AN: Shorter chapter this time, sorry for the wait~

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Chapter 2:

Night had soon fallen, and when it did, the wind picked up outside. Strong, but not alarming. It did rattle the windows and the high-pitched howling was easy to be mistaken as something ungodly to be outside, dwelling in the shadows.

Normally, the sound of howling wind didn't bother Drayce. But tonight, after spending about an hour trying to settling into bed to sleep, he found himself feeling restless. He couldn't pinpoint the exact reason why.

Whatever the reason, he decided to get up and do something useful rather than rolling about in bed trying to sleep. Perhaps the restlessness was the result of the discovery of his grandfather's office. He had managed to clean it up the best he could, but the shelves and bookcases were left as they were.

Those case notes and folders were just begging to be read.

So, the office was where he found himself wandering to as he left his room, mindful to be quiet so not to disturb the others as they slept. Hopefully they slept peacefully.

As he stood before one of the bookcases, he soon realised that they didn't appeared to be organised. Reference books mixed in with case notes and documents. His grandfather was never a very organised man. He would use the worlds "Organised Mess" to describe the chaotic state he would often leave a room when researching. It may appear to be a mess to one person, but he knew where everything was.

Or so he claimed.

Either way, flicking through the documents and books, and rearranging them into Drayce's own version of an organised mess would pass some time, and hopefully tire him out enough to get some sleep.

Some of the case notes were interesting, though. They appeared to be hunting for caches of jewels and gold even back in grandpa's day. With how accessible, yet inaccessible the Yggdrasil labyrinth was, it made sense that no-gooders and criminals would try to hide their stash within.

A soft, timid voice pulled him from his musings. "Drayce?"

Drayce stiffened slightly from surprise and immediately turned around. "Fae?" he questioned when he saw Faelen standing in the threshold of the door, looking somewhat sheepish. "What are you doing up? Is something wrong?"

"Couldn't sleep," Faelen replied with a shrug, though still looked mildly sheepish. "The wind outside is annoying."

"Ah, I see," Drayce said with a sympathetic smile. "I couldn't get settled myself."

Faelen walked into the room and over to the desk, and took a seat on the high-back, leather covered swivel chair. "What are you doing?"

"Just sorting out the bookcase for something to do," Drayce answered as he closed the folder he had in his hands and placed it back upon the shelf. "They appear to be books on supposed materials that can be found in the labyrinth. There also appears to be case notes of Grandpa's previous projects."

Faelen tilted his head to the side and his ears gave a curious twitch. "Case notes?"

"Archaeologists and treasure hunters can sometimes be hired by others to search for missing family heirlooms or find information on missing ancestors," Drayce explained. "Some people aren't able to search for themselves, you see. So, they hire someone who can."

"Oh," Faelen said, the intrigue in his expression noticeable. "Will you do that, too?"

"I hope we will one day, yes," Drayce said before he shot his guildmate a smile. "What do you think? Ready to be a master detective?"

Faelen laughed and leaned back into the chair, idly twisting from left to right. His gaze fell upon the somewhat organised desk and reached out to pick something up. It was a small picture frame.

"Drayce? Who's this?" he asked.

While Drayce knew what was contained within the photo frame (he had cleaned the desk after all), he still approached the desk and leaned over to have a look himself. "Hm? Oh, that a photo of my grandparents."

"He looks fun," Faelen said as he pointed to his grandfather, who stood in the centre of the photo, grinning from ear to ear, with an arm around his grandmother's shoulders. Proudly showing her off, it seemed. "Was your grandfather a dragoon?"

"Still is."

"And your grandma?"

The smile on Drayce's lips dimmed a fraction upon the realisation that his grandmother had passed on. And grandpa had thrown himself into a mission soon after. To grieve, in his own way.

"She used to be a fencer," he answered. "One of the best, they say. She was the love of Grandpa's life."

Faelen quickly caught on and glanced up with nothing but sympathy in his eyes. "You miss them a lot, huh?"

"It's only natural," Drayce replied with a small smile and leaned back.

Faelen silently looked at the photo for a little while longer before his expression turned into that of pain and his ears even drooped a fraction. "Dray?" he murmured as he placed the photo back onto the desk. "Do you think I'll find Sarkis one day?"

Drayce tilted his head questioningly to the side. "Sarkis? Is that the name of your brother?"

Faelen nodded his head, his eyes still downcast. "Yeah."

"You'll find him one day," Drayce immediately reassured as he turned to perch himself on the edge of the desk, close to where Faelen sat.

"I hope so," Faelen murmured softly.

It was difficult to find someone who didn't want to be found. That was something his father used to say. But Drayce wasn't going to say that to Faelen. Not now.

"You will," Drayce said as he reached out to rest a hand on his shoulder. "I know you will. You're brothers, after all. You will be together again one day."

Faelen glanced up finally and smiled at him. "Thanks, Drayce." He suddenly tilted his head to the side in curiosity. "Do you have a brother, Dray?"

"No, I..."

A sharp pain in the centre of his chest caused Drayce to hastily remove his hand from Faelen's shoulder to grasp at his chest. His shoulders hunched forward and his furrowed his brow to stare at the floor in front of him.

That pain...?

"Wh-what's wrong?" Faelen stuttered loudly and fearfully grabbed onto his arm.

"No, it's nothing," Drayce instinctively replied. However, he still held onto his chest.

"B-but..." Faelen spluttered, seemingly on the verge of panicking. "Did I say something wrong?"

"What? No, of course not!" Drayce immediately replied, unconsciously straightening his posture. He hadn't meant to scare the kid like that. He certainly didn't want him thinking it was his fault somehow!

"It's nothing, really," he continued to insist with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "I just...get a pain every now and again. It's nothing to worry about. I guess...I do have a brother. A couple of them. Blayke is like a brother to me. So is Ashton. And now, so are you."

Faelen didn't look wholly connived with his reassurance, but he did perk up when Drayce admitted that he saw him as a brother. That seemed to make him really happy. "Really?"

Drayce smiled and reached over with his hand to ruffle his hair playfully. "Yes, really. It's late. Let's both try to get some sleep."

"Ok," Faelen relented and hoped up out of the chair. He, however, gave Drayce a worried look, his eyes trailing down at the hand he still held against his chest. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"I'm fine," Drayce insisted as he pulled his hand away from his chest and pushed to stand up straight. "Don't worry about me. Now, let's get to bed before Ashton goes on the rampage, hm?"

"Kay," Faelen finally agreed.

As compensation for scaring the guy needlessly like that, Drayce decided to walk him to his room to ensure that he was comfortable for the night. Only when he said goodnight to Faelen and closed the door to his room, did Drayce stop and frowned. He pressed a hand against his chest once more and stared at the hardwood floor.

That pain...why did he get it whenever someone mentioned the word "brother"?

"Drayce..."

Drayce all but leapt a foot in the air at the familiar, but sudden voice behind him. "Woah, dude! Don't sneak up on me!" he yelped as he spun around to find himself face to face with Ashton. "I'm heading to bed now, I promise!"

However, instead of a look of parental agitation at Drayce being up past his bedtime, there was a look of subtle concern on Ashton's face. "...Are you all right?"

Drayce blinked. "Huh? Of course. Why shouldn't I be?"

Ashton didn't verbally reply, instead his eyes travelled down toward Drayce's chest area and it was then that Drayce realised that he was still idly rubbing his knuckles against his chest.

Drayce immediately clenched his hand into a fist and forcefully dropped it to his side. "It's nothing," he insisted yet again. "Really. I'm...heading to bed now."

Much like the expression of disbelief that Faelen wore, Ashton didn't look remotely convinced. And yet in his eyes, there was also a sense of...pain? Guilt?

"Alright," Ashton said finally. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Drayce replied as he tensed his back, turned on his heel and made his way to his room.

... ... ... ... ...

Despite his best efforts, Drayce did not sleep well last night.

He had a rather disturbing dream. He couldn't remember what it was exactly. Just that...it hurt his chest. All he could really remember was reaching out a hand to someone and the desperate fear that they were being taken away from him. And there was nothing he could do about it.

That person...the one being ripped away from him felt...connected to him somehow.

...It was just a dream. A bad dream. Everyone got them from time to time, right?

When he finally climbed out of bed, he realised that it was later than when he would normally get up. And he couldn't help but wince and throw on a set of clothes to make himself look presentable.

After what happened last night and now sleeping in? He was sure Ashton was worried. Faelen, too, probably. He really hated worrying others needlessly like he had done last night.

He had...better be on his game today so not to worry them further.

As Drayce stepped out of his room, he was greeted by the sight of Kamali as he walked down the stairs. Before he could call out in greeting, Kamali turned his gaze toward him and his face lit up with a smile.

"Oh, good morning."

"Hey, morning, Kam," Drayce returned.

As Kamali reached the bottom step to the second floor, he tilted his head to the side, his long purple hair falling over his shoulder as he did so. "You slept in late today. Is everything alright? You weren't up all night cleaning your new office, were you?"

Drayce held back a wince and shook his head. "Not last night, no. Only for a couple of hours because I couldn't get settled in bed. But this morning I was so comfortable I didn't want to move."

Kamali seemed to accept that excuse as he gave a light airy laugh. "Oh, I see."

"And what of Shashi?" Drayce asked as the two of them headed down stairs together. "Was he in the library all night?"

"I think brother tried to stay up all night but Ashton would have none of it," Kamali answered, a half smile on his lips.

Drayce had to chuckle. "Ah, good ol' Ash. It's nice that they're such good friends."

Kamali unexpectedly coughed into his hand. "Um, yes."

"Hm?"

"No, it's nothing."

Drayce wasn't convinced, but didn't press any further as they had reached the bottom step. And he could hear the voices of the rest of their guildmates in the dining room. Breakfast was stilling served, thankfully. It would be, like, devastating to miss out on Ashton's breakfast!

He would have saved him some, sure, but it was more fun having breakfast with everyone.

"Hey, morning, guys," Drayce greeted cheerfully as he walked into the bustling room.

He got a series of "Good morning!" in return and he quickly made his way over to his seat, where a plate of breakfast sat waiting for him. No doubt Ashton's doing.

"So, what we got planned for today?" Blayke asked as Drayce sat down at the table.

"I'm thinking that maybe we could spend the day getting Crescentia somewhat cleaned," Drayce answered. "There are more of us now and there's no need to leave the place covered in dust and cobwebs."

Blayke nodded his head in acceptance, but a rather suspicious expression slipped across his face. "And you might find something of interest?"

That wasn't really a question.

Drayce smiled broadly. "Dude, you know me so well! Besides, Shashi and Ashton are still cleaning up the library. Kam, I get the feeling you'll be dragged into it, too."

Kamali tried to laugh but it kinda came out as a tired sigh. "I already have been. I'm just taking a break now. Fiorello is also there."

"So, we will return to the labyrinth tomorrow?" Zohar ask, seeking clarification.

"That's right." Drayce then glanced over in Caelem's direction, sitting next to Blayke and poking idly at his food. "Cal, hey, up for a trek in the labyrinth tomorrow?"

Caelem stiffened and immediately looked over at him. "Yes!" he answered enthusiastically before his expression dropped and his ears folded against his head. "But..."

"Are you worried about those bandits?" Blayke was the one to ask, his face creasing into a protective frown.

"Ah, well, no, not really," Caelem replied slowly. "It's that I don't have a weapon anymore..."

Oh, that was right. They didn't find a weapon with Caelem when they first encountered, and then saved, him.

"Did you have a blade before?" Kamali asked.

"Yes, but it was taken from me when those bandits captured me."

Drayce felt himself bristle protectively and he was certain that Blayke did the same. "Did it hold any sentimental value?"

Caelem shook his head before he shrugged. "No, not really. It was my first blade but I was hoping to search for a new one when I entered Iorys."

"Well, that's good," Drayce said as he felt himself calm down. "Why don't we head to Syrik's shop straight after breakfast?"

Caelem blinked. "Ah, now?"

This time, Drayce shrugged. "Sure, why not?" The sooner Caelem get a weapon for himself, the better he would feel.

"You just want to get out of cleaning," Blayke accused, his tone holding no bite though.

Drayce feigned outraged. "Why, I never!"

Caelem seemed to relax more, even going as far as chuckling. "Sure, let's go after breakfast."