The tiny voice echoed softly in the darkened room, a soft whine of complaint emitting from the infant inhabitant. A mother hushed soothed the cry, the only other noise was the soft creak of the provided rocking chair.

Jakei looked down at the tiny baby, infant arms struggling slightly to prod at the thick bandage over his right eye, and she gently pulled away the struggling limbs, trying to tuck them back into the blanket. She kissed at the tiny skull, being careful to hold the infant properly, one of his arms taped to a board with an IV, the monitoring lines snaking out from under the blanket. He cooed, small noises coming from the slowly waking infant, his eye socket blinking blearily. The eye light glanced around slowly, before settling on it's mother, the face brightening but also scrunching up in thought.

"Hi Cross." Jakei whispered carefully, taking her free hand to caress at his face with her finger. The infant reached out to the finger, tiny newborn phalanges searching out to grasp at his mother with excited and curious noises. The mother let out a shuddering breath, caressing the infant lovingly, shaking relief washing through her at seeing the newborn move and cry, the pacifier he was given falling out of his mouth as his face turned upward in a smile. She felt like her heart was melting and breaking all at once, hugging the baby close, needily, grateful for the little bundle and his good health, but also aching for the newborns twin.

Cross sat on the floor of his living room, knocking over his tower of blocks for the sixth time. He blinked up at the TV, watching the bland children's programming with little interest, and instead huffing at the weird box with pictures, returning to building a bigger stack of blocks than before. He frowned when a strange noise brought his head up, and he froze, staring at the television screen as a weird black and white creature walked into the camera of the show, a strange, unnatural fear making the child shudder.

"And the cow goes 'MOO'!" The educational show chimed, and Cross leapt to his feet with a scream.

"MAMAAAAA!" Cross yelled, toddling to the kitchen on his small legs. "MAMA MAMA!"

Jakei spun as the four year old skeleton crashed into her leg, making her nearly drop the dish she was loading into the dishwasher. "...Cross...are you all right?" Concern laced the mother tone, and he shook, burying his face into his mothers leg as tears pricked at the corner of his small sockets.

"Maammaaaaaaaaa!" He whined insistently, his hands digging into the material of his mothers clothes, tugging hard. She sighed, resuming her chore as she patted at her sons skull.

"I won't know what's wrong if you don't tell me."

"The TV." A deeper voice interrupted the 'conversation', and Jakei looked up, raising a brow at her husband.

"'The TV' what?" Jakei asked curiously, and the tall skeleton that just entered the room nodded roughly, moving his hands about in a calculated manner, extra floating apparatuses hanging about him naturally.

"He ran from the TV." G stated plainly, evenly, the extra hands moving to scoop the tiny child into them. He squealed at being pulled away from his mother, little fists flailing about rapidly. "Cross, honestly. It's just a cow."

"I DON'T LIKE COW!" The toddler said huffily, glaring at his father. "COW ICKY!"

G chuckled, grasping at the little one with his two 'main' hands, the child looking ridiculously small in the skeletons tall and huge frame. "Well we don't have to see the cow, all right?"

"HMPH." The tiny child crossed his arms over his chest, blue and red flushing up under his dual colored sockets. "I guess."

"Good. Now let your mom work. Come on, lets go back- "

"But I want my MAMA!" Cross whined, turning his head to look at his mother with enlarged sockets, putting on his best puppy face.

Jakei had to hold her breath to stifle her laughter, shaking her head. "I have to finish up here, you go on ahead. I'll come see you soon!" She promised, shooing away the boys to finish her work.

"Mamaaaaa-!" Cross whined impatiently, but he was being carried away already as his mother waved at him. The tiny skeleton whined, fists digging into the tall body that was carrying him. "Daddy, why is Mama busy?!" He half demanded, and G frowned at the child.

"Because Mama has things to do sometimes. Do you want to eat?"

"Y-yes..." Cross mumbled hesitantly.

"Then she has to make sure we have dishes to eat off of and food is in the kitchen. Do you want to play?"

"...Yes..." He stated more slowly, not liking the conversation.

"Then she has to work so she can buy you toys. Do you like your clothes - "

"But Daddy you go to work too!"

"Mama and Daddy BOTH have to work so we can do those things." G said easily, then nuzzled his sons tiny face against his. "Okay?"

"...I don't LIKE it." The toddler huffed again, and G couldn't resist another chuckle as they settled easily on the couch, his tall frame taking up more than a fair share of the furniture.

"I know, but it's what has to happen." The adult said smoothly, helping his son back to the floor to play, intent on sitting with the child to see that he doesn't disturb his mother any more.

G watched as Cross begrudingly went back to his toys. He was a quiet child, wide eyed and curious, as most children are, but he rarely complained, if only to ask for his mother, who he was very attached to, even for a child. It was amazing, in a way, and G let his gaze go over the small and quiet living room, the television ignored by both adult and child. He sighed when he realized his sockets had glanced over to the mantle, where the family pictures were kept, and he looked across the row of pictures. Cross's baby pictures and a few family photos were prominent, but his sights settled on a picture of a human newborn, the only picture they had of Cross's twin. G felt sad and uneasy whenever he looked at it, but they weren't going to just pretend Cross's twin never existed. He felt his mouth twitch downward, and without warning, he leaned down to grab at his son again.

"...Daddddyyyy I was PLAYING-!" The child protested at first, but blinked in confusion when his father held him in a loving nuzzle.

"Sorry." The father murmured the apology flatly, his overly large hand moving to cup the childs face, a thumb softly running over the strangely red formed scar under Cross's socket, his red eye light staring up curiously.

"Daddy?" Cross asked curiously, tilting his head in confusion.

"...Cross. You know what this is?" He asked carefully, thumb still stroking the child's cheekbone.

"A present!" He piped, his tiny face breaking out into a smile.

"From who." The father asked on a whisper, subconsciously pulling the child closer to him.

"Chara." The child repeated, having known the facts he was told often enough to remember. "I met Chara when I was little!" He stated proudly, knowing he was getting the 'answers' right.

"That's right. Chara gave you a wonderful gift. Don't forget that, okay?"

Cross just looked up at his father, a little confused but nodded. "M'kay." He wriggled impatiently, pointing to the floor. "I wanna play."

G chuckled, the tense mood in his chest easing. "All right, all right - you have fun."

Cross played with the locket strung around his neck, fidgeting almost nervously. He glanced around the schoolyard playground, not really sure where to begin, feeling a little lost in the crowd. The kids were anxious to be outside after having been stuck in a classroom all morning. He almost stepped forward to a group that caught his attention, but frowned, thinking better of it, then resigned himself to hang on on the swingset, kicking at the dirt with his plain black shoes.

"What's that?"

Cross spun his head, surprise widening his sockets as a human and a lizard-like monster child both stopped in front of him, the monster child tilting his head curiously at the skeleton child. "You're wearing a heart. That's like, a girls thing, isn't it?"

Cross frowned, displeased, wrapping his hand around the locket to stuff it in his shirt. "It can be mine!" He defended, his dual-colored blush flaring on his cheeks.

The human girl giggled. "I think it's cute!"

"It's not 'cute', it's important." He retorted almost harshly, shrinking back a little as he pushed against the ground to swing.

"Important? Important how? Like - like money?" The kids asked, now interested as they hovered around Cross.

"More important than money." Cross stated highly, tilting his head away.

"How bout - letters? My mama gets important l-letters!" The monster kid said happily, piping as he bounced about the skeleton, his voice piping.

"Hm...it's probably more important than letters." Cross hummed, now thoughtful. He kept the locket under his shirt, to keep it close, rubbing at it with his fingers subconsciously.

"So what is it then?" The girl asked, still curious as she plopped in the swing next to Cross.

"...My twin..." He said meekly, now feeling embarrassed that he said anything. He pulled out the locket, opening it to look at the two pictures inside. A picture of his baby self was on the left, the only picture he'd ever seen of himself without his scar, and on the right was a sickly-looking human infant, the twin that didn't live for more than twenty-four hours. The kids peeked over, curious, and Cross quickly put the locket away as their questions continued.

"So...where are they?"

Cross frowned. "Mom says they went to live somewhere else. Someplace nice."

"I have a cousin like that." The monster child said with a sigh, leaning his head against the chain of the swing. "But that's okay! Hey, hey, you wanna be friends? My papa said its good to make friends at school!"

Cross blinked, surprised, looking up at the two carefully. "I mean...I don't know. How do you be friends?"

"Like this, like this!" The girl piped, grabbing at Cross's hand and surprising him. "We play together, and talk...ohhh and there's books we can share!"

"I have video games at my house-!" The other child piped. "Oh, maybe we could go over sometimes for snacks! My mama makes cookies every week, they're really good!"

Cross stared at the kids, not really sure how to take it, but he couldn't help the smile that started to spread across his face. "...okay...I can...try." He agreed, following the kids with a grin. Maybe school was okay after all.