This is Even Worse (G/t)

2

~Much later...~

Tired from a seemingly never-ending interrogation alone and a self-led tour around the facilities, Evan walked out of a kitchen-like area, munching on a muffin, into what appeared to be some kind of commons or lobby. With all of the space and glossy tile, his footsteps would've been echoing. However, they were drowned out by the chatter and rustles from the shrunken survivors moving about freely, which he was surprised to see. He figured that they would've been locked up or taped off someplace... or maybe that was his parents' side getting to him. He stopped not too far from where the main group of them collected together and just watched, nibbling on soft yet crunchy goodness. 

Some of the littles detected his arrival, but none of them personally acknowledged him. He was more like a statue rather than a person, and he tried to be that way, rather than the overlord he was usually perceived as. He showed restraint not picking up or touching the tiny, hysterical children that ran around him picking up falling crumbs, before an adult dragged them away, almost too scared to lead them from him. At least they seemed to have some kind of fun. He was just stuck, with nowhere to go.

He looked through the crowds, observing their interactions and whatnot, but Ayana was nowhere to be found. 

"What? She's not here, and her family isn't either? Then where is—? Nate? What the-?" His thought wandered off when he caught sight of the officer. 

Still eating, he traveled toward him and found him standing in front of a large glass window, going through several small persons' folders and pictures, including one increasingly thick collection that could've only belonged to one person. With Nate's intense focus on the images, Evan almost wanted to bail. Almost.

"Oh, hey kid," Nate greeted somewhat depressingly, lifting his eyes from the papers to look at the approaching Evan and then the starlit night sky, lawn, and garden in the back. "Did the big dogs call you back now or something?"

"N-Nah. I was just walking around," Evan replied, taken aback by the lack of sass spewing from the officer, especially considering how uncomfortably playful he was acting with Ayana during their switch in and Evan's switch out of questioning. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Ayana or something?" 

While Evan seriously couldn't care less about the preppy not-policeman, he couldn't help but be curious about his doings, as Nate was Ayana's (and others') assigned guardian. If he was out, then she should've been, too.

"I am."

Of course, the younger male didn't understand until the officer pointed outside. Following his pointing digit, he looked out, down the hill, and saw the mini miss in question traversing through plants and dirt paths, balancing and leaping on rocks like the ground was lava. In all honesty, it was kind of adorable, her looking like a slightly over-sized Borrower of sorts, but he'd never say that aloud. Plus, he almost didn't see her... for obvious reasons that were practically a routine now.

"What's she doing out there?" Evan questioned. "No, why's she alone? Weren't you the one against that?"

During their brief - well, however brief an hour could be - time together, Evan noticed out the corners of his eye how Ayana - swift and silent, as usual - frequently gazed outside and/or attempted (and almost succeeded in) breaking through a window, though Nate stopped and belittled her every time.

"Yeah, I was," Nate confirmed, combing his fingers through his brunette hair and crossing his arms to a relaxed state. "But, that was before I knew she had already been doing that with your family for a year or so. She doesn't need supervision. It's not like she could leave, anyway."

The memories of her travels replayed in Evan's head like a movie reel. If she wasn't with his family or helping someone in need, then she was always outside, embracing the nature... or so it seemed. If she ever caught his glances at her, she'd just go deeper into the brush like it was her... home.

"Huh, so he must've looked through her files, then. No wonder he's all... strange, now. It's some deep stuff."

"Besides her escape trials," Nate began again," she went through her whole interrogation willingly... and everyone else's since they wouldn't do it without her, for some reason. She answered all that she was asked and didn't ask for anything in return. But, since she just kept looking outside during it all, I felt I just had to let her out, you know? She... kinda deserved it... after... everything."

"Is this your way of giving her some half-assed apology, Slick Rick?" Evan teased, though he could feel that the officer was being sincere.

"Very funny, cowboy. If you want to think about it that way, then sure."

With a shared laugh, they continued to watch Ayana go around and gather various flora for a few minutes in silence until Nate restarted the conversation again,

"You know, when everyone was done, and she and her parents were the only ones left for a full interview, they were asked a question at the end that resulted in many discussions. Well, I think it did. They mainly spoke with short, few word responses, but since they're freaking minuscule... and broken—" As he said that, he looked back down to Ayana's massive folder with a frown. "—it's not like I could totally hear them. Either way, they had issues choosing a collective answer to one question."

Evan scratched his locks in thought, curious to understand the hubbub. "The question being?"

Nate looked back up to him when he hesitantly made the unexpected reveal: "Did you - you, boy - kill one of them?" 

Evan's heart nearly stopped. Time practically stopped. He remembered Ayana's sister accusing him of doing so, and since then, he hadn't been sure of the tiny's demise. It hadn't been noted in any of the folders. His parents knew of the ordeal, but they didn't leave evidence of it anywhere. It made him sick that even he couldn't give an answer. 

"And yet, despite awkward looks from her parents and sister," Nate said with a deep breath and closed the papers to gaze at the girl outside, "Little Miss Ayana said a blunt 'No.'"

Evan could've sworn that his ears were deceiving him. "Wait, what?"

"Yep, I'm not even joking. No matter how many times she was asked for sureness, she said 'Yes, it's a "No."' I mean, we don't know if anything happened, but since she seems to be trusted by everyone else in that anything-but-colossal community of theirs, we have to take her word."

The young Fowler smiled. He couldn't believe what he heard.

"Huh. So much confidence in such a kinda tiny frame. You're just full of surprises, aren't you?"

He wanted to talk to her, maybe even hug her, but fate just wasn't going to let that happen, apparently, as drowsiness started to take effect with a yawn escaping him.

"Aww, is the little baby tired?" Nate expressed childishly. "I'm kidding. Really, though, get some sleep or relax or something. You've had a long day, seeing your whole family get arrested and all." Way to be sensitive. "But, hey, before you go, I should mention something if you hadn't already realized."

Nate took out a sticky note with facts that made Evan ashamed from not already knowing them because they made too much damn sense, with her spicier than usual attitude that day... and that silk she was wearing. He had to do something.

Hoping Nate would catch the hint, he asked, "Hey, do you think someone could—?"

"Dude, you called out one of the biggest scandals of the decade," Nate remarked, cutting him off at the raising of his voice. "They'll practically do anything you want."

Grinning inside and out, Evan was pleased being bounds, ready to set a new plan in motion.