It was hard to understand how people didn't know about etiquette. For Andor, it was one of those things that you just knew. It was like seeing someone not be able to count to five, or read. Unless they were six it was mentally impossible.

And then he met someone like Hope, or Jordan, or Tom and impossible things started to happen so often that it was hard to call them impossible. Hope not immediately saying thank you after every thing she did was the least bizarre event of the last year.

Adapting to it was the hardest, and Andor realized it was gradually getting harder harder. When your being imprisoned by your father and then being chased by demon dolls life gets-

- unpredictable.

But when the worth it part was awake right beside you every morning, it was a gentle reminder why the impossible was so much better than the possible. The possible was sad and boring and black, but impossible was something to be excited about when you woke up in the morning.

His morning started around 8:00 am if we were getting exact, when Hope had to jump over him to get out of bed. This is when suspicion started to form. She usually didn't wake up until at least 11:00, that way all of the breakfast food would be away and lunch would be out, except for Mondays when you could go get pancakes.

Then the anxiety really started to spiral out of control when she wouldn't exit the bathroom. Trying to get back to sleep was really hard when there was just this big cold spot next to you.

The other half of his mind said not to get up because Hope wasn't a normal individual. She could take care of herself fine. Every time he did worry and check it inconvenienced them both.

Then there was a knock on the door, which usually would have been a bad thing. When there was a knock on the door people just needed something. This time the door was giving him something, an excuse to get up.

The floor didn't really make him cold. He never got the complaining.

The door slowly creaked open. Of course that was on impulse to make sure it was an acquaintance instead of someone new. If it was someone new you had time to think of an excuse why you couldn't talk.

It was Andy, which was the exact opposite of someone new.

"Oh," He let out in disappointment. "Hi."

"Well gee. Good to see you too." Her voice was laced with just enough sarcasm to know it wasn't a fake.

When Andor had to wake up the Town Herald, or anybody else in the town for something, he got angry good mornings.

People get angry after being woken up. That's normal.

He could never get himself to do it. No matter how predictable that was. His voice just wasn't an angry voice, even when he was angry.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Do you remember Jeriah?"

Andor didn't remember whoever that was. They sounded like someone born in Urulu because the name was something simple and modern - well at least modern for Ruxomar.

"No," he answered.

"Good," Andy said. Though she didn't seem too relieved about that concept. "You'll help then."

He would have helped anyway.

"Was he that horrible of a person?" He asked.

Andy crossed her arms. "We're not allowed to use his name in the past tense yet." And then Andy let her posture relax and she stood normally. "Look. He used to be a shit ass Mianite guard and then him and Mot got really close, which is how he got stuck here with us. He's really important to Allyssa, and even though he can be pissy-"

"You kinda enjoyed his company too," Andor ended her sentence. Having Andy practically be his body guard when he was little made him understand that she had some minor trust issues.

"Glad to know you will always be there to show other people my affection for them." Andy smiled.

She wouldn't do it herself.

Andy eyes glanced to the bathroom door as it creaked open. A creak that was supposed to be silent, so nobody would be woken up. God knows what had preoccupied Hope so much that she didn't realize a conversation was going on right outside the door.

Andy raised her eyebrows at the predicament she could sense before it even happened.

"Welp. I'm gonna go." She pointed to the door. Her eyes were pasted at Hope's shoulders. "See yah in ten minutes out in the front."

Andor immediately put everything together as soon as it processed through his brain. Still he had this huge need to let out.

-"What?"-

Andy was halfway or if the doorway at this point. "They're packing up a b-team and you're a good negotiator." She shrugged and saluted Andor off with good luck.

"Wha-" still scatter brained. Still scatter brained. "Oh - okay."

He turned to look at Hope. Except for the lack of planning, it was actually exciting to go out with the team on another mission. They always got into predicaments.

"Looks like we're going out again," he tried to sound less excited.

But it didn't take long for his tone to actually get worried. Her top showed her shoulders, where you could see marks. Not the normal scar that went from her neck to her arm, but something more. Something that jagged into familiar shapes.

"Did someone grab you yesterday?" He asked. His voice panicked quickly. How had he not noticed?

The soft gaze in her eyes didn't help. The glassy tone in her brown eyes that most people got with fear or pain. Something had to be wrong.

She tried to shrug her shoulders, but her posture was weak and it was obvious she was hurt.

"You should sit down." He grabbed her hand. He could find a way to convince her to rest for one day. "You look like you can hardly walk." Maybe there was a way he could say.

"No. I'm fine." She took her hand from his and crossed her arms. "I think I just got grabbed yesterday. I need to move around."

Normally this is when the benefit of the doubt would be given, and Hope would be miserable all day. Today he just couldn't seem to get himself to do it. Something about the whole situation felt wrong. Maybe it was because he saw the fighting yesterday. He saw what she called home.

"I think you should stay for the day."

Hope did her sassy stare thing. The look she gives people when the only thing going through her brain is obscene words.

But he was backing down now. "I really do."

"I'm fine, Andor." Her words were more stressed this time. More angry.

This just made him more paranoid. And that paranoia then led to anger, which was so easy to pint down most of the time but now it was just overflowing. Calm was gone.

"Can't you just listen to me this once?" he sighed out in exasperation.

She was still giving him that stupid look. "I don't have to listen to you," she said.

He stayed silent. He had never gotten mad at her before. He didn't want to yell at her. He didn't even mean to raise his voice that once. He didn't even mean to say that.

"Are you okay?" She asked. A statement that was supposed to be endearing and full of actual worry. Of course the whole conversation had made Andor perceive that as something else.

"What do you mean?"

The frustration continued. "Are you okay?-"

Bubbling into infuriation.

"-Your more paranoid than normal."

"It's hard to not be paranoid when you walk out of the bathroom looking like you got strangled!" He said. Well he didn't actually say it. He yelled it, but he couldn't notice.

"I told you it was from the fight yesterday!" So in turn she yelled.

And of course Andor couldn't comprehend why Hope was yelling at him.

"I don't believe you!"

"Well you don't have too!"

And she grabbed her bag that she still had packed from yesterday. "Now I'm going!"

The door slammed behind her. She has gone off on a mission. Making him wonder if she would come back alive or not. It made the most sense not to worry. She was surrounded by people almost as strong and powerful as her.

Why in the gods names would she need someone as irrelevant as him to watch over her?

He sat on the bed, with a mix of wanting to cry and scream. He wouldn't do either. It would be to annoying to be bothered by your own noise when after all of that you just wanted quiet.

There was a knock on the door, and for a second it could have been Hope. Coming back to apologize or he could apologize to her and not have this disgusting put in his stomach.

But instead it was only Allyssa's voice chiming in. "Hurry up. I want to go outside!"

Which was at least enough to calm the pit.

"I feel like our key strategy should be to brake off here-"

The humid was hard to get used to. The sea breeze from the docks always made the port town cool, even in the hot summers. Nothing ever felt like you were being drenched from walking out in the sun.

The new environment even made walking hard which made waiting out in the hot sun for a plan to be made. Of course Andor has only made it right outside of the front gate of Aura. It didn't change the fact that the heat was ridiculous.

"Hey," Andy greeted him. She was struggling to put up her hair under a bandana. The job wasn't any easier since she was watching two horses.

One of the leaders was out holding the map. He was the smug one with the long hair he always had up, and who always stared at Hope. He seemed to be the heartthrob of the Kingdom meaning that women had to see him as conventionally attractive. The fact that he said "dude" and "sup" a lot made Andor blind to that attractive factor.

He also had an older man behind him, who had brown eyes and greying hair that almost seemed premature. He had this slouch that made him look like an absolute idiot. The phrase "how you carry yourself" always was irrelevant to Andor, but he seemed like he needed three people to just hold him upright-

"Oh." Andy noticed him staring, which meant he should stop because Liberty could probably notice. "That guy by Liberty is Claudius."

Andor continued to stare at him. He was still a blurry picture.

"You met Liberty, right?"

Sadly. Andor kept that comment to himself,

"Liberty is pretty responsible once you get past the fake laidback persona. Him and Faith put a lot of effort into the Kingdom, but Claudius-" Andy rubbed her sweaty neck, glaring at Claudius the same way Andor glared at Liberty. "-is the real life version of the emperor with no clothes."

Andor forgot to pay attention. Most of his attention had gone to Liberty, who was still observing the map like it could save Mianite. He tried to be mad at him, but he couldn't. He was so disgustingly charming.

"Pardon," Andor said. He could tell Andy was waiting for a reaction.

"Ugh," She sighed. "You know that stupid ass story you made me read you. The one where the emperor makes naked cool because the emperor is hot shit in the village-"

"No one is naked here Andy," Andor tried to explain.

"Well- ," she sighed. "I knew that- I just-. Claudius is like the emperor."

"Please tell me he doesn't run around naked-"

"No!" Andy hit him on the arm, which was supposed to be a light tap but actually hurt quite a lot. "I'm saying Claudius is really arrogant and dumb and thinks he runs the place when he doesn't! He's their uncle, actually. The rightful owner of Aura since their mother and father died, but he's a stupid piece of shit and would run the place to the ground if he had the chance."

"Is that why Faith and Liberty always seem to be babysitting him?" Andor asked. He only seen a few minutes of Claudius interacting with Liberty, but the dynamic was obvious.

Andy nodded her head. The horses started to nudge at her shoulder, cueing that they were ready to leave.

"What are we doing anyway?" Andor asked. He still was mildly confused.

"Oh, right. That would be good to explain," she mumbled. "Well, we're going to do a perimeter check. We have the safe route, and your girlfriend and the heroes have the other route. Jeriah got kidnapped."

Andor had to stop himself from gaping out. He assumed Jeriah had just stayed back at camp due to extreme temperatures. He had not been informed of the kidnapping.

"Oh?"

"Yeah," Andy lengthened on. "He made the mistake of guarding Claudius and Liberty's sugar momma on a journey and payed the prize."

"Who exactly are we dealing with?" Andor asked.

"They call themselves Carnage so-," Andy sharply inhaled. "Edgy."

"What's the Carnage?"

"Fucked up," Andy answered abruptly.

"Oh?"

That lead to a good two hours of horse back riding, which Andor wasn't good at either. You didn't have a lot of horses at a port town. There was no point.

Andy, being from Urulu, was a pro. She could easily ride a horse from place A to place B. So could Allyssa, who was taught by Mot himself. It made no sense why they would decide to bring him along. Especially when they didn't seem to have to negotiate with anyone. Though, it was a good excuse from Andy. He wouldn't trust Andy to try to get along with any foreign government.

"I actually like the heat more than the cold," Allyssa said our of nowhere. She had decided to lag behind and ride right beside Andor, while Liberty and Andy led the path ahead.

Claudius was actually completely up front, but he was more or less sitting as the horse did all of the work.

"Don't you?" Allyssa asked. She used to do things like this when Andor was younger and had to watch after her. Of course it was more obvious when a four year old did it, but it was her cheesy way of getting him outside.

That's why he was forced to leave.

Andor simply stared at her. She could pick up the message soon.

She shrugged and started to get a bit uncomfortable. "What?"

Andy sensed the awkwardness like a dog senses blood. She turned her head and smirked at Andor. "He's just angry I made fun of his favorite story."

"I only made you read it once," Andor added.

Now Liberty had turned around and was smiling at the conversation too.

Great

Andor just wanted to exit out of the conversation. Stories of his childhood was his least favorite out of any conversation. Who wants to hear about the embarrassment of your past mistakes?

"You just need to learn how to make better metaphors," Andor commented. He hoped that would move the conversation into Andy, who could rant about something for a very long time.

"Excuse you!" She yelled out. A hint of laughter was still in her voice. "Maybe you need to get more trust with your girlfriend," she said. Which was supposed to be fun.

Allyssa made a face, which was full of shook and a bit of fear. She realized that that comment was not fun.

Andor sighed, really hoping they would get through the path soon so he could hide away somewhere. It was hard to stop thinking about the fight he had with Hope when everyone brought it up.

And then to make things worse, Liberty turned around. Like he had the authority to join the conversation. You could tell from his smiling and calm demeanor that he meant well. Andor couldn't help but feel a little threatened by him.

"Look, you got in a fight with your girl right," Liberty stated.

Andor had to hold himself back from nodding his head yes.

"So here's what your gonna do." He turned around, and it was a lot easier to not get mad at the back of a head, so he listened.

Liberty continued. "Couples fight, and that's okay. It happens, but your always gonna be wrong."

Andy scoffed.

Liberty explained on. "That is how the world works, so when my girlfriend gets mad at me. I turn up the charm-"

Allyssa gave Andor a pitiful glance. He understood.

"Are you telling him to seduce his girlfriend?" Andy asked. Her sharp tone indicated that any answer Liberty gave wouldn't be good enough.

"Take that statement. Wrap it up." Liberty added some nice hand motions too, just to jazz things up. "And than shake that on a little bit of communication -"

"Do not try to justify what you just said," Andy said.

"What?!" Liberty sounded a mix of attacked and trying not to cackle too loud. "A bit of romance never hurt anyone."

"Oh please-"

"You know I'm irresistible."

Allyssa fidgeted with her horses harness uncomfortably. "Can you guys turn of your sex drive for one day?"

Liberty got red and turned around, not able to look at Andy straight. She was having a hard time to not try to laugh at Allyssa, who was actually very uncomfortable with the topic.

To be fair, so was Andor.

But the longer the ride continued, the more he thought about it. The idea started to make sense. The whole problem was that Hope didn't see him as strong. That would be a way to show her he wasn't scared.

"Umm guys." Liberty's voice cut through the thoughts, and as he started to unfurl the map again everyone started to worry.

The air around was anxious, and not just because of Liberty. Even Andor could sense something. Something was close, so close that you got goosebumps on a hot and humid day.

Liberty stared at the map intently. His once red face was now ghost pale, and Andor could see the nephilim in him.

"You know how we were taking the safe route." Liberty said.

The leaves behind started to shuffle, and the whole jungle somehow came alive. Shadows danced in the sunlight, and shapes appeared from tricks in your eyes.

The horses started to get agitated and jumpy, as you could hear some light, high pitched growling.

Liberty cleared his throat. "We got the other route."

And then they pounced.

"Get up! We have to go!"

Andor's head was still throbbing from being knocked off his horse. Thehorse, on the other hand,was fine was running away the other direction with Liberty's. Allyssa and Andy were gone, and had hopefully gotten away with Claudius during the commotion.

"What?" Andor asked. The pain right behind his left ear wasn't helping the comprehension.

"Sirens!" Liberty was forcing his gaze to the ground and at him. "Now let's go, and don't look back!"

That was not an experience Andor wanted to have again. Even though he didn't see Liberty as a responsible person or smart, he was able to run a Kingdom so that must mean something.

Liberty helped Andor up before he could even consent. Soon they were running through a sparsely trampled down path. They had to duck vines that were still growing, and had to maneuver through the dark floor of the jungle.