In Control and Responsible (Seek x Figure)

"I'm going to check on her. That didn't sound good." Figure told Ambush before getting up from where he was sitting. He handed Ambush the baby Screech. "Like Inky said, if we're not back in ten minutes or so, come after us." Figure repeated. Ambush nodded.

"Be careful. You're already beat up enough, Newbie." Ambush held the Screech in one arm, then patted Figure on the shoulder with his free hand. Figure then left Ambush with all eight of the Screeches.

Figure took the same path that Seek took earlier. He went room through room until he reached the last room of the mines. He was careful not to run into things, but there were a few times where he tripped anyway. After searching through the last room of the mines, Figure eventually found the ladder up to the surface.

Figure took the ladder up to the surface, being careful not to lose his footing and slip off. When he crawled up and out from underground, he could feel the path under him and breathe the fresh air around him.

"Inky? You up here?" Figure called out. Seek could hear him, but didn't want to answer. She sat on the ground, facing the castle and away from Figure. Seek just sighed, ashamed of the fact that she couldn't stop all the humans. Figure, with his exceptional hearing, heard Seek sigh, then sighed himself with relief. He was a little worried that he might be lost, but with Seek there, it was okay.

Figure went toward the direction he heard Seek's voice come from. When Seek heard Figure's footsteps behind her, she buried her face in her knees.

"Hello?" Figure stopped walking when he was close enough to Seek. She wasn't making any noise, so he couldn't really tell if she was there or not.

"... Mm." Seek hummed after a minute. If she had said anything more than that, she probably would've started crying. That had already happened one time too many.

"Ah, you're here." Figure stepped forward, then sat down on the ground next to Seek. He could tell something was wrong. Seek didn't look at Figure. "Shark has your kids, I hope that's okay."

"That's fine..." Seek said quietly. Very quietly, which Figure knew was out of character for her. They both stayed quiet for a minute or two.

"... Usually you start telling me the next part of the plan." Figure faced Seek. The tone of his voice was purposefully quiet and calm, since he didn't want to upset Seek more than she already was. Seek hugged her knees closer to herself.

"I don't have a plan... I never had a plan..." Seek said honestly, then continued. "Any plans I've given failed, and now the last two humans have gotten away because of me." Seek said with a bitter tone of voice. "I can't protect my family, I can't protect my hotel, and I just..." Seek made a bubbly squeak sound unintentionally, as she often did when she got upset.

"Hey, you know this isn't your fault." Figure reminded Seek. He recognized that Seek was crying again.

"I want to give up." Seek said with a shaky voice. It became clearer and clearer that Seek was struggling to keep it together. "I'm tired and stressed, and I just want to stop trying to chase those damn humans..."

"We're taking a short break from worrying about the humans getting away right now. After this, we'll go back to catching them, right?" Figure tilted his head at Seek. "We have to. You said it yourself that if those humans get away, they could tell the whole world about our existence."

Seek just kept crying. She knew they couldn't just give up like that, no matter how much she wanted to. She couldn't really respond to Figure. She was trying not to melt.

"... You said the last two humans?" Figure asked. "And we started out with four?" Seek didn't respond, so Figure interpreted Seek's silence as a yes. "You caught two of them. You're doing a great job."