A nice change

37

tw:mentions of torture and kidnapping

"Hey, Auts?" Shadow asked as everyone walked into Gerard's house.

"Yeah?" Autumn said.

"Why is my backpack so heavy?"

"Oh, yeah about that..." Autumn held her hand out for the bag and placed it on Gerard's dining room table with a loud thunk, getting everyone's attention.

"Alright, everybody gather round!" She said, slowly unzipping the backpack with a huge grin while everyone walked into the dining room. Pausing for dramatic effect she took the time to look at everyone's confused and tired faces before pulling out a metal briefcase.

"Th-that's the thing Stumph had on him when Mama and me..." Brendon said quietly "You, uh, you could that from my room?"

"Yeah, duh," Autumn responded. Everyone seemed impressed, especially Jason when they told him and Nat later. "I didn't know I was talking to the Grand Thief Autumn herself!" He exclaimed "If anyone asks where their car is, or their phone is, or their boy is, I'll tell them Autumn Danzig took 'em!"

He was sitting in Nat's room next to them, putting his face way to close to the camera on the FaceTime, which just made the whole effect even funnier. Viola had leaned the phone they were calling them from against the headboard of one of the bunk beds in Gerard's spare bedroom.

Apparently, since his grandma had been apart of Liseil, he legally got to keep the house that Liseil had stuck them in as kids. And he didn't exactly have enough money to move out, so he just lived there even almost 15 years after they had defeated Liseil.

Viola, Violette, and Autumn were all laying on their stomachs on the bed, talking to Nat and Jason about everything that had happened. Brendon sat on the bed across from them, not really wanting to look at the kid who's parents he took.

Meanwhile, Shadow sat in the living room with Gerard and Remington, who they had texted to come over so Shadow could, well, spill the tea.

"So you're telling me you got into a car with a stranger to go to a random address your mom left behind and apparently he's your dad?" He said, angry.

"They're not a stranger and I knew you wouldn't take me." Shadow said, standing their ground in their headstrong way that was all Leith.

"Yeah, I wonder why, maybe because it's a bad idea."

"You'd do the same thing if you were my age I know you would Rem." He turned around and didn't look at them. They knew it was a low blow but they said anyways "I know your dad was never there for you, but you can't be scared of the fact Gerard's a good person, Remi. I know that. And I know it's just been you and me forever but things change Remington, and right now I think things are changing for the better."

Remington looked at Shadow "Why do you have to be mature?"

Shadow just shrugged and smiled "It's your fault for raising me to be this way."

Remington smiled back, before looking at Gerard and saying quietly "Well I guess I ended up raising my childhood friend, how's that for irony?"

"Wait I forgot, you said you two used to know each other, but I thought Liseil kept you and the other's locked up." Shadow said quietly, missing Gerard's silent begging for them to stop talking.

"WHAT?" Remington asked alarmed. Gerard shot Shadow a glare without thinking before looking opening his mouth to try to convince Remington that he was insane or a criminal before he realized "Wait, Liseil was something me, Sebastian, and Emerson came up with when we were kids. Way after the Ways and the others got too old to play Killjoys with me."

Gerard sighed. "Liseil's real. They used to experiment on all of us when we were kids. When you recognized me when Shadow ran away I thought you were just remembering everything that happened as a game played as children was just your way of coping.

Remington had fallen into on of the seats and seemed to be staring into space. Into memories he had tried to burry deep down that were pouring back up again. "You mean it was all real? The torture and everything?" He asked, voice cracking.

"Shadow, you should go hang out with the others." Gerard said.

Shadow forced themself to stop looking at Remington and meet Gerard's eyes. He looked sad. They looked back to Remington on the verge of tears. It was their fault he had to realize everything that had happened to him. Their fault. Their fault. Their fault. Their fa- "Shadow,"

Remington had said it. "It's not your fault, honey," He had his hands on Shadow's shoulders and was speaking softly, putting his own panic aside to try to calm down Shadow. Cuz he'd always put them first. Always.

They looked over at Gerard, concern covering his face. "You're okay," Was all he managed to say. But it was enough. All they needed was Remington really.