Young Writers Society

She let out a frustrated sigh.

"The only way we're going to get out of here is figuring out what's going on, and we can't do that until we know everything that happened leading up to the moment - at least try to remember why you entered the forest."

She paused again.

"Please," she begged. "I really need your help, Aegeas."

"I want Tristan," came Aegeas's muffled voice. "I want my brother back."

She faltered.

"...I'm sorry," she said. "I don't know where your brother is. Was he...Was he here with you-"

She suddenly fell silent, turning to the bushes on the other side of the clearing as she heard people approaching. It sounded like two people, but it was impossible to tell for certain. She held her breath. It wasn't Gabriel, or God, or Lucifer - all of them would have been talking by now.

The two stepped out of the shadows.

Relief washed over her in an instant.

"Issac," she managed to get out, perking up. She didn't recognize the other person he was with - though she did notice that he was an otter person like Aegeas, too - but the sight of one of her best friends made all of her worries slip away.

"...Quinn?" he managed to get out.

She nodded.

"It's me," she confirmed. "I got my memories back."

He scanned the clearing. "Where's Gabriel? Wasn't he with you?"

"...He was," she slowly said. She glanced back in the direction she had come from, then turned back to Issac with a sheepish expression on her face. "I ran off before I got my memories back to go chasing after Aegeas - he's the boy in the tree."

"We've met," Issac said. He glanced between the other otter and Aegeas, and Quinn started to wonder if she was looking at the mysterious Tristan.

"Aegeas!" Tristan shouted, catching sight of the familiar otter on a tree. Well, a lot smaller than he remembered. Ugh, was Aegeas still a kid? How was Tristan supposed to talk to an older brother who was now younger than him? Especially when that older brother would feel even more confused and awkward than he felt, given that Aegeas probably still didn't remember much about himself or Tristan.

"Tristan?" said Aegeas, pulling his head away from the tree and staring down at Tristan.

Aegeas blinked twice, then fell off the tree.

"Aegeas!" Tristan cried, sprinting over to his brother. He found Aegeas behind the tree, convulsing on the ground, eyes rolled back into his head.

"What's happening to him?" Tristan called out, afraid to get any closer.

Quinn and Azazel glanced at each other before rushing to the other side of the tree, both of them crouching down beside Aegeas when they saw him convulsing.

"I don't know," Azazel said. He was trying to keep the worry out of his voice, but Quinn knew him well - she could pick up on a little changes in his tone. "I can't tell what's causing the convulsions. It could be because he's getting his memories back, but I don't think it looked like that when I received mine..."

"He hasn't been getting his memories," Quinn hurriedly said, horror quickly appearing on her face. "He's been keeping them away. What if this is because you're not supposed to do that?"

Ethan watched the others as they worried over Aegeas where he lay convulsing on the forest floor. They were discussing something about not remembering or something to do with Aegeas trying to avoid remembering anything. He frowned. That probably wasn’t good.

Something rustled in the trees around them, distracting Ethan from the conversation. He turned in the direction he thought the noises had come from, but nothing happened. For several minutes, there was silence. And then something rustled behind him and Ethan span around towards it.

“Uh, guys?” he called, worried and hoping he’d get their attention. The rustling came again, a little closer. “GUYS?!”

Ethan glanced towards them only to find they weren’t even listening, too engrossed in staring down at Aegeas. He scowled. And then something collided with him, almost knocking him other. He let out a startled breath and glanced down when he felt tiny arms wrap around his legs. There was a kid hugging him tightly. A kid dressed in a ratty grey tunic and nothing else with a messy mop of dark hair. He blinked once, twice and hesitated, unsure what to do.

“ET’AN! I FOUNDED YOU!”

What. The. Hell. He didn’t know the kid, but how did the kid know his name. Ethan was thoroughly confused by the kid’s appearance. He cleared his throat and then bellowed, “UH, GUYS? PROBLEM!”

Quinn and Azazel shared a look as Ethan started yelling, silently deciding that Azazel would keep an eye on Aegeas while Quinn went to check on Ethan.

She rushed over to him-

-only to skid to a stop when she saw the boy hugging his legs. He must have been responsible for the yelling in the unfamiliar voice, but it seemed like Ethan didn’t know who he was.

Which would be very worrisome if it wasn’t for the fact that people were getting turned into children - Ethan probably hadn’t put that together.

"...Ethan?" she slowly questioned. "The forest's been changing people who enter it, right? It changed me when I went in after my friends. So if this boy's looking for..."

She trailed off, hoping he got the point.

"...Who would have followed you in?"

He looked from Quinn to the kid and back, nodding along to her train of thought right up until she asked who might’ve followed him in... Shit. Ethan glanced down at the messy hair, at the grey tunic and the kid babbling in what sounded like... He wasn’t sure what it was but it definitely wasn’t English and it was interspersed with his name multiple times. It couldn’t be...

Ethan glanced up at Quinn and sighed. “Of freaking course... Of course he’d follow me in, the stupid bastard.” He sighed and put some space between him and the kid so he could crouch down in front of him. The kid peered up at him with wide hazel-brown eyes. There was a tiny hint of red to them but otherwise the kid appeared to be entirely human. “Hey kiddo. You seem to know me, but I’m not sure who you are. What’s your name?”

The kid frowned at him and pouted, crossing his tiny arms over his tiny chest. God, the kind was tiny overall, to be honest. Ethan has to wonder how old he was and where he’d come from.

“Don’t be silly, Et’an,” the kid said, pouting the poutiest pout he’d ever seen. “I’s Nich! You knows me! Yous is my boy friend!”

Ethan blinked and then blinked again and turned to look up at Quinn. “Well, shit,” he muttered, and promptly sat on his ass on the middle of the little clearing. Nich climbed up into his lap and flung his arms around Ethan’s throat, burying his face into his shoulder. “Was not expecting that...”

Tristan knew something was going on behind him - between the shouting, the voice of a kid, and a couple people turning their backs on Aegeas, it had to be another one of the forest's victims. Tristan wanted to join them, but he couldn't pull his eyes from Aegeas. As the older otter shook and flailed, Tristan scrambled to think of something to help Aegeas, but couldn't come up with anything. From what he remembered Taber telling him around seizures, the most Tristan could do was stand back and make sure Aegeas didn't hit anything. Which was pretty good life advice for dealing with Aegeas in general.

Suddenly, Aegeas sucked in a deep breath, back arching. Then he flopped back down just as violently, limbs going limp as his head turned to the side, eyes closed.

"...Is he sleeping?" Tristan said, leaning close and hearing Aegeas's faint breaths.

"I think so," Azazel softly said, but it was more of a hope than anything else - he didn’t have the slightest idea. The seizure could have been related to the forest, or it might just have been something that Aegeas dealt with normally. He knew too little about this place and him to really tell.


It was hard to think that the boy could have been Ethan's boyfriend before entering the forest, but she was still trying to get over Ethan being older instead of the little toddler that had followed her around. She wondered if Gabriel and Issac had felt the same way when they saw her as a kid - did they feel the same disconnect when they realized how different she was?

If she remembered right, Gabriel had definitely screamed for Issac...

Before she could think more of it, there was movement in the bushes. She tensed for just a minute, but then the source of the movement emerged from the depths of darkness.

It was a little girl.

Her light brown hair was in two little pigtails, and her clothes - a plain, patched brown dress and shoes that resembled miniature combat boots in a more simplistic style - were covered in dirt and grass stains. A flower crown was nestled in her hair. She was the type of kid who should have had an enormous grin on her face, but her hazel eyes were brimming with tears.

The tears started to slid down her dirty cheeks when she seemed to realize people were in the clearing, which was the exact opposite of what she had expected when the girl (who had to be younger than ten but older than five) appeared.

She tried to hurry back into the forest, but she tripped on a stick and fell to the ground.

Now she was full on sobbing. There wasn't anyone left to enter the woods that she knew well, and she had no idea what the child before her was like as an adult. But Quinn still approached the crying girl - even as she flinched away - and held out a hand.

The girl stared at it for a moment, then started to sob even more.

"It's alright," Quinn promised, crouching down before her so they were at eye level. "I'm not going to hurt you."

The girl shook her head, fiddling with the bottom of her dress as she continued to cry.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "Am I...Am I scaring you? You've probably been told not to talk to strangers."

"I talk to strangers all the time," the girl said in a quiet voice, only to cover her mouth and let out another sob after she spoke.

That approach wasn't working. She thought for a moment, then asked, "What's your name? Mine's Quinn."

The girl stared at her with wide, wet eyes, letting out another sob at the question. Quinn didn't push her. She just continued to crouch before her and give her a warm smile, hoping that the girl would feel better once she had someone to trust.

"...Arin," the girl finally said. She tugged on her dress more. "I-I'm Arin..."

Ethan spent several minutes staring at Nich. He'd never imagined he'd ever find out what Nich was like as a kid, considering the fact that the vampire was so damned old, but well. He had the chance now, and he was not ever going to give it up. Nich stared back at him for a moment longer and then lunged forwards to bury his face in the crook of Ethan's neck. He just rested there for a moment and then Ethan winced, reacting to Nich attempting to bite him with blunt human teeth.

"Ouch," he hissed, and Nich pulled back with wide, watery eyes. "Oh, nooo, no, no... Nich, no crying--"

"Why no work?" Nich whispered, confused and now full-on crying. "I sowwy, Et'an, but no work! Why? Why not work?"

Ethan glanced towards Quinn for help, but she was preoccupied with something else--which he'd noticed as well; Movement and rustling in the bushes. Keeping half an eye on Quinn, he turned back to Nich. "You're not...like me anymore, okay? I'm not exactly sure why, but you need to be patient..."

"Pat'nt?"

"You need to wait, Nich," Ethan told him firmly, and caught the hint of crying that wasn't coming from Nich. It was distracting but as far as Ethan was concerned, Nich was just a little bit more important. "And you need to remember, okay?"

"Otay, Et'an, promese."

Ethan smiled at him and stood up, turning to look for Quinn. He found her with a little girl who appeared to be crying, or rather....had previously been crying. Ah, that must've been who had been crying before. Ethan hesitated, unsure of how to help in that situation. He probably shouldn't have hesitated because one second, Nich was beside him and the next, he was over by Quinn and the little girl.

"Hewwo," Nich said and plopped down sit beside the girl. "Huwg?"

Arin looked at Nich for a moment before frantically shaking her head. She couldn't hug him! It wasn’t her decision. Her lips shook a little more, and another loud sob left her.

Azazel's words went in one ear and right out the other, mostly because, when Tristan blinked, Aegeas grew a little bigger. Was that a trick of the light? Using his paws to keep his eyes wide, Tristan was relieved to find out it wasn't - Aegeas really was turning back to normal. His body swelled back to its usual shape; his clothes were swapped out with his light blue shirt and baggy tan pants; his swords came back to his sides.

Almost in an instant, Aegeas was an adult again. The older otter didn't seem to notice, though - he merely mumbled, flipped over to his side, and kept on sleeping.

Azazel felt a wave of relief - it had just been Aegeas growing older. Part of him was worried what the otter was going to be like as an adult, but that meant there was no pressing issues involving adults-turned-small-children anymore, and he could focus on reunited with Gabriel-

He was cut off by the sound of a little girl crying.

Azazel, resisting the urge to sigh, rose to his feet and cast one last look at both Aegeas and Tristan before approaching Quinn on the other side of the tree.

"Aegeas is alright," he said. "He just grew up. He's sleeping now, but I think it's safe to guess that he got his memories back."

"That's good," Quinn absentmindedly said, her gaze never straying from the unfamiliar little girl. While he had gotten a feeling of recognition when he saw child!Quinn for the first time, this girl was entirely unfamiliar.

...And the girl just wouldn't stop crying.

"I tried comforting her," he said. "And Nich - Ethan's boyfriend - tried offering her a hug. But she didn't want it."

Azazel looked down at the girl.

After a moment passed, he picked her up. She gave a startled shriek and tried to wiggle free, but it was to no avail - being a robot with a tight grip had its perks. He pulled her close to his chest. Only a second passed before she threw her arms around his neck and buried her face into his shoulder. Even if she said she didn't want a hug, he knew she had really wanted one.

"It's all my fault!" the girl cried into his shoulder. "Now...Now..."

He started to rub her back, but then she started to squirm in his grip again.

"Let me go!" she said to him, popping her head up. "I'm really, really bad! I-I..."

Another sob left her.

Reaching down gingerly, Tristan plucked Aegeas's swords from their holsters and set them on the ground beside him. No need for him to accidentally stab himself while sleeping.

"There," Tristan said, standing up and turning around to face Azazel. "Let's let him sleep. He looks comfortable; I haven't seen him this comfortable in a long time."

Tristan stared past Azazel, seeing two more children in the midst of the adults. "Erm, what happened here?"