I wish you luck on understanding Zack's (and Ivy's) accent; I can't write them from the life of me.

—

"Hey, Carm?" Zack asked randomly one day as he and Carmen sat playing chess together, drumming his fingers against the table. "I've go' ah ques'ion."

"Go ahead, Zack." Carmen responded immediately, moving her queen carefully.

"So…eh…how much exact'y does Playah lis'en 'oh on missions?" Zack inquired, glancing at Carmen in worry. "For you, I mean, no' for Ive and I."

"Everything." Carmen told Zack. "It's rare for him to not be present for a mission. The only one I can think of is the Need for Speed Caper, and that was only for the first night. Capers where I loose connection by accident do not count."

"So…he lis'ens to everythin'?"

"Yes, that's literally what I just said."

"…he hears you ge' bea' up?"

Carmen's head snapped back, staring at Zack in horror as the red-head slowly moved his pawn.

"I mean, you get almo'-kill'd a lo'. And…uh…I be' Playah doesn' lis'en to tha', bu' ih' made me cu'ious when sis men'ion' it the othah day." Zack paused, then continued. "He probably doesn' lis'en to it. Tha's a lo' o' junk 'oh put'on the li'le dude."

Carmen touched her earrings, half-glad that Player was busy catching up on some much needed sleep. (At least, he better be. There was a higher chance that he was actually offline decoding another VILE file.) "I'm…not sure if he listens in or not to…that." Carmen admitted quietly, though now that she thought about it, he probably did. He was strangely adamant about not letting her be by herself during missions. He had gotten better about allowing her self-inflicted leave of absences, such as in Rio de Jinaro, but Player was still paranoid that something would happen to her while she was radio-silent. That much was clear.

"Huh." Was all Carmen could say the longer she thought about it. Her next move left her queen in the open, and Zack took it out using a stupid pawn. Carmen couldn't find it in her to whine in fake misery, like she normally would.

"You said Ivy was the first to mention something?" Carmen inquired, waiting quietly for his nod of confirmation. Once she received it, she persisted, moving forward her pawn to take out his queen-killing pawn.. "What else did she say about it?"

"Jus' tha' he seems more worried abou' ya when you re'urn from a 'ough bea'in' then we are." Zack continued, tapping his fingers against the table. "She figured tha' since he's always worryin' after missions, he probably heard somethin' go down durin' the mission. Tha' go' me 'o thin'ing…he's here 24/7, ya know, for all I know, he could be lis'enin' in ri' now. I swear, he roped Ivy into helpin' 'im bug the house so he can log our convos…like a ninja!" The thought made Zack pout. "Aw, man, wha' if Shadowsan 'eaches Playah ins'ead of me how 'o be a ninja? Even though I live 'ere and Playah doesn'?! How's tha' faih?!"

"If it's any counsel," Shadowsan said, entering the room to load his dirty dishes in the dishwasher. "I would teach Player to be a ninja after you learned. Carmen comes before you, and Ivy comes after after you due her lack of obsession and stealth skills, and Player is the final candidate." Shadowsan observed their chess game, moving one of Zack's pieces to a place that put Carmen into checkmate. Then he left as suddenly as he appeared.

"New game?" Zack asked, grinning in victory.

"New game." Carmen agreed, glancing up at him. "But this does not count as a win on your behalf, because Shadowsan interfered."

Zack pouted at her, sighing in distraught. "Yea, Boss. Undahs'ood."

"Good." Carmen said, claiming the white pieces as hers. "And I'm white this time."

Zack nodded in reluctant agreement, scooping up the black avatars from across the board. "Imagine how hec'ic i'd be if Chess was played with red and green prices. There'd be a lo' of dispu'e ovah who gets to be VILE or on you'ah 'eam."

"Yeah." Carmen agreed, holding up her white queen. "That's why it's black and white. To avoid confusion."

"Tha' is no' why ih's black and whi'e." Zack protested, before staring at Carmen in muted shock. "Ri'?"

"I'll ask Player when he wakes up." Carmen said, recalling the original conversation with Zack. "I…I think Player does listen to everything." She admitted, clenching her hands together. "I think he hears whatever goes down."

"Huh." Zack frowned, staring blankly at his left knight. "Tha's…ih' explai's why he has insomnia. Probab'y PTSD."

"He has insomnia?" Carmen asked, perking up and gazing at Zack.

"Well…I dunno. I guess tha' I suppose' he does." Zack admitted with a shrug. "I mean, kid never sleeps. Or ea's, now that I thin' abou' ih. I be' he's a vampire. A creepy ninja vampire. Bu' a good one. Like…uh…oh, 'ea cakes, I can' thin' of any good-guy creepy vampire ninjas."

"First of all, just because he doesn't sleep doesn't mean he has insomnia. Second, he's not a ninja or a vampire, though he is a bit creepy now that I think about it. Third… I can't even think of any bad vampire-ninjas."

"Dracula?"

"Dracula is not a ninja."

"I though' he climbed up walls in the book?"

"Maybe? Just because he climbs up walls doesn't mean he's a ninj…woah, is he a ninja?"

"He is not." Shadowsan told them as he materialized on his walk from his office to Ivy's workshop to probably ask for help with one thing or another.

"Apparently he is not." Carmen told Zack, even though Zack had heard Shadowsan. "We're getting off topic."

"Yeah, so, li'e, Playah is… I dunno. He keeps ac'in' like somethin' is gonna come ou' of the shadows an' hur' ya af'er ya come back in from par'icularly dangerous missions."

"I…I'm not usually awake for that part." Carmen realized, moving forward a chess piece as she thought about it. "You know, I'm more often-then-not unconscious when- Wait. Zack. Does…does Player have panic attacks while I'm out?"

"Panic who-now?"

"Panic attacks. Sweating, gasping for breath, shaking, maybe even completely unresponsive?"

"Oh…yeah, tha'…ih happens some'imes." Zack nodded slightly, inclining his head to stare at either the chess board or the floor. From the angle of her head, she couldn't tell. "Ih happene' after your…aah… Ba'le with Brun'. He began to…I guess…uh…hyperven'ila'e. He wasn't respondin' 'oh Ivy, bu' I was busy 'akin' care of ya to really 'ake heed. You'll 'ave to ask Ivy what happened la'ah; I thin' she said somethin' about how he said he has a fear of no' bein' in con'rol."

"That's a common occurrence in panic attacks." Carmen murmured, staring at her cards dully. Back on the island, a few of the older kids - none of the ones in her class, thankfully - suffered from the occasional panic attack. They weren't necessarily serious, but, if she remembered correctly, those who suffered from them more then once in the school year were expelled and brain-wiped of VILE. Couldn't risk having them get panic attacks during capers.

"Yo." Zack said, glancing up at Carmen. "Ya leave now, I au'oma'ically win. Go' ih, Boss?"

"What?" Carmen blinked, glancing down as she realized that she had stood up without her knowledge. Sitting down again, she murmured apologetically, "Oh, sorry."

Zack sighed, adjusting one of his pieces, looking from it up to Carmen. "Alrigh', tha' was a joke. Ya should 'alk to Ivy as soon as possible; I can see how much this means to ya."

With that, Carmen was gone, dashing towards Ivy's workshop.

(:)

In all honestly, Ivy's workshop was a large walk-in closet connected to her and Zack's bedroom. It had a bin full of spare parts, graph paper, a large table, plenty of light, a hot-or-cold water dispenser, several mugs, and a shelf filled with hot chocolate and coffee grain packets for all of her staying-up-late-due-to-inspiration moments. A jar with pencils sat beside Ivy's rulers, protractor, and graph paper. Ivy's computer was pushed against the far wall, the mechanic able to use it due to her swivel chair and a lack of strong friction on the ground.

Basically, it was everything it needed to be without having even a proper room.

As Carmen walked into the room, Shadowsan stepped to the side to let her enter then left himself, thumbing through a blue file.

"Hey, Ivy?" Carmen asked as she watched Ivy kick off from her file cabinet and skid over to her gadget WiPs on paper. "I want to talk to you."

Ivy pushed towards her computer, looking something up, then rocketed over to Carmen so that she could face her. "Yea? Wha's up, Boss?"

"It's about Player. Zack said you helped him through a panic attack once."

Ivy rubbed her right eye, confusion in her gaze. Without answering, she swiveled right back over to her computer, opening up a new tab. She clicked to Player's favorite website, looked up Panic Attack, and skimmed the article before wheeling back around. "Yup. I did."

"Neither you or Zack knew what a panic attack was. Did Player tell you what it was?"

Ivy hesitated, clenching the sides of her chair, gnawing her bottom lip. "He…he vanishe' once he had calmed down enough to have conscious though's. I didn' ge' the chance to ask 'im."

"Can you explain to me what happened?" Carmen inquired, leaning against the door frame.

Ivy hesitated, blinking slowly at Carmen. She grabbed a stress ball out of nowhere and squeezed the life out of it, nodding. "I didn' notice 'im hyperven'ilatin' un'il we had go'en you in'a the ho'el room. Zack was makin' you more comfor'able, ya know, drawin' up the blan'e's, fluffin' the pillows, makin' chicken noodle soup. I no'iced Playah mos'ly because I had nothin' to do. By the 'ime I 'urned 'oh 'alk 'oh 'im, he was breathin' real heavy, as if he couldn' breath properly. He was shakin', 'oo, and didn' seem to no'ice me. I thin' I began 'oh 'alk to 'im, ya know, like 'ellin' 'im 'everything's gonna be alright. It's fine.' I thin' tha' modera'ely calmed 'im down, and he began repea'in' himself, sayin' that he couldn' 'elp, he couldn' be there 'oh 'ake charge, and tha' he needed 'oh be able 'oh do something more then si' 'round." Ivy pressed the stress ball back to wherever it had come from, sighing sadly. "I don' know if the mu'erin' was par' of the panic a'ack or no'. But… poor li'le guy. When he s'opped mumblin' and looked mos'ly okay, I asked 'im wha' tha' was 'bou', but he ended the face'ime before he could answah." Ivy stuck out her tongue. "Or maybe so tha' he didn' have 'oh answer."

"Thanks, Ivy." Carmen nodded, straightening as she dusted herself off. "That's…that's good to know."

"How-" Ivy paused, stopping Carmen from retreating out the door. "- how much does Player hear?"

"Everything." Carmen admitted, clenching the smooth wood as she glanced back at Ivy. "He hears everything."With that, Carmen breezed out the door to find some place quiet to think.

(:)

Carmen wasn't so sure if anyone else had found the staircase hidden behind the linen closet, but she had never seen anyone else use it.

The staircase led to the roof; a safe haven to go to be alone with her thoughts. Sure, there was her bedroom, but Ivy and Zack often got…loud.

Here, depending on where she sat, she could be left alone with only the endless sky and quiet ocean as companions. At this time of night, the sun was just setting over the ocean, casting the sky and sea into a pale orange.

Zack would be starting dinner, soon.

Carmen adjusted her seating on the edge of the roof, quickly sighing to herself as she drew a knee up to her chest, resting her hands atop her knee and then her chin atop her hands.

How long? How long had Player been forced to listen to her pain? How long had he hid his trauma and fear from her? Why… why has she needed Ivy and Zack to realize the truth? She wasn't a bad friend, was she?

Her com beeped, illustrating that one of the team was trying to contact her. Carmen touched her earring, tilting her head. "Yup?"

"Hey, Red!" Player greeted, sounding much more energetic then he did when he went offline ten hours before. "Whatcha doing on the roof?"

"Creep." She determined teasingly, tilting her head.

"Your tracker." He informed her, tapping at his keys. "I keep tabs on the entire team; make sure I know where you guys are just in case."

"Smart." Carmen praised, already aware that he did that. It was nice to have the reminder that he cared enough to keep an eye out.

"So, what are you doing up there? That's your go-when-I-want-to-think-or-be-left-alone spot."

"Just…thinking." Carmen sighed, brushing some of the dust off the roof with her fingers.

"A dangerous pastime." Player joked, shifting in his seat, the metal chair squeaking. "Anything you want to share?"

"You're…" Carmen faltered, playing with her hair. "We're best friends, right?"

Player was quiet for a long time, his fingers stopping with their usually unceasing typing. Even his breathing seemed to stop.

"Player?" Carmen offered tentatively after several minutes, uncertain that he was still connected.

"Of course we're best friends." Player sounded confused, maybe even a little worried, and very much less confident. "You know that; what's going on?"

"You know that I'm always here for you, right?" Carmen inquired, pointedly ignoring his question.

There was a beat of silence, and then-

"That's…that's kinda a given." Player returned, fidgeting. "I can take care of myself, though."

"Can doesn't mean should." Carmen quietly stated, staring out at the orange sea. "I just want you to know that I'll always be here, if you want to talk. If you need support."

"Oh. Thanks, Red, that…that means a lot." Player sounded touched, his voice showing just how genuinely happy he was about her aid. "That goes both ways, too, I've gotchu."

"Thanks, Player." Carmen said thankfully, a fuzzy feeling stirring in her chest, wondering if it was strange that her best friend was someone who lived over a thousand miles away. "I just wanted you to know."

"Yeah." Player agreed, humming quietly. "I know."

A comfortable silence stretched behind them, broken only by their matching breathing and the rhythmic clicking of Player's keys.

After a long pause, Player sighed, tapping falling silent. "Carmen," the use of her real name was startling, "there's something I want to talk to you about."