates open as a semi-transparent person let out a happy scream, "You are back! No one arrived since you left!" They cheerfully state before worry covers their face. "What happened? Who are they?" The slime-like person asks as they rush over to help Sterre into the settlement, "Uxue and Sterre, they say they're from settlement 22." Ace answers as he helps Bonny shut the gates. "Ah! My name is Jae! I am mainly fix things but I vary in many things." They state happily as they helped Sterre into a chair in the medical bay.

A sharp gasp leaves Uxue as she shot up into a sitting position, her heart pounds against her chest as she quickly looks around herself. It has been roughly a week since she been in settlement Rosabell and two days since Ace contacted settlement 22 through their radio but it didn't ease her nightmares or homesickness. The bulky woman lends back down into the bed but refusing to shut her eyes, she didn't want to see those empty eyes looking back at her. She didn't want to remember Sonja's last moments, she didn't want to feel the guilt all over again when she hears Sonja's words on repeat in her head. "Nightmares?" A soft voice breaks the silence, Uxue turns her towards the door of the medical bay. "Yeah." She softly replies as she watches the fox-like man quietly move further into the room, "I get them too." He states as he sits down at the edge of her bed. "Your leader, Enyo, I think. She said to tell you that your unit will be here soon." Madog smiles softly as he relays the message, "Apparently, your home is currently gone but we have enough room to take your unit in but your unit couldn't leave your settlers alone and lost so they are rehousing them in nearby settlements."

The doctor chuckles as she looks up at the ceiling, "That seems about right." She states as an arm is placed behind her head. "I would be doing the same if I was there but are you sure this is okay?" The brunette asks, the fox chuckles in response. "If it wasn't, Ace would never offer it." Madog states with full confidence as he pulls himself off the bed, "It is almost morning, would you like help getting to the cafeteria?" The slender man asks as he walks over to the wheelchair. "Yes, please." Uxue replies as she carefully sits up this time before moving to the edge and with help, she got into the wheelchair. "I'll let Miss Aliprandi sleep in a few more hours before waking her for breakfast." He said with a snicker as he quickly pushes the wheelchair to the dining hall.

Uxue looks up when the sound of her office door opens, there in the doorway stood Harun. The doctor frowns, noticing the thin man was being nervous. "Good morning, Harun. The group therapist won't be here until noon today." The doctor states as she looks back down at her paperwork, "I- I- um... I know that, she told me yesterday that she would be late today." Harun's voice was barely above a whisper but the quiet office made it easy to hear him. The scribbling of Uxue's pencil stops before she looks up at Harun's hazel eyes in question, "Are you having bad thoughts again?" Concern dripped off the doctor's words as she sets the pencil down; giving Harun her full attention. "No! No! It's- well-" Harun sighs heavily as he slumps down in left chair in front of Uxue's desk, "Dr. Short said if I feel like it I should talk about Leader Scotti's death but I don't want to talk to Dr. Short about him, about that day."

A soft hum left Uxue as she lends back in her chair, it has been two years since Baxtiyor's death. Everyone refused to talk about it, no one wanted details as much as Uxue did. That day confused her, left her with so many questions but she didn't have the heart to pressure anyone for details and now she might get it but was she ready for it? "If you wish to talk about it, who would you like to talk about it with?" Uxue asks as she stood up to retrieve her walkie talkie, "I wish to speak with you, Dr. Gottlieb." The blond replies quickly as he rubs his palms against his jeans. It was obvious he was nervous, maybe even scared. The armoire door closes as Uxue walks over to the door locking it before closing the curtains, "Okay, gave you some more privacy. You can start whenever you like." Uxue's voice eased Harun slightly as he watches her sit down in the chair beside him.

Uxue's left hand held the blond man's head against her right shoulder as her right hand held his hip, her back was against the desk as they sat on the floor. Heavy, loud sobs violently shook Harun's body. "I'm not mad at you, no one is mad at you." Her voice soft and low as she spoke, "You were just following orders, you were trying so damn hard to do your best and you did your best." But the man shook his head the best he could, his hands gripping her upper arm as he cries out. "I should have said no! I should have- I- I-" His voice cut off as breathing started to become difficult. "Harun. Harun! Look at me- Look at me, kid. You are not in the fault. This is NOT your fault and it will never be. You were given an order, an order you thought at the time was correct. You couldn't predict that something bad would have happened." Uxue's voice harden as she held Harun's face in her hands, the very face that looked utterly destroyed and lost of any hope. "You did good. You DID good." The doctor whispers as the small man lends against her, the sobs weaker now but just as heart breaking.

"Why would I give that order, Uxue? Tell me!" Sonja screams as the wrench bounces off the concrete floor before landing somewhere out of sight, "You are known for giving reckless orders!" Uxue's voice was on the brink of yelling but she wanted to refrain from that, she wanted to be levelheaded in this moment. "Oh, I am! If that is the case then why are you asking?" The engineer huffs as she looks over to the door of her shop seeing Enyo enter, one of her worker's must have notified the head leader. "Because I want the whole story and you been avoiding the most important part, the five minutes before I arrived in the train yard!" Uxue yells, finally she was tired of this stupid game of tip toe. "Uxue." Enyo's voice was sharp, cutting through the tension in the workshop, "Let's go." The leader demands. Uxue closes her eyes as she grits her teeth, regardless she turns around and heads out the front door of Sonja's workshop.

"You can't do that, Uxue, you can't force people to talk. You are a doctor, you know this so why did you do it?" Enyo's voice is soft as she rubs Uxue's back as they sit at the dining table, Uxue holds her head in her hands as a heavy sigh leaves her. "Harun came to me today wanting to talk about that day, he says Sonja gave him an order." The doctor starts as she looks over to Enyo, "An order to start cutting, Harun said Sonja covered Bax's mouth when- when he started to beg him to wait." Uxue's voice wobbled as she looks down at the table. "If Sonja ordered that, if she covered his mouth..." Uxue's voice trails off, Enyo pulls Uxue to her. Enyo held her close, "Sonja wouldn't do that, Sonja was in love with Bax." She whispers in hope to ease Uxue's mind.

Enyo pulls herself quietly out of bed, she makes sure Uxue is still covered before leaving the room and heading down the hallway to the kitchen for a midnight snack and something to drink. The front door opening catches her attention, looking over her shoulder as she takes an apple from the fruit bowl. "Ah, Sonja. It's late, is everything okay?" Enyo asks as she goes to retrieve a knife and a plate to cut up her snack of the night, "Yeah, was just trying to get ahead of my tasks for this week." Sonja softly answers as she takes off her shoes and puts her coat on one of the hooks by the door. "Is Uxue home?" The engineer asks as she lends against the island, Enyo shrugs as she glances over at Sonja. "She might be, she also might be at work." Enyo answers as she gives the knife a quick rinse before putting it back into the knife block, "Well, she isn't at work, I checked before I got here. I'm gonna go see if she is in her room." Sonja's voice drifts quieter as she heads down the hallway to Uxue's room.

"I gave him the order and gagged Bax but I didn't gag him because he was begging, I gagged him because he was screaming." Sonja states as her fingers dug into her jeans, her mouth felt dry as she watches the information sunk into her friends' minds. "Why didn't you wait for me?" Uxue asks while lending forward, Enyo grabs her upper arm incase Uxue decides to get up. "I... I thought you were close enough, I thought you were maybe just a few minutes away and we could handle it till you arrived." Sonja answers with hesitance, that same hesitance gave Eirik a feeling in his gut that she was lying to them. "If you thought that Uxue was a few minutes away, why didn't you just wait?" Eirik asks as his eyes narrow, "I guess I wasn't thinking properly at the time." The engineer quickly replies as she looks around at everyone. "Sonja, are you hiding anything from us?" Sven asks with a harsh tone, nothing seemed to add up. Why wouldn't she wait for Uxue? Why did she gag Bax? Why was she so damn nervous? "No. That's the full story, that's it. I gave a stupid order, did something stupid, and now I wish I could take that back." Sonja snaps, she pushes herself out of the chair before storming out of the house.

The silence that filled the air was a mix of emotions before Eirik finally broke it, "I have a feeling that it was intentionally." Eirik whispers as he looks over his shoulder at the front door. "Why do you think that?" Zhi asks as he cards his fingers through Nick's hair, Nick looks up from Zhi's lap to watch Eirik. "Bax was..." Eirik starts before sighing heavily, "Bax and Sonja were in a relationship, we all know this but since Deadfall, Bax had confess to feeling like he was missing something." Eirik explains as he tries to find the correct words as he takes a seat beside Sterre. "Bax told me roughly five months before the expedition that he felt more... Bax felt more like Monat." Eirik says making everyone confused, "What's a Monat?" Sterre asks carefully as she lends forward a bit to get a better view of Eirik's face that seemed quite focused. A weak chuckle leaves Eirik as he shakes his head, "Monat isn't a what, Monat is a who and Monat was Bax. Bax was a she, not a he anymore. She felt out of place in her body, she did her best to ignore it because there wasn't anything anyone could do to help her but in private until she was comfortable telling everyone, I called her Monat." Eirik explains with a soft smile on his lips.

"What does this have to do with what happened? Sorry, not trying to be insensitive but I'm confused what does that have to do with what happened." The quick question felt Sven as he lends against the loveseat Enyo and Uxue were on, "Monat wanted to tell Sonja this since Sonja was important to her, so after dinner that was a week before the expedition; we told her but- she didn't take it well at all. She avoided Monat for the entire week and before they left, her giddy self seemed... simply, it seemed forced like she didn't want to be near Monat more than she has too." He confesses as he closes his eyes. Sterre touches Eirik's hand before Eirik grips it for comfort, "Are you implying that this was murder?" Nick's voice filled with disbelief as he sits up. "Yes." Eirik answers as he wipes his tears away, "I believe so because the very same day, Monat told me she felt scared to be with Sonja. I hate to think that Sonja would do this but this isn't the first time she reacted poorly to someone confessing how they feel to her." He states as he tighten his hold on Sterre's hand.

Enyo rubs her head trying her best to understand all of the information being thrown at her, "Who else?" She asks as she lends against Uxue's shoulder. "In the Vault, my wife was Sonja's best friend then they suddenly fell apart. The week they fell apart was the week my wife told Sonja that she wished to be called Nikon in private as well to be addressed as a he." Eirik explains as he lends back into the couch, "My lover cried for months before finding comfort in Monat, I ain't gonna lie; I thought they were screwing behind my back but now that I know what I know. I am happy that my late husband and my late girlfriend found peace in that vault." A sad happiness shown in Eirik's eyes as he finally told them the secrets he has been carrying. "WAIT! You and BAX- OUCH!" Nick was cut off when Sven slapped him on the back of his head, "Monat. It's Monat now Nick." Sven corrects with a small smile. "Sorry! You and Monat were together?!" Nick apologies before quickly following it up with a question. "Yeah and I do NOT regret it." The welder replies as everyone started to talk amongst each other and for a moment they forgot about Sonja but it didn't last long when they hear the front door slam open then shut. Uxue and Enyo gone from the living room.

To say settlement 22 was in shock, was the understatement of the year. No one understood why Sonja was being exiled from the settlement but they were cooking up theories as the citizens part away from each other as Uxue was through with a stuffed backpack, the doctor throws it down at Sonja's feet before standing behind Enyo. "Sonja, based on the evidence I have received it has become clear that you have murdered Baxtiyor." Enyo's voice booms as Sonja stares in shock, "No! No, no, no, no!" Sonja couldn't believe what she was hearing. This couldn't be right, this can't be right. It had to be a nightmare because there was no way the people she grew up with were throwing her out into the dangers of the land. "And from this day on, there will be changes. A hour ago, it has been made clear that people do not feel like the gender they were born with. Baxtiyor was one of those many people, he wished to be called Monat. Her headstone will be changed and from this day onwards, anyone with respect will address her properly." Enyo announces as she looks around at the settlers, "If you feel like you cannot respect Monat's wishes then you can go with Sonja and if you don't, if I caught you or anyone tells us that you have been disrespecting Monat and anyone like Monat; I will deal with you personally." The settlers look amongst each other, no one dares make a move in Sonja's direction.

It didn't happen overnight but things changed, not in a bad way but a good way. Yes, there was backlash from the radio and the paper but settlement 22 stood strong. The Unit leaders refused to back down and they would be damned if they did in the memory of their friend whose life ended too soon because someone else didn't agree with their change. It would take several months before Enyo discovers a book explaining that is was gender dysphoria and the people identify as transgender, Enyo made sure the unit read it or at least had a decent idea about it. It would be almost a year when medic scavengers found medical books for transgender people, unfortunately some of the surgeries would be impossible but didn't mean Uxue wouldn't try everyday to come up with a way to do them or create a different surgery to get it done. Another downside would be, no matter what Sterre tried or change in the medicine; it just wouldn't work. She felt like she failed after a year of trying, people still were grateful she tried but she felt like she failed Monat.

A sad smile rests on Eirik's lips as he stood in front of Monat's grave, "You did it, you changed our settlement to be safer. Our friends were so accepting of you and you were right about Nick, he slips every now and again but he tries so damn hard." his voice carries on the wind as he kneels down. "I hate to say I told you so but we should have totally told Enyo, she held so much love in her eyes when she realized why you looked in those magazines. She wishes so badly she knew the real you, hell, the whole group does. They beat themselves up sometimes, saying they should have seen it but you were kept secrets so well." Eirik explains as he sits down, he reaches forward grabbing a pale yellow flower from the vase. "I miss you, Monat. Can you tell, Nikon, I miss him too?" He asks quietly as he looks up at the night sky, a shaky breath leaves him as he places the flower back before getting up. "I love you both so god damn much." He states as he quietly leaves the cemetery.

Settlement 22 grew over several months, gaining a positive reputation across the wasteland and maybe further beyond. Radio stations take about the settlement at least once a week and soon Settlement 22 had build a radio station themselves. This helped to communicate with their people, other settlements, and wanderers.

Settlement 22 expanded, making more room for people that wish to stay and even work. Unit 10 remembers the first night when a family of 3 asks to stay, asked if they could be there forever with them. They cried that night, a mix between happy tears and sadness. Happiness that they finally had enough status for people to want to leave there but sadness when Unit 10 remembers settlement Deadfall and how they also wished the same.

"What has gotten you so gloomy, Zhi?" Zhi looks over his shoulder to see Uxue in the doorway that access the rooftop, "I- It didn't work out. Eileen and me didn't work out." Zhi whispers just loud enough for Uxue to hear him. Soon she was beside him lending back on her elbows watching the night sky along with him, "Is this the 'break' break up or the 'we fought but tomorrow we will be fine' break up?" The asking voice was a little harsh but concern was evident even with it, "The 'break' break up." He answers as he lays down placing his arms behind his head. "I gave up, I can't keep standing beside them when they keep flirting with every guy they see and I was too tired to bring it up again and fight... I gave up." His voice grew small near the end, strain building up in his throat as he tries not to cry. It wasn't that he believed he shouldn't cry, it was because he was tired of crying today.

Uxue turned to her left to look at Zhi, her usual frown is deeper as she watches him for a few seconds. "It was their fault, they were too damn happy about the fact that you stopped bringing it up. They were consumed by that, they thought you were finally okay with the problem." She starts as Zhi's eyes close, "They were so blinded that they didn't even notice that you stop fighting for that relationship, that you built up a wall to the point of no return. A wall that you didn't want to happen but it protected you from them." Uxue sit up after Zhi did, Zhi's wavy hair covered his face but the tears that hit his pants shown he was crying. "You did so well. You DID so well." Uxue whispers over and over again as Zhi lends against her shoulder, her left arm wrapped around his back as he hugs himself.

The two stand on the rooftop for another hour before finally getting enough energy to walk down the stairwell to head home. Zhi knew a broken heart can't heal over night but it was nice to be reassured that what happened was NOT his fault, that he did everything he could. No, broken hearts do not heal over night but reassures does help the insecurities along the way to healing. Zhi was grateful for the friends he grew up with and still have to this day, sometimes he wonders what would have happened to him if he didn't have them.

Zhi heads upstairs to his room as Uxue heads to the living room, the dark brunette smiles softly as she grabs the blanket off the back of the couch before laying it across Enyo's sleeping form. "You are going to have a stiff neck tomorrow but that is your problem." The bulky woman whispers as she walks off down the hallway under the stairs, she heads to her room for the night. Tiredness finally being acknowledge as she sits on the edge of her bed, kicking off her boots before lazily crawling into bed, too tired to remove her clothes as she falls asleep.

To say Baxtiyor was nervous was an understatement, even though Sonja was coming with him along with the two learning workers. The group needed to gatherer certain items from a train yard that was an hour away, nothing too unnerving about it. The unnerving part was the wind, the wind was unpredictable today. Baxtiyor's gut told him to stay home, he would have listened if they didn't need these items today but unfortunately the windmills he is making need it and so do the machines the engineers are making.

Sonja pats Baxtiyor's right shoulder with a smile, "It is gonna be fine! Since there is four of us, it will only take two hours and a half!" She states as she adjusts her backpack. "Are you sure we can't bring a medic just in case?" The Builder asks again as he watches the other two get ready, "We don't need a medic, we need you to know what to get for your builds." Sonja states as she signal for the workers to follow as they head out the gate.

She wished she listened, she wished she brought a medic, she wished they just waited for tomorrow. The winds were unpredictable but she never knew they were going to get so strong, she doesn't understand how they could get that strong. Strong enough to turn a train cart over on its side, strong enough to carry heavy items several feet away from there original spots.

The small team entered the train yard, they split up to decrease the scavenging time. It was around 10 minutes in when the winds picked up drastically, Sonja counted herself lucky that she was inside the station when the wind started to cause absolute chaos. It felt like hours even it finally stopped but when it did, she could hear yelling and screams of pain. Sonja raced up the steps, scanning the area of the train yard. Train carts were overturned, scrap sheets were everywhere, and the warehouse was crumbled on the ground.

"Sonja! Sonja!" One of the workers shouted for her as they run over, "It is Baxtiyor! He is stuck and Harun is trying to find something to get him out!" Tine says as she pulls the taller woman towards an overturned train cart. There he was, his right arm stuck underneath as he pushes on the roof of the train cart even though it would do nothing. Sonja wishes she brought Uxue, she wishes she brought some medic with them, she wishes she listened to him.

Baxtiyor eyes locked with Sonja, "Help me! Please do something!" He cries out as he feels like his arm was burning. "I found a hand saw!" Harun announces as he jogs up to them, horror sets in Sonja's stomach at the thought of any one having to cut her best friend's arm off. People here either had very little knowledge of medical emergencies or none at all, she knew enough that if they do try to cut off the limb it would take roughly an hour or at least she remembers that's what Uxue said once at the dinner table.

"We need to be prepared to move when we finish, so we need something to carry Baxtiyor back to the settlement." Sonja states as she finally pries her eyes away from her dear friend, "We also need something to stop the bleeding!" Tine quickly adds as she looks at Sonja. "Okay, Tine find something to stop the bleeding and anything else you may need. Harun, come with me to find something to carry Bax!" The nervousness in Sonja's voice was obvious as they head off to look for anything to help their situation.

They found a wheelbarrow but they couldn't find cloths of any kind for the bleeding part. Harun gave up his shirt but Tine stated it wouldn't be enough, regardless Sonja told her to try. Harun kneeled down beside Baxtiyor, he was nervous. He was about to cut this man's arm off, a member of Unit 10, a leader of Settlement 22, and a best friend to many people. If this goes wrong, would they blame him? Harun felt a hand on his upper arm, "Deep breath, kid and don't stop even when I start screaming." Baxtiyor whispers as he tries to ready himself for the pain.

"Tine, go back to the settlement and retrieve Uxue. If anyone else says that Uxue can't go, tell them I requested her." Sonja ordered, her voice filled with determination as she rethinks the situation. "What? Why?" Harun's and Tine's voices mix together as confusion filled the air, "We should hold off as long as possible and if a medic can get here after we sever his limb, they could do something. Mostly because something will go wrong." Sonja states as she sits down beside Baxtiyor. "Good thinking." The words left the injured man as he watches Tine nod before running off.

Metal on metal echoes through the medical center causing a certain dark brunette to swivel around with a glare as she looks at the culprit but that glare did not stay long as she recognize the person that went with her two beloved friends, "What happen." Uxue demands as Tine rushes over to her. "Baxtiyor is trapped under a train cart!" Tine didn't mean to yell but she was scared that she took too long, "What do you mean! All of him or some of him?" Uxue demands as she pulls the younger girl behind her as she heads to the medical storage. "His right arm is underneath, caught between stone and the train cart. Harun is ready to cut his arm off in about half a hour!" Tine stumbles over her words as she speaks quickly. A heavy sigh leaves the doctor as she quickly packs a bag, "Is the blade serrated?" Uxue asks as she looks at her tools. "What?" Confusion filled Tine as Uxue turn to her with two tools, a blade with tiny teeth and one with none. "The one with teeth is the one he is using." Tine points out before Uxue put in a scalpel and a medical saw, "Why did you ask?" Nervous filled Tine as she asked. "Dull rusty serrated blades cannot cut through human bone, no matter how hard you try." Uxue explains, "Yes, if it is sharp it can but the more it goes the more dull it gets meaning you have to stop quite a lot to sharpen it to continue." That made the pit in Tine's stomach grow as she follows Uxue out of the settlement.

Tears covered Uxue shoulder as she holds Sonja, guilt fills her as she watches Tine pull a sheet out of her back and covered Baxtiyor's body that laid in the wheelbarrow. Harun was still holding the rusty handsaw, he stood with a broken look as Tine walks over. Carefully, the young girl pulled the tool out of his grip before placing it on the train cart beside them. Uxue knew that Harun will be haunted by this, will feel unbelievable amount of guilt for what he did even after being reassured he only did it to try and save Baxtiyor.

Silence grew in Settlement 22 as Uxue pushes the wheelbarrow towards the cemetery, all eyes were on her as people come to realize the settlement lost someone important. "Uxue, who is it?" The shaky voice belonged to Enyo, the leader of Unit 10. "Uxue. Who is it." This time she demanded as she watches the doctor set the wheelbarrow down. "Bax..." The doctor replies as she turns to her unit, "how?" Sven gasps out as he watches Brittania rush pass her to pull down the sheet. "Blood loss. He got trapped under a train cart and one of the workers tried cutting off his arm to save him." She explains before walking off to get a gravedigger. Her mind was on overdrive, too worked up to seriously process what has happened. Zhi was in the same boat, overwhelmed by everything.

Two weeks has passed since Baxtiyor's burial, one week since the funeral, and a day since they announced on the radio about his passing. People in settlement 22 mourned and tried to help the leaders through this tough time but most through themselves into work or hide away in the house. They never thought losing Baxtiyor would hurt more then losing Vault 22 but it did and it was not letting up anytime soon. Weeks to come, the people of Unit 10 wore black and hardly talked to anyone. It would be around the time when fall starts settling into winter when Unit 10 slowly stops wearing black and socializing again, doesn't mean the pain is gone but the pain is bearable now. They still cry when talking about memories of him, they still stop in the doorway of his room, and they still sometimes call out his name to only remember he is no longer there.

Baxtiyor's chair is still at the dinner table, his favorite coffee mug still rests on the windowsill behind the sink, his favorite magazine rests on the low table in the living room, and the radio stays on his favorite station. Sven will make a plate for him before placing it off to the side when he remembers he is no longer there, Enyo and Sterre bring back old magazines from their scavenging hunt before placing them on the bookshelf, Zhi makes Bax's coffee before pouring it down the drain when he remembers he isn't here to drink it, Sonja and Nick will visit his workstation to bring food before walking home in silence, Eirik will walk to his room to call him down for dinner before lending against the doorway as he remembers, Brittania will be in the middle of making his favorite snack before sitting in the kitchen in tears remembering he is not there, and Uxue still sits on the rooftop of the medical center to watch the stars like she use to with him.

Moving on is hard but changing your routine is harder, growing use to them no longer being there when they were for years feels almost impossible but it is doable. Change doesn't happen over night, change happens over large amount of time. Even then you can slip and fall into a familiar routine before realizing you can't do that routine anymore or not in the same way at least.

A scream rips from Nick and a few moments later, arms wrap around him. "You are in Deadfall, you are in our home, and you are with us." A steady and calm voice of Sven reaches his ears, Nick slumps against Sven as he cries. He was unable to speak, unable to control himself this time. The nightmare was too heartbreaking to speak about, his mind told him it wasn't real but his heart told him it was. One of Sven's hands tried to wipe away Nick's tears as the other rubbed his back, it hurt to see how bad the nightmares got to the group sometimes.

It been several months that they lived in Deadfall and over those months, the group fell victim to the nightmares and horrific memories that replayed in their minds. The people that lived in the large settlement were very kind to the group as well as Heath, they tried their best to make Unit 10 feel welcomed here but in the end, the team kept to themselves. Not because they felt unwelcomed, scared or anything of that sort but because they felt so out of place. They didn't feel like this was their place they could call their own, they longed to go out into the world and make their own settlement, their own home.

"Where is Sonja and Eirik?" Enyo's voice startled Baxtiyor, he places a hand over his chest as he looks over his shoulder to Enyo as she heads down the last remaining stairs. "Heath asked them to help with water pipes and vent systems." He explains as he turns back to the old magazine in front of him, "They left a hour ago, they had breakfast so don't worry." A sigh leaves Enyo as she makes herself a plate from the pot on the stove then set herself in front of Baxtiyor, "Nick woke from a nightmare so he possible won't be up to do anything today so I'll tell Heath that on the way when I head to the bulletin board." Enyo explains as she pokes and pushes her food around for a few minutes, waiting for Baxtiyor to say something but all he did was hum in acknowledgement.

Zhi grunts as he drags himself through the door of the Unit's home, his body aches as he slips off his shoes and took off his coat before heading over to the open kitchen. "Mining is not is all cracked up to be." He said as he grabs himself some of the food from the pot before sitting down beside Enyo, "My whole body aches so bad I feel like I am vibrating." He chuckles as a smile appears on his lips as the other two laugh, "That is very concerning." Baxtiyor gasps as he tries to regain his breath as tears prick the corner of his eyes. "Do we need to send you off to Doctor Gottlieb?" Enyo giggles as Zhi quickly shakes his head as he chews quickly, "No! She will do a thousand tests before I am able to sleep-" He yells as his voice rises in pitch before he laughs. He enjoys this moments, the moments as if everything was fine and life was normal.

Heavy footsteps echo off the metal staircase making everyone in the kitchen turn their heads to see, Sven gives a sheepish smile as Nick trails behind him with a tiresome look. "Is there anymore left?" Nick whispers as Enyo nods as her eyes soften, "There is plenty, how are you feeling?" She asks as she watches Sven for a brief moment head over to the cabinet to get plates for Nick and him. "Don't really want to talk about it." Nick replies as he sits by Baxtiyor who pats his back, "That's okay. Is Sterre and Brittania still asleep?" He asks as he flips a page of his magazine. "Yeah, where's everyone else?" Sven replies before asking as he sets down the plates in front of himself and Nick. "Sonja and Eirik went to work on piping and vents, Uxue is still at the medic center." Baxtiyor explains as he looks up and to the window that was over the sink.

The pass week been hard on Deadfall, people were falling ill due to the water. Uxue been buried in work to treat the people with only two other doctors that were less than experienced in the doctor field but regardless she stayed to help train them and treat the ill causing her to sleep in the small office on the couch since it wasn't worth walking all the way home for just a hour or so of sleep. She deeply missed her Unit and hoped this illness will go away soon before she falls ill with stress sickness.

It was noon when Sonja and Eirik finally entered the home, shoulders slumped and faces looking defeated as Baxtiyor turn to look over the couch before giving them a soft smile. "I am assuming either you didn't find anything wrong or you find so much wrong that even you two can't fix it." The man states as he turns down his radio and turn over the book he was reading. "Find so much that is was impossible for us to try and fix." Sonja replies as she flops on the couch beside him as Eirik went off to the kitchen to get food and something safe to drink. "The pipes are rusted to hell and back, the vents weren't turning on to help filter the water and when Eirik looked at the water source we were pulling water from he notice it was contaminated due all the fish floating." Irritation dripped off her words as she drapes an arm over her eyes, she was overwhelmed with it all and got upset when Heath didn't know what he will do. "Is there anything you can do or...?" Baxtiyor asks worriedly as he looks out the living room window, watching the sick drag themselves towards the medic center. "Unless we find working vents, pipes, and fresh water. No, no there is absolutely nothing we can do." Eirik stressed on the word 'nothing' as he sits down in the orange arm chair to the left of the couch. Silence consumes them as worried thoughts riddled their minds as Baxtiyor turn the radio back up.

"If we don't do something, people will start to die." Brittania's voice filled with anger as she watches Heath rub his bald head as he sighs heavily, "Unless you have equipment lying around here then there isn't much we can do." His words were cold as if he didn't care but the expression was heartbreaking. Heath didn't know what to do, he had no solutions to this problem. "The Unit can explore the town, we can gather the supplies and we can find fresh water." Her voice grew louder in frustration as she watches the elder shake his head, "I will not put your lives in danger and at the same time, we need all the hands we need right now. People are sick and that could take days!" He yells as he watches Brittania start to get red in the face. "People are sick because we aren't doing anything. Will you really risk a few days that could save people to just keep extra hands? Do you really want to explain to your people that why they are dying is because you refuse to let us go find the solutions to our problems?" She screams as her hands ball up into fists, the silence was deafening as Heath just started at her before turning away. The door to his office was the last thing he heard from Brittania's fury.

A few days pass as everyone did the best as they could but even they were getting worn down, almost everyone was in the living room trying to gather enough energy before they do anything that day. The front door slams open as heavy footsteps storm in, "I am not waiting any longer. No one is getting better and I will be damned before I let anymore get ill or die on me." The anger was evident in Uxue's voice as it fills the quiet room. "So what are you gonna do?" Nick asks as he rubs the side of his face as he watches her head to the hallway under the stairs, "I am gearing up to go find our solutions!" She yells as the door to the storage room most likely slammed open. "Finally!" Zhi yells as a sudden jolt of energy rushes through him as he heads to the storage room, everyone else slowly trots behind him. "We don't have permission to leave, Uxue." Sterre reminds as a heavy sigh follows after but knowing full well the woman didn't care. "What is he going to do? Shoot me?" Uxue snares as she packs her bag as some of the people in the group share concerned expressions, "He might." Nick states as he starts to pack his bag, "But if he does then he will have to shoot me too." a grin spreads across his face as the rest start to join them.

Anger filled the air as Heath stood before Unit 10, Deadfall's gates wide open behind them. "I told you all that you cannot go." Heath states as he watches them carefully, "If you leave, if you pass those gates then you cannot return." The faces of anger turn into shock and confusion, "Are you insane? We are doing this to help Deadfall!" Zhi yells as Eirik's hand wraps around his wrist. "Are you really going to lock us out, turn us away when we are willing to go find supplies and fresh water?" Disbelief fills Sonja's voice as she looks at the citizens behind Heath, "We are doing this to save the sick and make sure everyone has fresh water!" Sonja yells as tears prick her eyes. How could someone do this? How could someone refuse help? "Lets say you do find the supplies, equipment, and water. But what if you bring back a sickness? What if we get attacked and you weren't here to help protect us? What if you start getting second thoughts?" The mayor asks as his eyes harden, he wasn't going to move from this hill. "That's it? What ifs? If what ifs are what is keeping us from saving this settlement then you are the one that is keeping them from being helped." Enyo speaks up, she almost couldn't believe what she was hearing. "What ifs is what has been keeping my settlement protected!" Heath fires back, anger consuming him as he takes a step back. "Leave and you cannot return or you can stay and help, those are your choices." The elderly man states as he watches the group carefully, they were wild cards so he didn't know what to expect. "Then I am leaving, I refuse to standby and watch people die when I know how to help." Uxue states as she walks away, Sterre and Sonja nods as they quickly follow. "I hope you survive this, I hope someone comes along and save this settlement." Zhi says as he turns to follow Nick, Sven and Eirik out, "I am sorry but we're not waiting any longer to just watch Deadfall... well fall, I hope you come to your senses and I hope someone saves you." Enyo sighs as she turns lending against Brittania and follows behind Baxtiyor out into the ruined town.

Their hearts were still heavy with emotions from what happened weeks ago, they heard through the radio that Deadfall succumbed to the illness and there were only a few survivors left there. Regardless, Unit 10 didn't return to save anyone in Deadfall. They powered through the wastelands, ruins, and a few lesser settlements. They were looking for a place to call their own, to build up from nothing. "What about here?" Baxtiyor's voice carries in the wind as he turns to the group from the hill he was standing on, the group looked at each other confused before joining Baxtiyor on the hill. "I think it's perfect." Zhi speaks up with a grin on his face as he turns to the group, "It's great. The houses don't look too bad, hell they look almost fixable. We can build a wall and there is enough land for farming, a river not to far off for fresh water." Sonja grins as she points at the areas she was talking about.

They found it, a place to call their own, a place to call home. They called it 22, they knew it was a strange name for a settlement but the name held many memories of their old home and currently they couldn't find a better name. Nick, Sonja, and Eirik worked on pipes, vents, heating, cooling, lights, and anything else that dealt with engineering. Zhi and Sven worked on gathering materials from a nearby mine and abandoned scrap yards, using them to build the wall and fix up the few houses. Baxtiyor and Brittania started work for the farmlands then after an makeshift barn was built, they also gather animals they were useful. Enyo, Sterre, and Uxue start to stock pile what they could find in nearby ruins of cities and towns. It was slow process, it was tiring process but after months pass they were finally getting a foot hold in this wasteland of a world. They were finally feeling able to breath and feel alive again, they know they had much more to go but for now, they were proud.

"NO!" Enyo's voice screams as she pulls on the trim of the metal door as tears start to build in her eyes, watching through the small thick glass of the door. Watching her parents, the leaders of her vault, give her weak smiles. Their hands overlapping each other's as they press them against the window, their voices muffled as the gas finally filled the rest of the hallway. "You could have made it!" Enyo screams as she slams her fists against the door, "You could have..." her voice weak as she kneels down on the concrete floor.

Sobs shake her body, she was in a tornado of emotions but Zhi knew if they didn't start moving Enyo's Parents efforts would all be in vain. Zhi's hands curl over her shoulders, "I hate to do this but we must go. The gas will start eating away the door." he spoke in a low and gentle tone. Enyo shakes her head, hands over her mouth in an effort to decrease her cries. A heavy sigh leaves Zhi as he wraps his hands around her right upper arm, pulling her onto her feet. This caused her to lend against her dear friend, Zhi wraps his arms around her as they awkwardly walked away from the entrance of their vault.

The unit of 10 was quiet as they headed away from their home, the only place they knew was safe and peaceful but now, now they were in the waste land. Their hearts and mind riddled with confusion and the mess of emotions.

Nick almost didn't remember by how fast it all went. Last night, he was working on the gas pipeline to see why it wasn't pumping anymore in farming area but him and Sonja wasn't finding a problem anywhere. Maybe, just maybe if he checked the gas pipeline that lead to the engines, he could have seen it. This morning, the vault leaders needed to send a unit into the overworld to get materials due to them running low. Everyone was on edge with that thought due to the last unit coming back deadly sick, they still haven't recovered from their illness they got. Unit 10 was randomly selected to go, the biggest unit. The leaders help make an good luck breakfast for the unit. By noon, the unit was packing up and heading to the exit.

An explosion shook the vault, panic voices and scurrying feet was overwhelmingly heard. Nick remembers his unit being frozen in their spots, no one knew what to do. Keep going to the exit and let the older generation handle it or head back and see what happened. The vault was home, the people in it? They were people they knew, they grew to care about and had memories with. So they ran, dropping their bags on the floor and heading towards the noise of chaos.

Sven's stomach curls when he entered the cafeteria, there was bodies laying on the ground and a massive hole where you can see the destroyed farms and half of the engines. What caught his attention the most was the gas, it was flooding the room and quickly eating away anything it came in contact of. Sven's memories were going to haunt him. He wished he tried to grab his little sister, he wished he could turn back the clock and pulled her from under the table, to bring her from the gas but instead his mind went into autopilot. He turned around, grabbing Sterre and Baxtiyor by the arms and running back to the exit. He wishes he could turn back time, even if it would be in vain, to try and save his baby sister.

The vault leaders were quick, forcing and guiding the unit back towards the exit. Their fears were finally here, they knew the gas would be the end of Vault 22. They were just trying to buy time and they did it, they bought over 50 years of time but now, now they were just trying to save a few people from the horrors. They selfish chose unit 10 due to their feelings and relationship to the people in it, they knew it was wrong but at the same time. Who wouldn't be selfish in this situation?

"Thank you." Enyo whispers as she pulls her lending body off of Zhi, a nod was received as he moved a bit closer to Uxue to give everyone space but at the same time, being close to each other. "According to the map, there is a village or something like that ahead of us if we continue down this path." Brittania speaks up as she holds a map in her left hand and a compass in her right, "We'll get there before the sun even sets." A group of hums and okays were heard from the group but no one wanting to speak, a soft thank you leaves Sven as gives a quick pat on Brittania's shoulders. It was easy to get discourage and much easier when everyone's levels were down.

The sun shown no mercy as its heat made the walk to the settlement made it almost unbearable but the roofs of the shelters finally peaked in the distance, they were about 15 minutes away. The sun was still a few hours away from fully setting below the horizon and they were more than happy to see the moon, to be greeted by the cooling air of the night.

Bags and packs of the sort were thrown onto the biggest shelter's floor as they sit down, the settlement was small and abandoned. Seems to have been abandoned for at least a decade, give or take. Eirik leads against the wooden wall as his eyes scan the group, taking in everyone's mood. Nothing has improved amongst them, no one dares to speak. The wounds too fresh to be poked and pulled at but nonetheless, being surrounded by the ones you love and feel comfort with. It helps, it helps ease the mind as it tries to make sense of the emotions it is drowning it. It is like a silent hand pulling you up from the depths, it's like a warmth of the fire that keeps the darkness at bay or maybe it's even a comfort that surrounds you when you feel lost in the big forest. Whatever it is to people, it's here, it's slow, and it's giving comfort.

A small hand rubs Enyo's shoulder as her soft hitched cries start to arrive again, Sterre knows it won't stop the build up but it was a way to let Enyo know she is here. She isn't leaving and no one else is either. Sonja and Uxue pull themselves into a standing position before they started to make the shelter more stable against the cold of the night and anything that wishes to do them harm.

As the sun hides away and the moon peeks out, a thought runs through Enyo's mind. From this day on, this is her family. They will need each other, they will need to protect and provide as a- as a unit? How strange it is like her parents knew, like they were preparing them to work as one. Did they know or was it just a well prepared situation? Was the explosion an accident or sabotage?

"Enyo?" Nick's voice pries her thoughts apart, her eyes lock with his. "Please," a small plead as he holds out a reusable bowl filled with dry foods, "Eat." Nick couldn't risk any of them going into refusal to fight, he knows he couldn't stomach it if any of them did. A weak smile appears on Enyo's lips as she takes the bowl from Nick, she wasn't hungry but it better to try and not to at all.

Sterre's lantern kept the shelter they were in, dimly lit. Sven and Brittania was the first to finish, they started to gather everyone's sleeping bags and laying them out but the shelter was all too big so people had to shuffle around before sitting down on a sleeping bag they'll be sleeping in. Uxue double checks the windows, doors, and covered holes to make sure nothing can get in without alerting them in the least. After awhile, everyone starts settling into the sleeping bags as Sterre sits up in hers besides her lantern. As everyone finally lays down, the light slowly flickers to nothing. The darkness consumes them and after awhile, so does sleep.

A strangled gasp rips from Enyo as she launches herself in an upward position, frantically looking around herself as she tries to reassure herself she was okay but... the sunlight against the inside wooden panels greet her eyes, the wind rattling the covers on the windows greet her ears, and her salty tears on the tip of her tongue tells her that not only was this a nightmare but it was also reality. She isn't in the vault, she isn't laying next to her fiancé, she isn't...

"Enyo." Uxue cuts the air around her, the bulky woman sets up beside her. "What is it?" She wasn't being rude despite her tone, despite the scowl resting on her face. "Nightmares. I am already having nightmares about what happened." Her voice was small, felt so lost in the air as she watches the sunlight reach further across the wall. "I haven't fully processed everything yet but regardless, I am hit with it." Enyo's eyes drift to her left, seeing Nick. Nick was in an open sleeping bag, the front side was laying on top of Zhi as well as Nick's leg across his stomach as Nick's head is almost on Enyo's sleeping back. A small smile tugs on the corner of her lips before she turns to look at Uxue. "I'm sorry. I- I wish I could take them away or even delay them." The younger female rubs the back of her neck as a heavy sigh leaves her, Uxue knows it was inevitable for them all to get nightmares and they will get hit by it at different times but it doesn't stop the want of wanting the ability to stop these things.

They sit in silence, they lend against each other's shoulder as the watch the others around them. It wasn't long before the other start to stir, Uxue pulls away. She gets up, leaving out the only door to do a safety check. "Nick! NICK! Get your leg off me!" Zhi's yells of frustration greets the once quiet shelter, a smile that reaches Enyo's eyes appears on her lips as she looks over to Nick and Zhi. Zhi was sitting up on his elbows, his brows furrowed as he glares at the sleeping Nick. "AH!" A startled Nick exclaims as he sits up quickly, Zhi holding Nick's pillow in his hand with an annoyed expression. "Get. Your. Leg. Off." The thinner man was not very happy in the mornings and definitely didn't like limbs on him, "Sorry, Zhi." Nick chuckles as he removes his leg before getting up.

"Morning." Sonja and Baxtiyor greet, lazily looking from their sleeping bags. "I'll get the coffee ready." Sven says as he leaves the shelter with a pot to get water from the nearby stream, Sterre not too far behind him with a pot and ladle of her own to get some fresh water for the none coffee people.

Eirik started to put away sleeping bags after Sonja and Baxtiyor finally got up, Brittania started to make light breakfast while Sven and Sterre boil water. "I'm going to go get, Uxue." Enyo states as she leaves through the door, not waiting to be questioned or stopped. The settlement was quite small so it should taken at least a few minutes to see if they were safe or not.

Off in the distance Enyo sees Uxue sitting on a stump that was on a hill, she was staring off at something or nothing at all. It took a few minutes to reach Uxue but when she did, she sees what she is staring at. Pass the hill, where the stream flow down to is a wide open space with greenery and mutated animals that strangely look more beautiful then the normal ones in the picture books they see and drew. This spot was strangely, strangely peaceful. As if time was slower here, almost just almost as if there was nothing wrong in the world they were in. It felt so naturally, it felt like the times she would lay besides her fiancé in the projector room with an old movie reel playing on the wall while she cuddles into his side as he gave her a butterfly kiss on her forehead.

Tears swell in her eyes as she grabs Uxue's shoulder, "Hey." she whispers. Uxue turns her head slightly, "Beautiful, ain't it?" She asks knowing full well of the answer. "Yeah and so close..." Enyo trails off as the tears finally fall, lovely memories play in her mind as she watches the scene before her. "We need to head back, breakfast is being made." Enyo removes her hand after she finishes speaking, watching Uxue stand up with a nod. "We thought you both got lost," Sonja jokes as the two finally enter the shelter, "We were about to start a search party." Soft chuckles and giggles ring out in the small building as the two settled in, "Hope your not leading or it'll be me finding y'all." Uxue jokes back to Sonja making the curly haired woman gasps in offense. "My direction isn't that bad!" Sonja exclaims as she furrows her brows, "But your tracking skill sucks." Uxue states before taking a bite out of her sandwich with a smug smirk. "I am being bullied! This is bullying!" Sonja exclaims as laughter fills the room.

"No one needs to use the bathroom before we start?" Nick asks the second time as everyone looks at each other before shaking their heads, "Okay, good." He states as Brittania looks up from her map with a smile. "Nice! Okay, this walk might take all day but the map says there is an active settlement in a nearby town. We will reach the edge of the town by noon, give or take." She exclaims with excitement as she leads the unit. The group paired in twos in a filed line so they didn't get in each other's way if they need to fight but one got each side so no one was overwhelmed about being attacked from an opening.

It was a little after noon, due to being so long since they traveled the waste land, they were able to get a little more exhausted then usual but regardless they were doing quite well. "The settlement is nearby that water tower." Brittania points towards what used to be a water tower, looking like it was about to fall any second with even the littlest breeze. "I hope it doesn't fall." Zhi whispers as he grimaces at the thought of it destroying the settlement or just breaking a defense, regardless of what it does it will definitely cause chaos amongst the ones that live there.

Unit 10 stood before the settlement, a sign above the scrap metal gates read 'Deathfall'. Not the most... welcoming name but regardless, the appearance didn't name of the place. Baxtiyor slams the side of his fist against the gate door before standing beside Brittania again, after a few minutes someone appears over the wall to the left of the gate. "WHO ARE YOU?" Shouts the looking elderly man, "We are Unit 10 from Vault 22!" Enyo responses hoping an unit from the pass explorations came here. "WHAT?" He exclaims before a few seconds later, "DID SOMETHING HAPPEN TO UNIT 16?" He asks, worry evident in his voice as he lends against his spear and waves a hand to someone or some people behind the gate. "No." Enyo's voices wavers as she tries to swallow down her sadness as the gates open, "No! Our vault unfortunately got destroyed and we are the remaining survivors!" Uxue spoke up as she places a gentle hand on Enyo's back to lead her into the settlement.

"I am Heath Best, the mayor of this settlement." Heath exclaims as he leads them further into the large settlement, towards a large building, most likely his own. "Are..." Heath begins before a heavy sign leaves him as he settles down in a chair behind a desk as sad eyes met the unit's, "Are you really the only survivors?" He asks woefully as he runs a hand over his balding head. "Unfortunately." Uxue spoke as she stood behind the couch Zhi, Nick, and Enyo rests on. "A explosion went off in our vault causing a harmful gas to spread, we are the only ones that made it out." She explains as she watches the man frown as he wipes the corner of his eyes, "What is your unit number?" Heath asks as he takes out a paper and a pencil, "Unit 10." in unison they replied to the old man, a brief smile appeared on the mayor's lips as he nods while writing down the Unit 10.

"Welcome, Unit 10, to Deathfall. I'll show you where you will be staying at, you are welcome to stay as long as you wish." He states with a soft smile and gentle eyes of a grandfather that is proud to finally meet his grandchildren. Deathfall, how ironic the name was, it felt safe. Heath Best felt safe, maybe they were being too trusting or maybe just maybe, Heath was someone they felt familiar with.