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Several hours later, Chaos directed Natalie to pull into a rest stop. After a short break and a quick meal, they went back to the car. Chaos stopped Natalie before she got to the driver's side.

"You're tired." He said simply and held out his hand, "I can take over for a while."

She looked at him like he'd grown a second head. "But -"

"I've been watching what you've been doing and I'm a quick learner. I know what to do."

She stared at him in shock for a long while, then hesitantly handed over the keys. When they got back into the car, Chaos sat in the driver's seat, buckled his seat belt and stuck the key in the ignition. Natalie could see that he hadn't been lying as he started the car's engine. He knew exactly what he was doing.

"You're driving?" Havoc asked, shifting carefully so he wouldn't wake Solace up. "Someone read me my last rights."

Chaos ignored him and pulled out of the parking space.

"Don't be nervous," Blight said, looking at Natalie. "Chaos knows what he's doing." He always knows, Blight thought. He would never do anything without knowing exactly what he planned to do and how to do it.

Natalie gave a shaky nod and leaned back in her seat, placing a hand over her eyes. "I'm just gonna sit here and . . . not look."

Blight smiled a little. "Good plan."

"We won't take another pit stop for a while," Chaos said as he pulled out onto the highway, gaze flicking in all directions. "We'll pause somewhere where we can get something to treat Solace's scratches, then we'll keep driving. Think you can do that while we're on the move?"

Blight nodded. "We should be able to, but we might get pulled over with so many of us back here."

"That won't be a problem."

Blight paused, blinked a few times in surprise, then shook his head. He should've known. Even if they got pulled over, Chaos would only make the officer forget.

They drove for a long time and Blight found himself getting both uncomfortable and tired. He slumped in his seat a little and leaned his head on Vex's shoulder. Vex looked at him, a little surprised, but didn't say or do anything else. Blight's eyes drifted slowly closed.

When he woke up again, it was to someone shaking his shoulder.

"Wake up, Blight," He recognized Vex's voice, "Wake up."

Blight blinked sleepily and rubbed his eyes, sitting up away from the window he found
himself leaning on. When he looked around, he realized that it was just him and Vex left in the car.

"Where are we?" He asked with a little yawn. "Where'd the others go?"

Vex smiled a little. "You've been asleep for over two hours. They're outside."

Still a little confused, Blight opened the door and got out. Vex slid across the back seat to get out the other door. Blight closed the door and walked around to where Vex had started walking, jogging a little to catch up.

"So, where's here?" He asked as he fell into step at his brother’s side.

Vex gestured out towards the field at their right, then towards the playground Blight could see a ways down the path. "At a park. I'm not sure where, but I've never really cared enough to study a map, so," He shrugged.

Blight fell silent and simply followed. When they got to the playground, he saw Solace awake and sitting on one of the swings. Natalie was sitting one swing over, showing him how to use
it. Havoc was standing close behind and Blight guessed that he had been pushing Solace before. Chaos was sitting on a bench just a few yards away, arms crossed calmly, one foot crossed over his other knee.

When they got to the swings, Vex climbed up and sat on the top bar. Blight walked over to stand next to Havoc.

"You even treated his scratches without waking me up," Blight said with a little smile, "Impressive."

Havoc shrugged, still watching Solace. "You were tired. We figured we'd let you sleep."

"Thanks. . . I'm sorry I'm not more help."

Havoc finally looked at him, a little surprised. "What are you talking about?"

Blight shrugged a little and slipped his hands into his pockets. "I don't know. . . I just feel like I don't do much. I couldn't even help out in a fight if I wanted to. I can only do anything if someone stands really close and breathes my air."

Vex stood up and walked closer to them along the bar, then sat down again. "So what? You think we're gonna dump you just because you can't fight? That would never happen."

"I know, it's just -"

"Nothing." Havoc interrupted. "It's nothing."

"We all know you don't want to fight, anyway," Vex said, "So don't try to push yourself. You do plenty of other things. . ." He smiled a little. "Keep the rest of us sane, all right?"

Blight looked up at him in surprise, then smiled beneath his mask and gave a nod. "I'll try."

"Hey!" A girl's voice called from close by. "How'd you get up there?"

The boys' heads turned towards the voices and they saw two girls, a brunette and a blonde, staring at them. The blonde squealed.

"Whoa," The brunette swayed a little, putting a hand up to her head, "I think I just got a little dizzy."

"Are you guys all twins!?" The blonde asked, wide-eyed and smiling.

Natalie turned to look at them. "The correct term is quintuplets."

Vex and Blight kept watching, while Chaos paid them little attention. Havoc looked away and simply Solace held onto the chains of his swing and leaned back far enough that he could see them.

"Upside down," He muttered quietly.

Havoc rolled his eyes and gently pushed Solace back upright. "Don't do that. You'll hurt yourself."

Solace winced a little as he sat back up and rubbed the spot on one of his hips where he'd hit the ground hard enough to leave a bruise. "Ouch. . ."

"See? I told you."

"Why are you wearing a mask?" He heard one of the girls' voices again.

When Havoc looked back around, the blonde had backed Blight up against the swing set.

"I-I have . . . allergies," Blight answered nervously, holding his hands up in defense.

"Can I try it on?" She started to reach for it.

He batted her hand away, looking a little panicked. Nearly immediately, Vex dropped down from above them and landed easily on the ground.

He stepped between Blight and the blonde. "I think it's time for you to leave."

She shrunk back a little, then looked annoyed. "Geez, lighten up. I was only playing."

The brunette put a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "He's right, Lissa. We should get going."

'Lissa' led her friend over to the sidewalk and dropped her voice to a whisper, but Vex could still hear. "But, Bailey! These guys are hot and there's five of them!"

Bailey rolled her eyes, hissing back at her in a whisper. "Don't you think about anything other than that!? That guy's obviously angry and I can't believe you tried to take the other's mask! What if he needs that!?"

"It's just a little, paper-thin mask. It's not like that's keeping him alive."

It's keeping you alive. Vex thought bitterly.

Bailey rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up. Come on, let's go." She grabbed Lissa's hand. "Sorry about that!" She called back towards Natalie and the quintuplets. "She's too impulsive for her own good. Have a nice day!"

"You too!" Natalie called after them, giving a small wave.

Blight let out a breath. "Thanks, Vex. I kind of froze up, there."

Vex smiled a little and turned around. "I noticed that. What's the matter?" He smirked. "Getting nervous? You've been around girls before."

"Not girls our age!" Blight insisted. "And not -" He glanced at Natalie and looked away, voice dropping to a whisper the doctor couldn't hear, "Not cute ones."

Havoc snickered quietly.

"Oh, shut up, snake." Blight snapped. "I'll hurt you."

Havoc laughed. "You couldn't beat me if you tied my feet together and my hands behind my back."

Blight glared. "That could be arranged."

"Oh, yeah? I'd like to see you try, flower child."

"Bite me." Blight muttered, looking away.

Havoc smirked, flashing fang. "Don't tempt me."

Vex rolled his eyes, slapping a hand to his forehead. "Oh, will you two shut up."

"I disagree." Chaos spoke up and made all of them jump. None had seen or heard him walk up to the swing set. "You two should take a moment to vent. You'll need to be distraction free if we run into trouble." Blight, Vex, and Havoc exchanged glances. "Well? Come on. Out with it. . . Blight first."

Blight crossed his arms. "What is this? A trial?"

"Of sorts."

Blight groaned and leaned back against the swing set. "Fine. . . I hate the way he talks to me. . . Finds faults in everything I do. . . Believe it or not . . . As sissy as this sounds - and that's part of it, he's always calling me sissy and weak and -" Vex put a hand on his shoulder, ending his rant. Letting out a soft sigh, Blight continued. "As sissy as it sounds," He repeated, "Words do hurt. . ." He stared at his feet, eyes narrowed a little. "I already feel inferior. . . I feel like . . . I can't do anything to help. I am weak. I'm not a fighter like you guys and I can't . . ." He shook his head. "I don't want to hurt anyone, either. . . But hearing it out loud just . . . hurts."

Chaos nodded and looked at the fanged boy standing to Blight's right. "Havoc."

"What?" Havoc asked, as if he hadn't been listening the whole time.

"Reply." Chaos said simply.

Havoc rolled his eyes. "It's not my fault if -" He stopped himself, staring moodily at the ground. After a while, he spoke up again, quieter and grumpier than before, "You know this isn't easy for me. . . I'm not good with words. . . I'm not good with . . . filtering words from my brain to my mouth. . . Things just pop out. I don't think before I speak. . . So teasing comes naturally. And then . . . you say something back . . . and I get mad too easily and things just go from there. . ." It was hard for him to say it, but he knew he had to. ". . . I'm sorry."

Blight nodded. "It's fine. . ." He grumbled, then looked up at Chaos. "Are we done now?"

Chaos nodded, but Vex interrupted, giving Blight a push towards Havoc. "Come on, hug it out."

"We're not gonna hug!" Both Havoc and Blight said at the same time.

"Come on," Natalie joined in, smiling, "Give your brother a hug! You'll feel better."

"Hug! Hug! Hug! Hug!" Solace chanted from his seat on the swing, kicking his feet.

Blight rolled his eyes as Vex pushed him, then smiled a little and finally walked on his own. He and Havoc embraced quickly, then stepped away from each other.

"Are we done now?" Havoc asked, sounding annoyed though he couldn't hold back a small smile.

Choas nodded. "We should get going soon."

Solace pouted. "Awwwww! Just a few more minutes?"

Natalie looked over at Chaos. "It's going to be dark soon. We should probably find a place to stay overnight soon anyway, so why not stay for a little?"

Chaos considered it for a moment, then nodded. "All right. We'll stay for a little while."

"Yay!" Solace cried, then looked over at his brother. "Havoc! Will you give me a push? Getting started is hard."

Havoc grinned and stepped up behind Solace. Taking hold of the chains, Havoc pulled the swing back until Solace was having difficulty staying on, then let go. Solace laughed and forgot to kick his feet for a few seconds. Natalie laughed at the pure joy she could see on his face. It was funny how such a simple thing could make him so happy.