A Family's Bond and the Unexpected Ambush

When the group got to the village, it may have still been dark, but there seemed to be more villagers outside this time. Overall, the village seemed to be getting better. Even though the houses were still a bit broken down, a lot more villagers were outside, doing things they would've done before the attack from the Abyss King's warriors.
'The village seems much better today,' Makoto thought. He looked at Chihiro and Ryu, who were talking about their parents. 'They must've had it rough growing up,' he thought to himself.
"Ryu, Chihiro," a voice called. It was Ryosuke, and Ryu and Chihiro's mother was not too far away, next to small flowerbed. The group, though mainly Ryu and Chihiro, went over to Ryosuke. "Back again?" Ryosuke asked. "We came here with Kamiyama," Chihiro said. Ryosuke nodded, "I see. Your mother and I were just coming outside when we saw the village was trying to fix itself up again."
Ryu and Chihiro's mother got up, brushed the dirt off her dress, and turned to Ryosuke. "I'm just glad our family is safe," she said. "And both of you, come here!"
She went quickly over to Ryu and Chihiro and hugged them both tightly. "M-Mother, not in public..." Ryu protested, embarrassed. But his mother just hugged tighter, laughing. "Since when did a hug get you two so embarrassed?" She asked in a lightly teasing voice.
A little later, their mother brought some food outside for them to eat. "Mm, smells great as always, Mother," Chihiro said with a smile on his face. "Thank you, Chi~," his mother replied.

Makoto and Shiro were invited to sit down with the family as well, and were brought some food. "Thank you," Makoto said politely. "Junko-san's cooking has always been good, Makoto," Shiro said to Makoto with a wink. "Trust me, I've had it a few times."
'That's her name,' Makoto thought to himself, careful not to say it out loud. And when he took his first bite of food, he realized Shiro was right. It may have just been simple rice with fish, but the seasonings and the herbs made it taste amazing. "Woah," Makoto said, his eyes sparkling. "I love it!"
Junko smiled at Makoto's praise. "Thank you, I'm very glad you enjoy my cooking~"
Ryosuke swallowed his food and said, "Well, of course it's amazing cooking; your skills are what made that fever go down when we met, remember?"
Ryu and Chihiro, who had been eating quietly up til this point, made their eyes into slits. "Oh, I remember that time," Junko replied, smiling at Ryosuke. "How could I forget how you made those Abyss Warriors run with their tails between their legs?"
Ryu and Chihiro groaned. "Mother..." Chihiro complained. "What? It'll happen for both of you at some point," Ryosuke said to the brother, making Shiro chuckle.
"It's true," Shiro said with a wink.

After finishing eating with the family, Shiro took Makoto, Ryu, and Chihiro to where his house was: it was simple ー made completely from wooden planks and odd bits of tree bark ー and a little worse for wear, but it was enough of a shelter for Shiro and Hope.
"This is were I live," Shiro said, gesturing to the small house. "Hope is probably inside, since I didn't see him with the other villagers."
When Shiro knocked on the plain wooden door, there was the muffled sound of small footsteps running up to the door. In a moment, a little sliding window opened and behind it was a pair of golden eyes looking outside. "What's the password?" Said a small yet familiar voice. 'That sounds like Hope,' Makoto thought to himself before looking at Shiro, who had turned to face him and the brothers. "If you three hear what I'm going to say," he began, "can you keep it a secret? Hope's safety depends on this password staying between us, and only us."
Ryu and Chihiro nodded. "We can keep it secret for you," Ryu said, though he seemed curious as to why Shiro had made a password, and why he was letting them hear it in the first place.
"Thank you," Shiro said before turning back to face the door. "'Stella'," he said to the kid behind the door.
"OK, one second..." the kid said after closing the little sliding window. There was the sound of a wooden stool being dragged away from the door, locks unlocking, and then the door opened to reveal Hope, exactly who Makoto thought had been behind the door. He had almost the exact same features as Shiro, like golden eyes and white hair, but younger and more innocent. And his shirt had two sleeves.
"Pater! " Hope shouted and jumped up to Shiro, who caught him in mid-air. "You're getting a bit big for this, Mea Astro," Shiro said with a chuckle, which made Hope pout. "I am not," the child complained.

After Shiro put Hope down, Hope ran over to a counter near a small window, where some plates were set out. There was some bread with butter on said plates, but Hope smiled at Shiro and said, "I made supper for us, Pater! "
Shiro chuckled and pat Hope on the head. "You did, did you?"
"I also practiced the plan you made in case a bad guy breaks in," Hope said proudly. "Here, let me show you!"
Hope ran over to a door in the wooden floor that Makoto assumed led to a cellar. It took some effort, but he was able to open it, and when he did, he leaned it against the wall and hopped down into the cellar with a soft thump, probably from a bag of flour to break the fall. A few seconds later, Hope's small head popped up from the cellar door. "I won't close the door since you and the other good guys are here," he said, "but if a real bad guy showed up, I'd close the door and lock it."

Just then, Makoto, who had been standing next to a small table in the center of the room, heard a knock from the door. Hope climbed back out of the cellar and closed the door. "I'll get it, I'll get it!" He said, running to the counter, grabbing a small wooden stool, bringing it up to the door and standing on it. Sliding the small wooden window open, he said, "what's the password?"
At first, all he could see through the sliding window was a dark coat with red accents. But slowly, the figure bent down so their eyes met Hope's. "I'm afraid I don't know," a deep voice said. The man behind the door's eyes practically bore into Hope's soul. "Could you be a good little boy tell me this password?" The man said.
Hope's eyes widened in fear. He stuttered, then jumped off the stool and ran behind Shiro, grabbing the end of his coat.
"P-Pater, there's a scary man outside," Hope said in a small, scared voice.
"Don't worry, Hope," Shiro said, putting his hand on Hope's head. "Pater  will deal with this." With this, he motioned for Hope to go to the cellar. The young child ran to the cellar door, and dropped back in; only this time, he closed the door, though Makoto didn't hear any locks click.
"Who are you, and what do you want here?" Shiro asked the man behind the door firmly, to which he snickered. "I suppose you could say I am... a very important person," the man said. Shiro opened the door, his eyes beginning to glow red. The man was the Abyss King.
"And what do yo want with me?" Shiro asked. "Why," the Abyss king smirked, "I just wanted to finish what I started at the Arena." Makoto stayed behind Shiro, afraid of what might happen. 'Why's the Abyss King here? I thought we defeated one of his strongest warriors!' Makoto thought. 'This can't be good,' Chihiro thought.
But before he could do that, the Shiro teleported outside the house, and the Abyss King drew his sword. "Let's just get this over with," Shiro said, drawing his own swords, his eyes glowing red. "Alright then," the Abyss King said before charging at Shiro.

In a split second, a fight had started. Makoto had no idea what to do, and Ryu and Chihiro just stayed back so they wouldn't get caught in the fighting. 'Shiro's acting different,' Makoto thought. He watched closely, and noticed something very off about Shiro. He usually struck his opponent very smoothly and swiftly, but right now, he seemed to be flailing his dual swords around, as if he was possessed. It was very unlike him, and it made Makoto scared.
"Ryu," Makoto said as he moved closer to Ryu, "Shiro's acting strange."
"I see it too," Chihiro said, his eyes a bit wide. "He usually fights with precision, but right now..."
"... it's like he's gone mad," Ryu said.

Just at that moment, the three went out of the house just as Shiro had forced the Abyss King against the house's wall. He raised his sword, ready to strike, but he stopped, as if whatever had taken him over had disappeared. But just then, he stumbled backwards, grabbing his chest.
"Shiro!" Makoto shouted, running over to Shiro. "Hey, are you OK??"
Shiro, though out of breath, looked at Makoto,  and nodded. His eyes had turned back to gold, but he seemed unsteady.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine, puer,"he said, panting heavily. "I'm just a bit... tired..."
Makoto caught him before he fell. "S-Shiro!!" Makoto shouted, genuinely worried. Chihiro rushed over to them and checked Shiro's pulse. "Oh no," he said, his voice shaking. "W-What? What is it??" Makoto stammered. "His pukse is all over the place."
Ryu ran next to Chihiro and, seeing what had happened, said, "we have to get him back to the Apex Tower, now," before teleporting the group away instantly.