*Kun*

"Hey, wait up!" I yelled, chasing Nat down the hall to the entrance of his room. Luckily, Cart wasn't around. Or maybe it was bad. The guy seemed like a wildcard. He could've easily made the situation worse or better.

"Leave me alone," Nat said as he opened the door of his room.

I stuck my arm in before he could close it. "I know you're worried about your big brother! Trust me, I know the feeling. From the perspective of the one who disappeared..."

His grip on the handle loosened. "Disappeared?"

I walked into the room. "Right, you don't know the full story. I disappeared years ago after fighting my best friend. Due to circumstances, I had to make them believe that I had died." My eyes shifted to the carpeted floor. "I didn't like doing so. I would feel guilty. Sometimes, I would even have nightmares of returning to find my siblings had died."

He turned away. "A dream, huh? On the train ride to Mira's country, I saw a vision of Dan. He was being consumed by ice."

"I've heard."

He sat down on his bed and pulled out a blue elephant plushie. "Say, do you think he might still be alive?"

I lingered for awhile as I thought of the best thing to say. Lying would make things worse. "Honestly, I am not sure. Abyssia is a harsh place."

"You've been there before, right?"

"I've only traveled through the corridors and the like. But I've read and heard descriptions about it. Your brother and cousin must've told you about it, if they didn't wish to keep such sights to themselves."

He hugged the elephant. "They have. I can't stop thinking that what Uncle was going to tell Lei could've easily been bad news. Even if it was good, I would have no way of knowing how to help my brother as yours didn't hear the full message."

I patted his shoulder. "Well, I'm sure they'll interact again."

"True, but by then it might be too outdated, that's assuming Dan's alive still," he mumbled.

I sighed. This kid sure could be negative. Here I thought he was the peppy kind. Well, not that I didn't have my melancholic moments too. If anything, I might've been worse.

"Say, what do you know about your uncle?" I asked.

Nat leaned against the wall. "My uncle's name is Takeshi. He's the husband of Mama's big sister, Anis. I don't recall much, given I was only around six at the time. But I do remember hearing that him being alive was a shock to his kids."

"Wait, they know he's alive?"

He shook his head. "Well, sort of. All I know is that he went missing in Abyssia, but he's one of the people that we wanted to rescue along with my siblings."

Wait, siblings? Was Dan not the only one missing?

"But what I was referring to happened before that. Uncle was believed to have died long before I was born. I also heard he did bad things between the time of his supposed death and the reveal. My cousin Tetsu seemed to hold a grudge against him."

Believed to have died huh? Was he like me? No, he was an abysmal. Him surviving was more possible than what happened with me.

"Is that all?"

He stared at his plushie and remained silent. "That's all that I can recall. Hide is the best person to ask."

I smiled. "Thanks. I'll see what I can do for you."

Nat closed his light-blue eyes. "Sorry."

"For what?"

"For being a brat. Guess I am still that little kid that Ling met after all."

I sat down on the bed and patted his head. "It's okay. We all have our bratty moments when we're stressed. Even cool cucumbers like my siblings do."

Nat opened his eyes and laughed. "Cool cucumbers?"

"It's a saying! I think."

He snorted. "I mean, they don't exactly come off that way to me." He smirked. "Although, Lei does seem wise."

I nodded. "He's always had that side to him. But it's become more apparent as of late." I glanced up at the glass dome around the lightbulbs lighting the room. "Everything that transpired in the last year changed him. From facing the Eight to parting ways with one of his best friends."

Nat frowned and squeezed his elephant. "And here I am, giving him more stuff to stress about."

I put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a nice shake. "Come on, liven up! Lei's not going to hold it against ya! Plus, even if you didn't say a thing, your face makes your feelings obvious. That alone would've made Lei feel remorseful. He doesn't show it as much as me, but he's sensitive to these kind of things."

He smiled slightly. "Wish I had could pull off a poker face like my big brothers. All of them except for Dan are good at it."

I chuckled. "Yen's the poker face expert in my family! She usually won poker nights when we were kids. Well, Go Fishy nights."

Nat snickered.

Yes, I made him laugh!

"Well, I gotta go!" I said, waving at him.

Nat jumped out of his bed. "Wait, I'll go with you."

"You sure?"

He nodded and tucked his elephant back under his covers, perhaps so Cart would know not to grab it. Although, would that really deter someone like Carter from grabbing it if he wanted to? The guy didn't seem to have the best concept of personal space. Uh, not that I was anyone to judge.

"Hold on," Nat said as he reached into the right pocket of his pants. He took out a blue phone and started texting.

"Seeing where your brother is?"

He nodded. "Beats a wild Hideo chase."

I chuckled. "Punny."

Nat laughed slightly. "Well, he can be a hard one to track. Sometimes he doesn't even respond to text."

Yikes, so his text might've been for nothing.

"Should we wait?" I asked.

"I'll text Alex and Dossie just in case. Alex is usually better at finding Hide than any of us, well other than Kiara."

Come to think of it, this 'Kiara' girl wasn't on the boat. Then did that mean she was the other sibling that needed rescuing? Why did he and the other seem less concerned about her? Was it because they knew she could take care of herself? Then again, Dan was thought to have perished. So they likely had higher hopes of her being alive.

"Oh, Alex texted me! He said he's not sure."

I sighed. So a wild Hideo chase it was.

"Let's go," I said.

"I do have a guess as to where he might be," Nat said as he typed again.

"Where would that be?"

He smiled. "With Koukyuu."

Because he had a crush on her?

"If not there, then he might be at the beach with the kids."

Come to think of it, didn't I play with Nat and his siblings one time when I was little? I for sure met Hideo before.

"Hmm, seems he's not with Koukyuu nor the kids," Nat said.

I blinked. "Then where is he?"

"She said that Hideo was going to the ruins on this mountain."

The ruins? Did she mean that old stone tower? But there wasn't much of interest left there. Besides the sealed gateway to Abyssia. Hopefully, he wasn't thinking of reopening it by force.

"Let's go! I know the way! But stick close to me. It's dangerous to go there."

"Adela said the same thing as we flew over the forest," Nat said.

I smiled. "That's why we'll be flying too. But that doesn't mean some strong bird of prey won't attack us."

"A few did last time too, but Alex and Eli pushed them back."

Hmm. Maybe I needed those two to come with us. Although, I got to and from the ruins just fine the last two times I was there.

"We probably should head out before it gets dark," I said, opening the door.

Nat nodded.

"Hey! What are you two up to?" Cart said, smiling as he stood by the door.

"We're going to some ruins," Nat said.

"Woah! Can I come too! Oh, I know! We should invite Au too! He said he likes adventures!" Cart said before running off.

"Uh, I think we should get moving before he catches up to us," I said.

Nat nodded. 

We rushed to the door, but Cart jumped on Nat's back before I could open it. "Hey, don't sneak off without us!"

"W-we weren't sneaking off," Nat said, laughing awkwardly.

Cart jumped off and sighed. "I might not get stuff, but even I suspect you're lying!"

His lying was bad.

"So, where are we headed?" Aurelius asked with a slight smile. He probably knew we wanted to ditch Carter but wanted to come with us just as much the loud boy did.

"To some ruins, I told you," Cart said, smiling. He looked back at Nat. "Uh, what kind of ruins?"

Nat brought a hand up to his cyan bangs and smiled slightly. "Ask Kun. He's seen them before."

I shook my head. "They're nothing special. Just a bunch of rocks."

Carter sighed. "Sounds super boring! Well, at least I know now! Have a nice trip!" He ran back toward his room.

Well, that was surprisingly easy!

"Still want to come with us?" Nat asked.

Aurelius nodded sheepishly.

Ha! Now he was a true adventurer!

"Like I told Nat, stick close to us!"

Aurelius beamed and nodded. He looked like a kid who had just been told he was being taken to the candy store. With the potential to buy as much candy as he wanted to boot!

"Hey, Kun! How's Lei?" Yen said, rushing toward us with the Mikoto siblings, Wanikiya, and Zelde in tow.

"He woke up. Seemed he had a chat with the abyssmal. I'm going to go look for Hideo with Nat and Au."

Yen furrowed her brow. "Hideo? Does he know something about it?"

"Well, the abysmal turned out to be my uncle-in-law," Nat said.

"Well, that's an unexpected twist," Zelde said, running a hand through her long red hair.

Aurelius nodded.

"That you're seeking out Hideo worries me," Yuzuki said.

Hikaru turned his head to her. "You also think there's more to Nat's uncle?"

"So, there's more to this abysmal than we bargained for," Yen mumbled as she stared at the floor.

"I think Eri and Kun are right about it being one of the Pillars of Destruction," Yuzu said, frowning.

"Well, it did help Lei match Iah who was controlled by one," Zelde said, crossing her arms.

Wani curled his hands into fists. His eyes shifted to the ground. "If only I hadn't left him alone back in the forest." He looked up at me. "I want to go with you."

I furrowed my brow. "Are you sure?" We were heading to the ruins of the same tower where he, Hika, and Uli were tortured by 'Kitsune' and his minions. I didn't want him reliving those moments. They were enough to make Hikaru snap and reveal his Owari no Me after all.

The future chieftain nodded. "I'm sure!"

"Alright." I glanced at the girls. "How about you?"

"I want to check on Lei," Yuzuki said.

"Same here," Yen said. She put both hands on my shoulders. "That said, be careful out there! Make it back before nightfall."

"We plan to," I said, giving her a slight smile.

Hikaru took a deep breath. "Think I'll accompany you."

I gulped. Him too? Well, at least Ulissis wasn't around to volunteer to join us.

Hika tapped my chest with the back of his left hand and smiled. "Someone has to be the chaperone of this expedition. Since Yen's not going, it's up to me."

"Uh, who says we need one?" I asked, pouting. Not to mention, I was clearly older than him!

Wani laughed nervously. "Uh, we should get going."

"Don't push yourself too much, you hear?" Zelde said, giving him a slight smile. "I don't want to have to go looking for you guys in the dead of night in that forest."

"Understood. I do not intend to cause trouble for any of you."

"Let the adventure commence!" Aurelius said, running on ahead.

"Hey! Wait up!" Nat yelled, running after him.

I sighed. Now I wished Aurelius had stayed with Carter after all.

"Stay close together, you hear?!" Hika yelled, running after them.

"Will you really be alright?" Yuzuki said, tilting her head to the right.

"W-we will!" Wanikiya said. He and I chased after the three boys. The closer we got the summit of the mountain, the more dangerous it would be for any of us. Especially once nightfall arrived.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter! Thoughts? Theories? Predictions?**