Ivy sighed and watched Shadowsan leave again for yet another mission. He had been doing them himself for the past two weeks, and without Carmen, the siblings had been stuck at HQ the entire time. Player had been trying desperately to find where VILE might be keeping her, but without a tracker, it was basically impossible.

Zack interrupted her gloomy thoughts. "Hey, Sis. What do you want for lunch?"

She blinked. "Um..." Lunch? She didn't even want to think about eating right now, let alone food. "I'm not hungry." She mumbled.

Zack's eyes took on a worried glint. "Ivy, you need to eat. You skipped all of yesterday and this morning." He sounded almost offended.

Ivy just shrugged.

"Ivy, breakfast is the most important part of the day!"

"So what?!" She suddenly threw her hands in the air. "Every day that I'm eating, Carm is starving, or being tortured, or-or..." She stopped, biting her lip as tears welled in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Zack. I didn't mean to snap." She muttered, plopping onto the couch with leaden limbs.

Zack's chin quivered, his own eyes brimming with sadness. He sat next to her and stared at his hands. "I'm sorry, too." He whispered back. They stayed like that for a while, only taking comfort in the others presence.

Ivy wondered if her own words could be true. Was their friend OK? Was she even alive any-

She slammed down on the traitorous thoughts before they could progress any further. Ivy couldn't give up on the thief, not now. She placed her head down on Zack's shoulder, relieved to know that at least she wasn't the only one struggling.

Carmen was their family.

They needed to keep the rest of it from falling apart.