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_ Part 10 _

While that single, solitary week before departure day proved flat and unremarkable, the same certainly couldn't be said of the atmosphere that grew to fill and take over the house. It reached its peak the morning Pieter and his family would be leaving, even if not everyone shared in the excitement.

Truthfully, Erik had found it impossible to avoid counting down the days, hours and minutes in his mind until this moment; the facade of happiness he'd struggled to build and maintain all throughout proving equally difficult.

"I'm so glad I won't have to go back to that supermarket any more," Pieter barked, stuffing clothes into an already overloaded case laid out on his bed. "Walking out those doors for the last time last night, it was like leaving prison."

"I think you're exaggerating," Karin responded with a tut and a shake of the head, nudging her husband aside to reorganise his hasty excuse for packing.

"You think?" Pieter gathered another armful of belongings, waiting until she'd moved away to cram them in and undo her efforts. "I can think of a few other jobs I'd prefer to do... Door security at a Velikan bar for example."

"It was better than nothing, wasn't it?"

"I suppose... just about."

"Besides, I doubt Erik wants to hear you speak down about his job."

"He doesn't mind," he chuckled, glancing up out of their shelter's open front. "Do you, Erik?"

"It's fine," Erik muttered from his seat at the edge of his bed, far more saddened by the rapidly approaching trip to the harbour than any bad mouthing of his work. "It's not like it's something I plan on doing forever."

"That's right." Pieter nodded firmly. "You've got bigger plans than that place."

Erik managed a small smile and even smaller nod in return. "Right."

"Kids." Attention turned to Thijs and Anika; both busy with their own packing. "Make sure you remember everything. We can't come back for it once we're gone."

"Dad," the latter grumbled, lying back on her bed with eyes fixed to her phone. "I told you I was ready the last time you said that."

"Then help your brother." Pieter casually slipped the device from her paws, pocketing it with a smirk that Erik couldn't stop from matching.

"Dad, you're such a...!" She jumped up with a shrill, teenaged groan, stamping over to Thijs' bed opposite. "Come on, hurry up."

"Hey!" Thijs squealed, snatching his bag moments before his sister could. "Leave it!"

"We don't have all day!"

"Jus' need one more thing and I'm done!" He reached down beside his bed, lifting something from out of Erik's sight. "There."

"Put it in your bag!"

"Gonna!"

Erik's smirk stretched into the briefest grin at the siblings' heated back and forth. In the weeks that they'd been living here, he'd grown strangely accustomed to their rows and ranting. It took him back to when he and Yuri were about their age. Back to when things were simpler.

A movement at the doorway drew Erik's attention; his mother barely making a sound as soft steps carried her inside and over to their guests' shelter.

"Here is the transport for you all."

"Thank you, Tanya," Karin replied brightly, watching her set the carry case down beside their soon-to-be-former home. "We won't be much longer."

"Take your time, please." She stood back up, turning towards Erik with a barely tempered, difficult sigh. Her next words were for Velikan-speaking ears only. "It seems my boss will not have to be without his case for as long as I thought."

He attempted another smile, though there'd be no shifting the corners of his mouth this time. The spark that his mother had rediscovered in recent times, glowing eyes and cheerful voice, had all slowly faded as this day drew oppressively near. Would they be something she'd ever get back again? Would the house return to the subdued, sombre shell it'd become at the peak of winter? Looking up to the ceiling, Erik prayed for the best, but feared for the worst.

"I think we're all set." Pieter's voice carried musically through the air; a tune that brought Erik's ears flicking down to his scalp.

"Alright." With a deep, quivering breath, he pushed himself up from his bed. He watched over the family gathering their things, taking a knee once they'd started towards the bold blue transporter case. "At least leaving here will be better than arriving."

Pieter peered up as he exited the overturned cardboard box. "How do you mean?"

"No need for you to struggle inside my backpack this time."

Erik's own struggle didn't go unnoticed to Pieter, at least according to the splaying of his little round ears. He glanced over to Thijs and Anika, the pair of them hovering expectantly around the big, blue case's entrance. "It doesn't matter if it was difficult, or uncomfortable. I'll always be glad you did bring us here."

"Me too." Erik's felt himself lift, even if the weight of the day remained tough to bear.

Karin glanced between them both, shuffling discretely to where the kids waited with smiling muzzles and swaying tails. A few whispered words and a series of calming gestures later, both Thijs' and Anika's ears, too, began to twitch lower.

"No, no, it's okay," Erik insisted, sliding closer. "I understand that you're all excited."

"You leaving, this is for the best," his mother stated, still standing above the shelter with paws clasped. "This is something we know very well."

The beginnings of an awkward tension pervaded the shelter's edge, soon spreading to the room proper. With nothing left to say and nowhere else to look, Erik peered over to the clock on his bedside table, bathed in morning light from the window opposite. "It's almost ten... We should leave to catch the train."

Golden yellow walls, immaculate chandeliers and intricately patterned masonry greeted Erik as he and his mother stepped off the train at their destination. The decorations here all bore the bizarre grandeur insisted upon by so many major Velikan train stations, though these designs in particular were becoming all too familiar.

"After seeing Alex on his way last autumn... now this," Erik stated, swaying and slaloming along the platform. "This is starting to be a habit."

"You'll be back here once more at least," Pieter called from the case hanging down by his side. "When the time comes for you to go and join up with him again."

They passed through the ticket barrier, walking out into the station hall proper and towards the adjoining harbour complex.

"Erik... You are still thinking of going to Bolstrovo?"

"I am," He flashed a glance back into his mother's curious, perhaps even surprised eyes before adding, "Thinking about it."

"Oh... That would be... nice for you."

He turned back ahead, head dipped low as they followed the other harbour-goers into the corridor linking the two buildings.

Competing with the noise of the moving crowd and those frequenting the exotic, Polcian-branded stores and eateries around them; the sound of the big screen fastened above the opening ahead resonated around the walkway. Erik craned his neck upwards, perking his ears to better hear the report playing out. Accompanied by a barrage of apparently meaningful stats and graphics, it reminded him of what had somehow slipped his mind.

"Results from around the country are beginning to filter through to us faster and faster now, giving us a clearer picture of just which way this year's election is looking to swing..."

Erik hesitated in his steps, almost sent tumbling by the traveller behind stepping on his heel. He corrected himself, fast steadying the carry case before peering back up to the screen moving further and further overhead.

"...most notable so far today regards the Velikan Progress Union. Many predicted them to do well in this year's election, but few expected what we've seen this morning."

He gulped down the anxiety collecting in his throat, paw tightening around the transporter's handle. Part of him wanted to stop and hear the newscaster out, but the departure timetable on display beside the screen ensured he'd remain on track.

"It's still early on election day, but already the VPU have won in a party-record number of districts around the country; the eastern regions in particular. While the final result will not be known until later this afternoon, it's clear that they have come a long way from outsiders, and is one of the parties... chance to deny President Tatrenko's Free Democratic Party... hopes of re-election..."

Moving into the harbour's sprawling, open plan main hall made the report increasingly tough to follow. In the end, carrying on to the departures area made it impossible. Still, that didn't stop Erik wondering what the future might hold, should the unthinkable somehow happen. Either way, the knowledge that Pieter and his family wouldn't be around to experience the consequences offered a small crumb of comfort.

"When we eating?" Thijs' squeaked enthusiastically from the transporter.

"Soon," his mother answered. "On the ferry."

"We not gonna get somethin' with Erik and Tanya?"

"I... don't think we have time. We're boarding our ferry in a little while."

The disappointed grumble that followed echoed Erik's feelings. "The train took longer than I hoped," he explained. "I want us to do something like that before you leave, but... sorry."

"That's okay," Thijs muttered back, no doubt with shoulders sagging and his little ears folded.

"We have some time," Erik's mother suggested. "Not much, but it is not as if you must leave to board at this moment."

They strolled into the waiting area their Bolstrovo-bound ship would be boarding from, all but a couple of the benches surrounding the service desk fully occupied.

Passing the rows of seats, heading towards the wall-length windows at the back of the room, Erik's mind drifted back to the walkway. Still smarting from the slap in the face that talk of the election provided, he couldn't stop dwelling upon the threat of a new VPU-led government. Could it really happen? Sure, the President hadn't done that great a job, but did enough voters out there truly believe the flimsy promises of a bunch of nationalists? No chance. They'd always claimed they'd bring less unemployment and more prosperity for regular people, but never actually explained their plan to do that.

Paper-thin promises and half-baked half-truths were never in short supply in the realm of Velikan politics. Either way, to hear it from a group historically focused solely on returning Velikans to their rightful place above Polcians proved incredibly unnerving.

Erik scanned those seated, wondering who and how many here might have voted for the VPU's policies. He waited for a sign that might give it away. A glance towards the bright, blue carry case in his paw for example? Perhaps one involving more of a glare or a scowl than a glance? That'd be a dead giveaway, for sure.

They passed several dozen people at least, but failed to win anything more than a casual peek from a business-suited brown bear, sitting with a carrycase of his own.

"Erik?"

He realised then that, of course, he'd not find the typical VPU voter here; a waiting room filled with travellers destined for a place where far less of a social divide existed. The average knuckle-dragging moron that would vote VPU wouldn't come here, wary of broadening their horizons. Those kind of people were the real problem. The kind this country could do without!

"Erik, wait."

"Huh?" He looked back in response to his mother's calling, finding her standing a good distance behind.

"Where are you going?"

Erik turned again, spotting the big, bold signs marked 'No Entry' around the doorway ahead. A young fox in the ferry company's rich, red uniform padded past, throwing him a puzzled glance as he carried on into the restricted area beyond.

"I...I don't know. Sorry."

He rushed back, cheeks burning as he passed those watching him from their seats in his periphery.

"Are you lost, Erik?"

"No." His ears twitched and began to warm themselves in response to Thijs' questioning. "See? Here we are." He arrived at the large, raised platform set up a short distance from the service desk he'd mindlessly wandered past. For Erik and his mother, here marked the end of the journey. For Thijs, his family, and other Polcian seafarers being escorted by their Velikan hosts, it marked just the beginning. "From here, you head downstairs to the walkways that take you onto your area of the ferry."

"Oh." The pause lasted right up until Erik placed the carry case upon the waist-high balcony. "We already here?"

"We are..." He flicked open the door's latch. "The harbour doesn't take too long to get around."

Thijs and his sister followed their parents out onto the platform, joining the other Polcian-sized seafarers parting from their larger friends and colleagues.

Erik lowered himself, bringing his muzzle about level with the guardrail. "Again, it's a shame the train was late... It really cut into our time here together."

"It's okay," Pieter answered from his vantage right in front of Erik's nose. "Can't be helped... and it would have been even more of a problem if it had been later."

"This is so very true," Tanya replied, lowering herself also. "It is long wait to next boat."

Erik watched the other travellers trot by in the background, smiling and waving to those being left behind.

"We would have missed our plane," Pieter stated. "No question about it."

He brought his focus back to the end of his muzzle, guilty over his flash of hope that something might happen to keep his guests here longer. "Definitely wouldn't want that."

"How long exactly will it take for you to make full journey?" Erik's mother queried. "I am thinking it will be many, many hours?"

Standing there beside Karin, his paw on Thijs' shoulder while Anika loitered with folded arms close by, Pieter went on to outline more about their upcoming trek. Whatever the detail, Erik didn't hear much of it; far too busy tracing the sadness in his voice and glumness on each of their little muzzles. Despite all of this, an unmistakable glint could be found in their eyes, and a clear contentment in the twitching wags of their slender tails.

Erik didn't resent them for it. He couldn't. Their need to head home was totally understandable. He just wished that home for them didn't exist in a place that he himself could never visit. Trapped in his own mind, going over and over the notion that he might never again see Pieter and his family in person, the pain of ever-nearing parting wrenched only harder.

A musical chime rang out through the waiting area, loud enough to draw even Erik's attention towards them.

"Boarding for the one-fifteen ferry to Sturanja, Bolstrovo will begin in ten minutes from gate one..." The announcer repeated her message in Polcian, going on to add, "Passengers boarding from the underground walkways are advised to allow for extra travel time to reach your gate area."

The chiming repeated to draw the announcement to a close, starting those loitering upon the walkway to begin moving along it in even greater numbers. Erik tracked their route, observing dozens of Polcians filing into the doorway that would take them to their boarding section below. Seeing person after person disappear from view set his paws fidgeting, as did the sight of his homeward bound guests gathering their belongings one last time.

"I guess we should be going," Pieter stated lightly, lifting a pair of bags from the ground. "Even with the conveyor belts, it's not a short walk."

Erik simply nodded, not possessing the words to express the jabbing driving into his gut.

"Thank you for everything you've done for us. We'll always be grateful."

"It... was nothing." That simple statement alone came difficult, throat so tight he could barely breathe.

Pieter marched forward, dropping one of his bags to give him a quick pat on the nose before whispering, "You'll be okay."

Erik managed a smile, just, but his voice remained elusive.

"What you both did for us was certainly more than nothing," Karin stated, stepping forward to retrieve Pieter's baggage. "We'll never forget it."

"It was pleasure," Erik's mother replied, her croaky words originating from the same place as her son's. "We will miss you all." She looked to Karin in particular, taking in some air before adding, "Our talks about family, of our children when younger, I will miss these so very much."

"There's no reason we can't still have them... just electronically instead of in person."

Her eyes lit up, chipping away at a small part of her sorrow. "I will look forward to this."

In fact, Erik could sense his own spirits lifting; the looming spectre of distance made a little less ominous.

He watched Karin hurry over to his mother, arms wrapping around her muzzle. She almost disappeared beneath the greying white paw returning the gesture, helping to draw another smile from amid his anguish.

"Erik?"

An unusually muffled, downbeat voice perked his ears, pulling his gaze back towards the carry case atop the balcony. There, standing beside his sister, Thijs peered up at him with watery eyes. "Hey."

"So... you can't come no further than this? Through the door for Velikans?"

"No... I'm sorry. Only people that are boarding can go through the gate."

"Oh." Thijs gave a heartbreaking whine, slinking closer to stand beside his father. "Dont wanna leave yet."

"I know," he answered, fighting hard to stop his voice from breaking. "But you must."

"Wanna show you somethin'..."

Thijs sniffled, reaching back over his shoulder to delve deep into his tiny backpack. Erik waited patiently, watching him rummage with increasing curiosity.

"Here." The youngster spun to face front again, cradling in his arms a familiar wooden figurine.

"What is this? Your toy statue?"

"Yeah," Thijs barked, offering Erik his enthusiastic smile one last time. "Was never gonna leave this behind." He pushed at one of the feline figure's wired arms, flexing it gently. "Gonna paint it when I get back home."

"That'll be fun." Erik chuckled at the statue flicking its wooden limb, as if giving its owner a tiny high five.

"Yep!" Thijs beamed, his little tail swaying. "Gonna paint him white, with black spots."

"Oh..." Erik left his jaw hanging, trying in vain to squeeze a reply past the fast-forming lumping in his throat.

"What you think?"

"Great." He rubbed at his neck, then his cheek, finally sweeping a paw across his eyes. "It sounds great."

Thijs' ears dipped, that brightness quickly dissipating. "Gonna miss you, Erik. A whole lot."

"I-I'll miss you, too."

Erik coughed and spluttered, doing what he could to try and shift the sadness from his voice. He watched quietly as Pieter wrapped his arm around his sorry son's shoulder, offering the kind of comfort that he himself would have welcomed.

Behind them both, Anika remained in silent solitude beside the empty carry case. In normal circumstances, her stare would have been unsettling. This time, things were different; the warmth in her gaze drawing Erik's towards her.

"I... hope you have a good trip," he stated with words still wavering. "I hope these last two months... were as good as they could have been."

Anika approached the edge of the balcony, passing her father and brother to walk right up to Erik's muzzle tip.

"Things--" He left his mouth hanging open all over again, stunned silent by Anika's quick, gentle hug of his nose. His muzzle tingled from the touch, causing his whiskers to twitch against her paws.

"Thank you for letting us stay. Keeping us safe."

Erik blinked, catching a glimpse of Pieter's delight behind her.

"We didn't speak much... I feel guilty for that, but please know that I'll always be thankful... for what happened at the station especially."

"You're welcome." He flashed a wide grin, forgetting to keep from showing his teeth. Not that Anika seemed to mind. "I think this is more than we have spoken in the time you've been here combined."

That won from her a soft bout of laugh, another first Erik felt sure as she stepped back to share a smile with her father.

"I'm glad that I chose to call after you back in that alley," Pieter said, stepping aside to allow Thijs and Anika off to share their goodbyes with Erik's mother. "In fact, I feel lucky. Blessed."

"I'm glad, also... It's been a long time since I've had someone I can talk to about... certain things. I'm lucky that you've been here for me."

"I still will be." He strode forwards, slapping a paw to Erik's nose to give a gentle shove. "Just that here will be at the other end of a video call once we get back to Meerland."

Erik snorted at the nudge, prodding Pieter back with a soft sigh. "I'm happy to know that... really."

"As for the money I'm borrowing--"

"No, don't worry about that until you get--"

"I will worry! Erik, I'm going to pay you back as soon as I can whether you like it or not." Pieter's eyes began to wander behind that mask of dark fur, flashing a glance at Erik's mother. He leaned forward, ears perking for a moment to her solemn conversation with Karin and the children. "I want you to have your dream of moving to Bolstrovo," he muttered stealthily. "To be with your friends. It's what you want most of all, and you deserve that."

"Please, when you're transferring to your flight, feel free to put a good word in for me in advance to Bolstrovan immigration." Erik scoffed out a laugh, soon slowing to a halt as he began navel-gazing both literally and figuratively.

"I'll see what I can do," Pieter snickered, reaching forward to pat the top of his head. "Try not to worry too much about everything. Things will work out. You're going to be okay."

Erik raised his muzzle to rest back upon the ledge, trying his best to appear reassured. "Thanks, Piet."

Pieter half-twisted to watch their fellow travellers, many of them still bottlenecked at the departure doorway. "I think it's time we should be leaving."

No-one looked particularly keen to make the first move; his monotone words far from being a rousing call for action.

"We'll speak again soon," Karin squeaked, squeezing her arms visibly tighter around Tanya's muzzle.

"Please, take care," she whimpered back. "All of you."

Thijs and Anika hovered between their parents, looking lost with bags dangling from their paws.

"Come," Pieter muttered, marginally more commanding. "We have to go."

Small, steady steps carried them away from the platform's edge, towards the gradually thinning crowd at the opposite end of the walkway. Their limp, lifeless tails dragged along behind them; a far cry from the irrepressible excitement on show that morning.

"Wait!" Thijs turned on the spot and rushed away from his family. Erik couldn't react, respond or do anything at all. In the blink of an eye, the tiny ferret leapt forward and clung fast to the end of his muzzle. "Thanks for bein' my friend, Erik."

His laugh set Thijs wriggling, tickling the pawpads he wrapped around him in return. It'd be a sensation he'd miss. "And thank you for being mine."

"You gotta visit one day, whenever they make it okay for Velikans to come to Polcia. Okay?"

He paused, pondering whether such a day would ever come for regular people under regular circumstances. "Sure... You bet."

"Awesome!"

"-Thijs, kom op.-"

With one final big, little Polcian squeeze, Thijs slipped out of his grasp. "Well... Bye."

Erik waved, watching the youngster bound back to his increasingly impatient father. Pieter's frustrations didn't show for long however, replaced by a grin once he'd directed Thijs to follow after his mother and sister. "We'll meet up again, Erik. Some day soon, I hope."

"I hope so, too." Erik stood back up, joining his mother as one of the last remaining Velikans waiting at the platform's edge. "Safe journey, Piet."

He lingered there, eyes locked upon the family of ferrets. His former guests. His newest friends. Step after step carried them further away, until eventually Anika, Thijs, Karin, and then finally Pieter all disappeared from sight.

A twisted pang of emotion radiated out from Erik's chest. Happiness, sorrow, relief, remorse: it all washed around in a head-spinning haze that made his legs go numb. "That's it... They're gone... Going home..."

"Come on, Erik," his mother sighed, rubbing at his arm. "That's where we should head, too."

Trees and houses flashed by at increasing speed as Erik's train barrelled along the cloud-covered coast, minutes into the two hour journey back to Kremensk. Whichever town they were passing remained a mystery to him, as did the number of people sat in the rattling carriage around him. All Erik could focus on was bitterness towards the harbour; a place he'd lost people he cared about twice now in the space of a year. First Alexei to join Nate in Bolstrovo, now Pieter and his family returning home to Polcia.

He clenched his fist, jabbing the wall below the window. Why couldn't they all have stayed here? Why couldn't they all have somehow lived here happily? He dwelled upon that, jabbing again as he wrapped his tail around his midriff. Life, it seemed, had a way making what he wanted most the most difficult to achieve.

"The weather does not look good," his mother murmured, also gazing out of the window from the seat opposite. "Rain coming."

"Looks that way." Erik unwound his paw; reminded that he still had some people here that he cared for. His mother, of course, but Viktor, too. He breathed deep; comforted in the knowledge that he'd held on to that friendship. Barely a week ago it seemed to have ended for good.

"Can you see their ferry?"

Erik leaned forward to scan the overcast bay quickly being left behind. "No... I think we're too far away now."

"I hope their trip goes well."

He turned back to his mother, eyes drawn to the fidgeting paws in her lap. "Hope so, too..."

The desire to push on, expand the conversation and help cheer them both up sparked in his mind.

"Hopefully we can talk to them all again soon," she added.

"Yeah..." Unfortunately, the same dull, washed-out feeling that flooded his thoughts and emotions back at the harbour still afflicted him. "It... hopefully."

Conversation stuttered to a halt, leaving behind a silence that lasted for most of the journey home.

While their former houseguests might have been small in size, their absence upon Erik and Tanya's return home made the space within those walls feel so much emptier. Only the sound of their own footsteps could be heard as they paced inside, the stillness of the hallway, then the living room beyond that almost eerie.

Erik stopped just inside the doorway, his mother continuing on over to the couch. Listening to the slow, stern ticking of the clock above the lifeless television, he couldn't understand the sense of discomfort he felt here. This was home. If nothing else, it should be the place that made him the happiest and most at ease. Surely, this mood wouldn't last forever, but for now at least, his home certainly didn't feel much like one.

A winded sigh perked Erik's ears, demanding his attention. He watched his mother settle upon the couch, stoically searching around with aimless eyes.

"Are you okay?"

The rhythmic clicking continued from the wall, dominating the room.

"Ma?"

She snapped her head towards him, wearing a look that suggested she'd forgot he was even there. "Sorry?"

"Are you going to be okay?"

Her solemn gaze drifted again, finding the coffee table ahead of her. A shallow breath slipped from her muzzle as she reached forward, scooping up a tiny cushion that had been left behind. "I will be." She closed her paw, sinking back into the couch's backrest. "At least they are going back now. Back to where they can live without struggle."

Erik hovered near the doorway, witnessing his mother resume her idle scanning of the living room. How long would it take for things to go back to the way they were here? He didn't know if he had it in him to go back to coping with her stress and frustrations on top of his own. Desperately, he so wanted to say or to do something to offer support, but that wanting wasn't enough to help him do more than simply stand there in quiet contemplation.

"Oh!"

He cocked his head. "What is it, Ma?"

"A message!" she cried, grabbing her phone. "From Karin!"

"Are they all okay?"

"Yes. The ferry is almost to Bolstrovo now. She says she can call soon to have a talk before their flight."

"That's great."

"It is!" His mother wrapped both paws around the device, her previously wandering eyes now transfixed upon it. "I did not expect to hear from her again so soon... so happy."

Erik's muzzle creased with delight. Perhaps the descent back to those darker days could be avoided after all. "I'll be upstairs... I need to check something."

She didn't reply; far too caught up in composing a reply message to hear or to notice his exit. Not that he minded for a second.

The door to Yuri's room creaked loudly, whining at being put to use as Erik crept inside. Nothing had changed here since his last visit all those weeks ago; dead to the world as life continued on around it.

Trickles of rain beat steadily against the window above Yuri's desk. They'd been fortunate to miss the downturn in weather on their arrival home, that much was certain.

Erik padded slowly across the immaculate wooden flooring, its whispered squeaking joining with the sound of the gloom outside.

All the little keepsakes left behind remained scattered, lying in wait for somebody to remember and relive the memories they held all over again.

Standing out from among the photos, toys and other old niknaks, the lockbox Thijs had disturbed him from opening called out the loudest, prompting him to reach out and pluck it from the desk.

Deceptively heavy, Erik balanced it in his paw, moving the other in preparation to lift its lid.

Its rusted hinges squealed, but didn't resist against the flick of his wrist. The wooden box swung open, revealing its prize to curious green eyes.

A few pieces of jewelry glittered brilliantly, sitting proudly upon other objects organised below. "Probably the only pieces he never sold for cash," Erik rumbled, sliding them to one side. "He must really have cared about this--" The sight of what previously sat hidden away stopped him fast. He reached past the sparkling metal to pull out a photo, one that appeared to come from the collection left discarded upon the desktop.

History came racing to the front of Erik's mind, an echo from the long forgotten past suddenly finding its way back to his present. He stood agape, taking in the image of he and his brother, tearing open presents early on New Years morning. The sheer happiness upon their faces radiated from the photo, warming Erik to his core. His breathing began to quicken and his eyes watered, not only from the emotion of revisiting his pre-teen self, but also from the sight of him bathed in the loving shadow of the large tiger sat behind him. "...Dad."

His paw began to tremble, gasping for air as if having taken a haymaker right to the gut. This simple photo, hidden away for years, offered Erik the first look upon his father since the night he'd walked out on them.

He tried to steady himself, studying the picture in disbelief over how much change and upheaval a decade could bring. For the first time in a long, arduous while, he saw all three men of the family in joyful togetherness. He'd never get this back. He'd never relive this again.

Dark voices began to chatter, swirling forth from the deepest depths of his mind. They set him wondering, pondering, worrying over how long it'd be before he followed into the inescapable downward spiral that had claimed his father and brother.

'Nonsense!'

Pieter's yell cut forcefully through those massing, doubting thoughts, rushing to his aid from their long, reassuring heart-to-heart at the train station three short weeks ago.

'The idea that you could ever end up like that...'

With a sorry yelp and a mourning sniffle flooding out all at once, Erik pushed the box closed.

Holding it there, enveloped by the memories of his childhood with his father and brother, he could feel the immense, suffocating weight of this lockbox slowly crippling him. He gasped for air, but couldn't fill his lungs. He struggled to walk, but couldn't move his feet.

'...In your heart you're a good person!'

Erik didn't give up. He refused to. With Pieter's help, he gritted his teeth, clenched his fists and hauled himself free.

"No." He lurched forward, discarding those memories back onto the desk with a rocking clatter that echoed to the four corners of the room. "I'll never be like them."

Erik gave the memory box one final stare, returned now to those other once-treasured keepsakes congregating around it.

He turned on his heels, letting Pieter's words support him as he slowly walked away, confining this room, this tomb, to history.

The sanctuary of his bedroom offered Erik the chance to breath easier; familiar objects of the present far easier to be surrounded by than forgotten relics of the past. The exception to this revealed itself the moment he collapsed wearily onto his bed, finding the box that had housed his former guests.

It sat empty, silent, stripped of everything save for the makeshift bedding he'd set up there on that first evening. The fact that they were heading home helped keep his mood positive, though the knowledge that they might never return anchored it down severely.

He resisted the dejection gathering upon his shoulders, rolling over to sit up and turn on the television beyond the foot of his bed. Whatever could be done, or watched, to help clear his mind, he'd welcome with open arms.

Images of people dressed in red, celebrating wildly on the streets of various cities around the country beamed from the screen.

"...Unbelievable scenes from across Velika in response to this famous victory..."

For a split second, Erik assumed them to be excerpts from a sports report, filled with fans basking in their team's glory. The tagline at the corner of the screen, declaring the 'Election Results In', revealed that belief to be severely misplaced.

He sat up straighter, whipping his tail around to settle it in his lap. Beneath the report playing out, he caught the end of the message running across news ticker. '...Outgoing President Dmitry Tatrenko: Sad day for Velikan politics, and for our nation in general.'

The fur on his arms tingled as he grabbed a clump of his bedcovers.

"If you're just joining us this afternoon, it has been confirmed in the last few minutes that the Velikan Progress Union, rank outsiders only a year or so ago, have won their first ever presidential term following the closest run election for thirty years..."

"You have got to be joking..." Erik peered back over to the empty cardboard shelter, relieved for the first time that it sat deserted. "This can't be..."

"I'm just hearing now that we can go live to Zelengorod, where VPU leader Grigori Petrov is speaking, having just been sworn in as Velika's next president."

Cameras flashed like strobes, bathing the rain-soaked steps of the grand, whitestone presidential building in a light almost as bright as the wide, lupine smile they hoped to capture. The smug, white wolf stood imposingly, dressed to the hilt with paws clenched atop a podium bearing the presidential seal; a sight that made Erik want to wretch in disgust.

"Today, on this day, the ordinary people of Velika have spoken. They have voiced their frustration, their anger, at how they have been forgotten by a government supposedly with their best interests at heart. They have stood up in unison, and in true democratic fashion said 'No more!'. Today marks the first day of a VPU-led government. One which will again place the hopes, needs and dreams of those Velikans so long forgotten about; the natives of this land that have seen it become a pale shadow of its former self. From this day, under my guidance, Velika will again become a country its people can be proud of. It is the day that Velika will again become truly great!"

"Gods, no." Erik sank forward, throwing his paws to his face with a pained, gurgling groan. "This can't be happening."

He sat there alone on his bed, tail tight to his midsection in a fruitless attempt at comforting himself in the aftermath. After that morning, Erik already knew this day would live long in his memory. Now, it would live in infamy. He only hoped that the days, weeks, months, and years to follow would prove brighter than he feared they might be.

A gust of wind rumbled outside, joining the strengthening rain rattling against his window. A prelude, perhaps, to a far larger storm descending upon Erik's home.