TRACK 10

The world I know can hate you

The world I know can break you

But as you go remember, I'm by your side

The love within you can heal these tears that burn

(As you go - Red)

********

Toby, Claire, Steve, Nari, Blinky, and Aaarrrgh sat around the table more or less quietly as Jim returned to the kitchen station, starting to finish his work.

Archie, shortly thereafter, gently propped Douxie on one of the chairs, then, once he was sure he would not fall off it, returned to his original form.

Hisirdoux did not fall but ended up banging his head on the wood with a thud, a single crash that did not even rip a cry of pain from him. The others, all except Nari, assumed weirded-out expressions.

"Bro. You good?" Steve commented, then looked at Archie. "Are you sure this is normal? He seems dead."

"It is." Archie shortly answered, wagging his tail. "He had done worse before. He's lucky he has a hard head."

Douxie mumbled something unclear.

"What did he say?" Asked Toby, confused.

"Nothing important. He insulted me." The dragon blurted out, jumping on the table and rubbing against him, to force Douxie to pull himself up slightly. But failing, for he did not move even a millimeter from the woody surface.

He murmured something again.

Archie sighed. "Now you eat, then go to sleep. No excuses."

"Mmmmmh." The raven-haired boy answered more with a humm than anything else at first. He did not retort in any way. Quite the opposite. "...'kay," he muttered.

Jim in the meantime continued his work, turning from time to time. He had little to go; he just needed to finish the final details.

Without the worry he had felt earlier -which had breathed down his neck quite a lot- he was managing to work much better.

He thus finished the job in a couple of minutes, placing the Roll with the Coulis on the five plates and serving in front of them with quick movements.

Steve jumped on his food as soon as it arrived. Toby, Claire, and Nari thanked him and waited for him to sit down. He first grabbed the basket that would be his breakfast, then extended other ones to Blinky and Aaarrrgh.

Archie moved his head after he sat down, similar to a silent thank you, as he resumed trying to pull up his Wizard. This time succeeding in his goal, causing him to raise his head with a somewhat blank stare. His iris seemed to have made the pupil disappear.

Douxie struggled a bit to grasp his fork, from what Jim could also notice rather easily because his hands were shaking intermittently. So much so that it made him wonder if this would even cause Archie to feed him himself. And it also made him worry a bit, more than he expected -And yes, it had been made clear that it was normal and that he had used too much energy, but was that really how it worked? Wasn't it too much?... Maybe not. Still, it looked terrible and he didn't envy him, not even a little- But after a couple of seconds the boy thanked him in turn -or tried to- and started to eat.

Douxie, shortly after, emitted a sort of hoarse blessed moan at first bite -Which tore Jim a shocked expression. It had been a while since he had received such responses when it came to his cooking. And most of them had been from his mom.

"...'s really good." He mumbled as if the noise he made had not already testified to his appreciation. He reminded Jim of when Toby had been under drugs after a dentist appointment.

"Thanks," he said simply, shaking his head clean. He chuckled after a while.

"Archie, who exactly was the Witch that Douxie fought with?" Asked Claire following a quick swallow of a piece of Roll, at the same time that he took flight and returned to cook himself a piece of meat from those still dangling from the ceiling. One of the few remaining. There were barely two.

"Nemain Mac Eo Chahid was one of Morgana Le Fay's handmaidens," replied the dragon after landing on the table again. "The 'Bones Witch' is one of the many nicknames by which she is called nowadays. She is seen as a deity by Ireland's Witches and population. It can be said that, besides being a loyal follower of the Mother of Monsters, she was her apprentice." A pause. "She did not stay in the castle long, however. Douxie and her knew each other more by face and Aura than by anything else. Nothing more, nothing less."

"I heard the Earth talk about her in this last millennium," agreed Nari, "a lot of rumors have come in about her and a group of two others in particular."

Hisirdoux blinked a couple of times, probably trying to understand the talk they were having in its entirety and not just in small pieces. He merely nodded his head. Then he pulled a small piece of colored cardboard out of his pocket, placing it on the table.

Everyone looked at it, mostly confused and intrigued.

"...Fell... before," he said, then returning to bite the Roll, one hand going first to hold up his head as he chewed and then to grip the bridge of his nose with two fingers.

"What is it?" Asked Jim, looking repeatedly at the image drawn on it. There seemed to be a sun and a snake biting its tail, but there was more than just that. Some signs appeared even more meaningless to his eyes than the Anglo-Saxon writing. They seemed... made completely at random.

"A Sealed Emblem," replied Nari, immediately pointing and explaining each piece of it "The Ouroboros, of eternity. The Sun, of cosmic force. The Seal of the achievement of one's goals and the runes of Ancestors and Union. This is a reunion request for every magical being around."

"But a reunion where? It doesn't say a specific place... And when?" Asserted Toby, as Steve opened his mouth, to say something totally out of place, perhaps to ask the same question. "For what, too?"

"A location spell would be enough to find out, probably," Archie said, adjusting his glasses with a paw, and casting a glance at his Wizard. "Or maybe a keyword... or again, a revelation spell that tells both where and when," a pause, "the meeting... I think it is related to trying to recruit members to enlarge their ranks. To commit to the destruction of humanity. "

Steve gasped like a fish out of water, then made a piece of Roll go sideways. Claire started to hit her hand on his back to help him out.

"At least it's not the total destruction of the Earth this time," Jim quipped with a nervous tone, grimacing.

"No, but Skrael and Bellroc do want that," reminded Nari, making them shudder.

"In any case, for that very reason, Nemain's Coven is an issue that has to be postponed," Archie concluded. "They aim for partial destruction, however cruel it might be. The rest of the Arcane Order, to a total wipeout. Unless we were forced to..." he sighed. "Well, It would be best not to think about that for now."

Jim nodded quickly. So did the others. None of them seemed particularly convinced, however. Not even Archie himself.

********

After breakfast, they returned to the base room rather quickly.

Archie, as soon as he arrived, placed his Wizard on the mattress, then, following the arrangement of the blanket, returned to his original form, and a couple of turns on himself, looking for the most suitable position, he curled up in Douxie's arms. He lay on his left side, motionless -and had lost consciousness completely halfway back.

Archie perked up his ears, already standing in attention out of instinct. His nervousness was strong enough to shake his tail repeatedly. Precisely because of this emotion, after casting yet another glance toward Douxie -seeing his relaxed expression- he started to look out of the window. The curtain had been moved slightly, albeit not by much, and showed the landscape in more of a hint than anything else.

It was raining. It had started raining recently and not lightly. The sky, though it was still morning, had darkened so quickly that for a moment he had looked at Claire, almost expecting to see her at work with her magic, something she had not been intent on doing. And it seemed almost ironic how in the moment of need such a thing had not happened, while the moment, serving no one, had happened so out of the blue.

Large black clouds had indeed moved in because of the strong wind, which also stirred the waves of the sea, causing them to crash noisily against the rocks. Seagulls could be heard screaming in the distance, but they were drowned out by the sound of the air current.

At first, it looked as if there would only be a hint of bad weather, which led the Trolls to hope to go outside for a breath of fresh air, especially counting the total lack of sunshine... but then the first drops had taken to landing on the surface of the balcony, ticking like impatient fingers on a table. And they had been followed by a billion more, faster and more aggressive, reminiscent of roaring applause.

'No, it's not raining anymore,' he thought, 'It's pouring.'

From there, both the Trolls and the others realized that they would not get the chance of it... and that they would have to surrender to the evidence by staying inside the castle.

There was then a great thunderclap, which rumbled through the sky to the point of being terrifying. It ripped the jerks from a couple of them -mostly from Steve and Jim. The latter became as white as a sheet, showing sudden stress- and his utter annoyance. The noise stunned and almost deafened him, so much so that his eardrums vibrated. Douxie, as tired as he was, did not move an inch. Not even to raise his head for a second before dropping it back on the pillow. Even his expression was unperturbed.

After a couple of speeches more or less in a whisper -a small attempt that he rather appreciated, although he doubted that even shouting would wake his Wizard up at that point. Not in such a state, at least. In other cases, even mild mutterings would have gotten him up, ready to figure out where it was coming from or otherwise do whatever he could think of, saying he couldn't waste any time, especially if there was no particular problem to be solved- they had planned at first to return to the same room they had used the previous day to train. But after small glances in the direction of Nari, Claire, Douxie, and Archie himself, they seemed to change their minds.

And they had set out instead to play cards. Precisely at Uno.

They had explained the rules to Nari as quickly as possible. The half-goddess had figured out the mechanics of the game fairly quickly. Archie had seen middle-aged men -and not from other times- have much more problems despite how easy that game was in his eyes. Sometimes those had even wanted to bend the rules. Or make them up out of whole cloth, as if the other players had not already explained a thousand times that they could not be changed and that it would therefore be seen as cheating. Hence he could call himself partially and pleasantly surprised by Nari's ability to adapt.

Had Merlin been there instead, he could only imagine what a disaster it would have been. A funny disaster -maybe not for everyone, perhaps only for him. He was quite fond of chaos in certain situations- but still a disaster. Kind of like all the games played with Monopoly.

The dragon, partly following the game, partly always checking outside for safety, rubbed his snout against Douxie's face, purring a bit.

He could feel the almost complete emptiness in the boy's feelings, something that comforted him, if only to a certain extent. On the one hand, he was glad that his Wizard was not being plagued by nightmares in that sleep that he needed almost like oxygen, especially at a time of fragility like that, but on the other hand, it made him sad that one of the only ways he could sleep -especially with people around- was to make himself so exhausted that he fell into total nothingness without even meaning to. And without having dreams of any kind, it seemed. None of the kind from which he would wake up in a good mood, humming or whistling some cheerful tune.

This was not healthy, Archie knew it very well. But even insisting, trying by his presence to provide him with a stable anchor and trying to send as much reassurance as possible in his direction was not enough. It hadn't been enough either the first night or the second -though only a small part of it, since the rest of it had been... how should he put it... unexpected. Yes, that was the word- permanence.

'Kind of like how my trying to protect him wasn't enough,' he said to himself, sniffing. He felt discomforted just at the thought.

Archie was frustrated. Frustrated with himself and furious with the Bones Witch.

Had it been up to him, the woman would have died for trying to touch his treasure -and for even succeeding, moreover- but Douxie on that side had been too kind. He had managed to convince Merlin to just have her locked up shortly in the dungeon instead of just throwing her off the castle immediately. Okay, Douxie wanted to ask her questions, but all Archie's instincts told him to keep her as far away from his Wizard as possible. It told him that having her inside Camelot -incapacitated to do spells, unlocatable and for a short amount of time or not- would only bring unnecessary trouble.

The trouble that he would appreciate even less than the one that they had already encountered up to that point. The trouble that would probably have added to the mess there would have been with the Arcane Order, perhaps, though he highly hoped that it would not. He had told the Guardians not to think about it to try to lessen the burden from their shoulders -they already had enough- but that didn't mean he didn't.

Archie had no idea exactly what the other members of Nemain's Lair were like, but if these were even slightly like the Witches from Arcadia Oaks, they would have gone to the ends of the Earth to help her out. And they would have shown all the power that angry magical creatures could unleash, especially with personal revenge included for having harmed one of them.

If he then counted the Bones Witch's blatant grudge against Douxie, his mind could already imagine how it would turn out. An image that already had him snarling and gnashing his teeth, feeling an overwhelming urge to bite something, anything that could lead to the fulfillment of that mental sequence.

'If that happens, I need to be ready,' he thought determinedly, dropping a glance at the gauze covering the cuts caused by the Chimeras. Just looking at them again reminded him of Douxie's screams and instantly froze the blood in his veins.

'It won't happen again. They won't get that close again. I'm tired of seeing him suffer.'

He sure was. He was tired of seeing him get hurt, both physically and psychologically. He was tired of seeing him try to hide it from anyone but him -Not that he could hide it from him except when too many emotions, too many thoughts, and too many magical perceptions were piling up. That case was even painful sometimes. Archie in turn couldn't do much about it either, not that he wanted to do it in the first place- just like he was bothered by Merlin's existence that day -though on the other hand he was grateful to him anyway. The Chimeras were mostly gone thanks to him.

But he would have to get over it one way or another. Not least because he knew the man would never apologize anyway, so even carrying a grudge against him for the attitude he did not appreciate was just a way to make his mood worse and that was all.

So he tried to relax, removing the bad mood by sensing his Treasure's steady breathing, his heartbeat, which was also quite steady, and his body heat, which was not exaggeratedly hot or cold -even if it tended to the second- they were already a huge reassurance.

Douxie, even in his utter unconsciousness, seemed to sense his need to remove tension. He barely moved, holding him even tighter to himself, not even as if he were a stuffed animal. Archie's purring rose even higher in volume to this involuntary gesture -so much so that some of the Guardians even turned their heads in their direction, though he did not realize it at all- and rubbed his head against his cheek for the second time in a short time.

'I will always protect you. Whatever it takes,' he thought, 'I will always be by your side.'

********

Playing Uno. In the flying castle of Camelot.

Just thinking of it as a phrase sounded like the beginning of a stupid joke to Claire.

It was a way to pass the time, not one she would have enjoyed the most ever and not one that seemed particularly useful -especially since she had three main points occupying her mind that would have been much more necessary. The first was training with magic, but without Douxie she was already automatically taking that away. She could have asked Nari, perhaps, but she had still chosen not to because she felt it almost as wrong or something. The second, go back to keeping watch, but Archie was already taking care of that. The third, requesting the location of the reunion of members that were going to be recruited from Nemain's Lair. She knew there was no point in doing this, but part of her wanted to try anyway. She honestly could not understand, exactly, what motivated them. Maybe it was that- but still a way. Still, something to do.

That didn't change that it made her feel strange. That it led her to repeatedly wonder how she had arrived at such a result, how on earth her life had come to such a situation. As simply you could put; an existential crisis.

And all while holding a twenty-four-card deck in her hands, having received five +4s in a row, when she had previously been the closest to win the game.

The mix of switching turns, directed first one way and then the other, coupled with her total lack of cards with which to reciprocate -she had only numbers! And very small numbers, counting that she had thrown down the big ones in the early rounds to take off the heavy cards- had been devastating, to say the least.

And so she ended up with three different-colored Stops, two red +2s, a color changer, two 0s, a 2... and a lot of other stuff that she almost didn't even dare to reread, because it was far too many points for her taste.

'Whatever, ' she thought, shrugging her shoulders, 'it's just a game.'

But, really, how had she gotten there? To play a game with a semi-deity who, though she had learned the rules on that very day, was tearing them all apart? Even Blinky who had been very close to winning, practically after her and before Toby?

Good question. Good question indeed.

She put down a red 6 on her round and sighed, casting a glance at Jim, who, deck-wise, was better off than she was, but not by much.

Then she glanced at Douxie and Archie, the Familiar continuing to purr noisily, enough to be loud as Aaarrrgh sometimes was.

The boy, on the other hand, was silent and statuesque -and freaking cute right now, but she deleted the thought as quickly as she could- almost completely still except for the soft breathing that lifted his chest up and down, albeit almost imperceptibly.

If there had been trouble of any kind, Archie would have known about it first -which was good- and he would not have looked so relaxed in his Wizard's arms otherwise. Still, his gaze was fixed on the window with obvious attention.

"Claire, your turn," Steve's said loudly, catching her off guard and bringing her attention back to the game. She merely tossed one of the Stop signs. And to see, in that very turn, Nari's overwhelming victory. A fact that triggered both compliments and half protests in the process.

Another game began almost immediately afterward. Even at first glance, the cards were much better for Claire, but counting what had happened earlier, she would get no ideas of any kind, simply letting it go and trying to avoid her competitive instincts. Something that was strangely less complicated than she thought.

********

Nemain gritted her teeth almost instantly when, upon awakening, she found herself bound in the dungeons with an anti-magic collar. She felt it tight around her neck and almost radioactive as if it were eating chunks of her skin just on contact. It was revolting, to say the least.

"Casperan!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, anger churning in her chest like a snake, spitting venom in those simple eight letters. Her voice barely echoed between the walls. She then started to flail, immediately trying in vain to at least remove her handcuffs, slamming them against the metal of the cell.

She only ended up hurting herself, however. The echo of the impact made her arms vibrate and almost stunned her in place. Being still weakened from burnout did not help at all. She blacked out for a few minutes.

When she was back to her senses, she was even angrier.

'I'll make you pay, I swear on my name.'

Seconds later, once the anger for her failure and the utter shame that followed disappeared from the center of her head, she left herself staring silently at the floor.

An idea, almost out of nowhere, started almost instantly to sail through her brain, leading her to evaluate the entire situation in a different light. And to plan things, considering various options.

Nari of the Eternal Forest -the one that deluded her the most, because why, oh why was she there with them? Why was she on Merlin's side instead of her siblings- in particular, was the kindling that led her to realize the situation in which that little group found itself.

She took a big breath and closed her eyes, a grin painting itself on her face a little more every second, accompanied by a mischievous dark giggle.

Badb, Macha, and Donn would be enough to fix the problem. All she needed was to wait and convince them not to rush it later, somehow. Sure, Donn was pretty hard to restrain at times, but he would not come between her and her hunted prey. He knew her well enough to avoid doing that.

' ...You will regret providing another weapon to my arsenal, Silver Tongue, ' she thought.

********

Veronese green eyes and freckles were images that clung to his mind like magnets when Douxie awoke.

He pulled himself up slowly, not daring to open his eyelids to prevent possible light from aggressively assaulting his vision.

"...How long did I sleep?" He merely asked Archie after a couple of seconds. He felt his presence around him -and knew he would be there even without that perception. It was a certainty. A reassurance that he gave him- and he fell back onto the mattress with a sigh escaping his lips. Suddenly hearing the sound of rain, however, got him back up almost immediately, as if nothing had happened, almost to make sure he wasn't imagining things.

A slight twinge in his back immediately made itself felt, leading him to grit his teeth and gasp in discomfort. The wounds that had been inflicted on him, however, could already be felt no more. And the feeling of fatigue was still there, but it was hinted at. One cup of coffee and it would have disappeared into thin air.

"Oh, bro, you're awake," Steve's voice appeared, almost making him jump and wince on the spot from surprise. Kind of like the sound of people moving from mattresses. He forced himself to open and close his eyes repeatedly to remove the blurry masses he kept seeing instead of objects and people to have them take a little more shape.

"Three hours and a half. It's 11:30," was Archibald's reply, mixed with the rubbing against him that made him smile softly. "You should keep sleeping."

"Not that tired anymore. It was enough." He rasped out.

Then he gently leaned his forehead against his Familiar's muzzle, mentally sending him gratitude and affection, receiving back very similar emotions. The union tattoo vibrated a bit.

When he was able to open his eyes ultimately, the images were much clearer, though not one hundred percent. He found himself face to face with the entire group of Guardians, who were looking at him with slight anticipation and almost anxiety.

He looked at them with confusion, unable to precisely connect such attitudes with anything he had done. Sure, he had been wounded, and in between he must have fallen unconscious after Merlin -oh, Fuzzbuckets, Merlin's earful. It had not been the worst received ever, but not even in the top ten lightest. Absolutely not- but there had been nothing that could make them so agitated out of nowhere.

"What is it? What did I miss?" He asked, looking at them all.

"Uh. Nothing much. You seemed gone earlier. But like.. gone really hard." replied the blond. "So gone it was goddamn scary, dude."

"I think he got it, Steve," said Jim, smiling at the other, just as Nari said something, without him being able to fully grasp it. Maybe it was because his brain was still a little clouded by sleep, maybe it was because he could still hear the screams that Nemain had sent into his head, and that annoyed him like never before, along with something he couldn't define.

"Pardon me?" He asked, confused and almost embarrassed by having to have the sentence repeated, praying that it wouldn't happen a third time too -in that case, it wouldn't just be embarrassing. No, no. Much worse. But maybe Archie would have understood it better than he did.

"You had started to... Well... Sound a little hurt in your sleep, Teach," Claire said, worried. "You didn't look fine, either." She asserted, leading Toby, Jim, Steve, the Trolls, and the half-goddess to nod. And leaving him to gape a little and wrinkle his nose.

'What...'

The same Veronese green eyes and freckles flashed back into his mind in a quick image.

'Oh.'

He partially held his breath, feeling his heart miss a beat and swallowing hard. A knot seemed to form in his stomach and he clenched his fists insistently, forcing himself to focus on the pressure of his skin and the stiffness of his own bones.

He looked at Archie, seeing him wag his tail and watch him intently, stiffening when he probably extrapolated the image in turn, knowing perfectly its meaning.

He ended up leaving gentle circular caresses between his shoulder blades, both for Archie and for himself.

"It was no big deal," he hastened to say, feeling everyone's eyes on him in a way that made him feel seriously uncomfortable.

'I don't remember having dreams...' he then thought. Of course, his mind might have automatically dismissed them, though... It happened seldom. It was probably tiredness and that was all.

'I didn't feel them either,' Archibald replied.

'Good,' whispered a little voice in his head.

He immediately tried to get to his feet and was helped in doing so by several people at once, as if they expected him to fall at any moment. This may have been true, so he decided to thank them and get over it -He shouldn't have felt like a burden. He didn't have to. He didn't have to at all. Better to avoid those random sudden thoughts. Even just hearing one, small or otherwise, late in the morning... Well, it could lead to much worse. And counting what had happened in the previous hours, that something would not come lightly- hoping they would stop staring at him that way.

"No, really. It's fine." He insisted, passing a hand behind his neck with mild nervousness. "I was just bothered by the hallucinations. That's all," he said finally, mainly because of Claire's unconvinced expression. But also because of a thought that returned to his mind.

'No lies, ' he said to himself in fact for the umpteenth time, ' at least for a while, no lies.'

"If you need it, however, I have some herbs that might help you a little," Nari quipped. "Ashwagandha, Lemon balm, or Lavender for example. They would be perfect."

He smiled openly at her, gratitude sailing through his chest. "I would gladly accept it. Thank you."

The reply seemed to calm Archie as well, whose feelings had remained tense -a tension he wanted to take away because there was no way he could make his Familiar worry all the time like that. It was bad enough as it was and he was almost surprised that he didn't have so much white hair on his fur- as well as making Nari somewhat very happy. And her expression lightened him, all at once, as if he had lost some of the gravity weighing down on him.

"Which one?" She asked.

"All three are fine, you can choose, really," he shrugged, chuckling.

"What is Ash... Ashwa... Ashgawa... Whatever, you got it, come on. What is it?" Asked Steve, voicing the question that seemed to be written on the others' faces as well.

"It is a tonic," Nari said, "it is used mainly as a medicine. One should not exaggerate the doses, though," she added, making the very plant appear in her hands and showing it to everyone. "Could give stomach ache, nausea, and diarrhea."

Aaarrrgh sniffed it and made a disgusted grimace "... Stinks." He said. Archie sneezed in confirmation, as he did every time he found it under his nose -Douxie had tried it about three times. It had been quite a while since the last one.

Nari laughed at their reactions, "Yes, it is stinky." She then made a wooden glass appear out of thin air, shaping it before their eyes through a spiral that twisted around itself. Douxie perceived its melody, always similar to the violin, literally causing a musical scale, with a very fast tempo.

She stretched it out for him, then crumbled the Ashwagandha into it. All that was missing was the hot water at that point, which Douxie made appear tentatively, not wanting to get hurt again, but without fail. His Magic -with its very soft sound, only a bit strained on a few chords- seemed to have already recovered enough, a fact for which he could not help but be grateful.

Had he been a normal Wizard, it might not have been the same thing -Zoe, after one burnout, had taken seven hours to recover. Which was why she had been annoyed at him a lot, telling him he had a fu... Well, swear word... dumb luck. And he honestly couldn't even feel guilty about that.

That almost abnormal ability had saved his so-called pretty -by many, but oh, not important- behind plenty of times.

"Thank you, again," he said with a slight movement of his head, immediately taking a sip, careful not to burn his tongue and palate. It was warming his stomach in an extremely pleasant way, but he could feel where it was going.

Nari simply continued to smile at him. "Still no need to."

"I still will. My apologies," he said, "So, what did I miss?" He then asked, moving strands of hair from his eyes with a hasty movement of his free hand.

"Nari destroyed us all at the Uno game and then to Gin Rummy in each round," Toby quipped. "She learned how to play both games today."

Douxie had to interrupt himself from drinking instantly to avoid spitting his herbal tea, swallowing hard as a burst of shocked laughter peeped from his lips.

"Chapeau," he said to her, gesture and all, barely shaking in a desperate attempt not to burst out laughing a second time in a short period.

The half-goddess smiled in a way that only served to make it hard for him to get serious again. "It was fun," she commented. The light in her gaze testified to it throughout.

"I can imagine," he replied, feeling the silly grin still painted on his face without a hint of control. Nor any way to disappear.

He needed several seconds before he was able to drink again. But then he resumed, letting himself walk a little and leaning his back against the wall. The Guardians began to quiet down, a little at a time, perhaps noticing that he was not sick or something like that -he probably didn't convince them by telling them before.

Archie, on the other hand, began to fly around the room again, not taking his eyes off him for a second.

'I'm fine,' he told him, arching an eyebrow. And then sighing. 'Sorry if I worried you.'

Archie simply sniffed. 'You better be. You have to stop overdoing yourself.' He said.

He then looked at the group again. Even though they seemed more content, he still felt kind of wrong... Maybe guilty. At first, he didn't understand why, exactly. But then the answer was born through his mind, leaving a sour taste on his tongue.

"I wanted to apologize, by the way. To... To all of you." He found himself saying it out loud even before he realized it, so much so that he was surprised by hearing it come out of his mouth, passing his gaze over everyone rather quickly, causing him to dart it to the floor just as fast. "For... Well. Giving trouble that could have been avoided... and for what I said while I was trying to fix the issue. I acted like a prick, even though I didn't mean it. So, uh. Sorry about that."

There was a brief moment of silence. Douxie was already partially ready to slip out of the room, mute as a grave and mentally slapping himself for speaking. And having probably revived irritation that had perhaps been buried, somehow, thus ruining everything -as usual. How wonderful. But apparently, the feelings he accumulated between that moment and his Master's heavy criticism had overflowed, willy-nilly.

But then, before he could get going, Claire intervened, showing a quiet and perhaps all too understanding expression. So much so that he might have preferred to have her yelling at him instead because it seemed to make more sense in his head. "It's fine, really, Douxie. It shocked us at first, but we understood. You were trying to help Archie."

Jim nodded, so calmly that it made him feel even more puzzled.

"You were a bit bad, well, yes, but... I have to say that it was so cool !" Said Toby instead, leaving him widening his eyes in total shock. "You were like... So serious, but serious-serious! Like... like a supervillain on a TV show! Sure, before I realized you were acting it was pretty terrifying , to be honest, but then it all came together, and bam! The chills."

"What..." he simply gaped, not having the slightest idea about what to say in front of Toby's exalted expression. "Uh..." a pause, "thanks, I guess?"

'How the bloody hell is everyone so understanding?'

'You warned them after all, didn't you?'

'Yes, but...'

"I understood right from the start," Steve said -lying- raising his head and chest with satisfaction and bringing his hands to his hips in a rather funny way. "So no problem, 007 ."

"Yeah, right. Your lost puppy expression said one hundred percent how much you had it all figured out," Claire retorted instantly, rolling her eyes.

Steve tried to retort -probably to throw in a speech about how it had just been an impression of Claire or something- but was blocked by Douxie himself who intervened, kinda feeling his heart drop at that phrase.

"Sorry..."

He remembered his expression. Just thinking about it kinda squeezed the air out of his lungs, making him feel even guiltier.

"No, really dude! It's fine, don't worry about it!" the blond insisted, waving his hands in front of him.

"By the way, that laugh of yours had been... a little creepy, if I may say so," Blinky said matter-of-factly out of nowhere, raising all his arms in the air, with a weird look on his face. Almost sweating. As if he was hearing it again inside his mind.

"It was totally out of context...?" he muttered, kinda embarrassed, clearing his throat and sipping the herbal tea, going to point at the Familiar with a finger just a bit later. "Archie's fault there ."

"It wasn't my fault there ," blurted out the dragon immediately in an offended tone, going to fall back on his shoulder and sniffing. "I had only said facts. You don't get to laugh just because of the tone in which I tell you things."

"If you sound so scandalized and annoyed, what do you expect from me?"

"You should be used to it," a pause, "and anyway , only you could quote Britney Spears in such a situation."

"... Guilty." He admitted and let out a soft chuckle. "Couldn't stop it."

"Britney... Spears?" Asked Nari instead, appearing confused and causing Archie to stiffen on the spot. "Who is she? A Witch, perhaps?"

Douxie opened and closed his mouth. Then he opened it again. "No. She is a pop singer from 1998 who..."

"She is one of his many musical Singers and bands fixation, like Queen, My Chemical Romance, Elvis Presley, Goo Goo Dolls, and many others. So much so that he still can say every song of theirs date by date and word by word, except swear words," concluded Archibald, suddenly smirking. "A necessary postscript; if you ask questions in the music department of any kind , be prepared for hours-long speeches. He opens his music nerd side and nobody stops him anymore."

Hisirdoux facepalmed, in more than total embarrassment. "Thank you, Archie," he said sarcastically.

Buckets, he really had to expose him like that.

By his Familiar's expression, he regretted nothing.

"But how... I thought you were just a Rock music kind of guy," commented Steve, puzzled.

Before he could say something, Archibald interrupted him. Again. "Rock is his favorite. That doesn't change the fact that he could start making a list of the genres and related currents he loves... and not even stop after reaching six hands."

"Six is few," he muttered, rolling his eyes. "There are like 690 styles of music around the world," a pause, and many people's eyes widened at the number. "To list only 30 of them is a crime."

"That's my point. And then you say your phone's low memory is due to the pictures and not the almost endless playlist you have."

Douxie groaned and huffed, quite annoyed, seconds apart.

'Let's not go back to this again, please, and thank you,' he thought.

'You know I'm right,' he retorted.

He rolled his eyes, then looked at Aaarrrgh. The Troll didn't say anything before but was listening with a peaceful expression.

Douxie, after biting his lip, instinctively bowed to him. Archie did the same -if they hadn't been in that position, they would have noticed the shock written on the others' faces.

"I owe you. Thank you," he said

When they looked back at him, Aaarrrgh smiled a big soft toothy grin and lowered his head slightly in return. "No need," he said.

"You too," Archie added, turning towards Toby without thinking twice, before Hisirdoux did that, too. "Thanks."

"Oh, it's fine, really." Toby waved his hand, seeming kind of embarrassed, pleased, and prideful at the same time. This before looking like he remembered something. "Speaking of cell phones..." he elbowed Steve, who brightened up in turn. "...Your number."

Douxie blinked, confused. "...Okay," he said simply, grabbing the phone which the blond stretched out to him and quickly dialing it. And then returning the object, deciding not to ask too many questions.

He saw him save his contact simply with a 'Doux' nickname -another one. Again. The kind that Archie sometimes used. And that it was less strange to Douxie than bro, in all honesty, but he could fit that one too, at this point. Alice called him Munchkin , which was even weirder, but that had become so habitual that being called by his name by her was far more strange to him. They weren't the 'bad nicknames'.

One of the only things that he remembered from his mom, at this point, was that she used to call him Didi .

Douxie hated his brain.

"Well, then. Selfie coming up in three... two... one..." a second to load the picture then, "nice."

He arched his eyebrow at that sentence, then connected the pieces, albeit in short delay -Maybe because it seemed to him that more time had passed than had happened. Perhaps because his head was partially elsewhere, whether he wanted it to be or not- so much so that he felt stupid.

"Thank you." he asserted again softly.

A few seconds later, his number was shared with the others as well, starting with Claire who briefly snatched the phone from Steve's hands to mark it down, ripping a shrieked "Hey!" from him that she so smoothly ignored.