"Now, here's the question. Do you carry around an extra change of clothes for me, or do you need to take me home every time you summon me?" Andrew commented as he finished putting his clothes on, glancing at the still flushing Cathryn as she covered her eyes. "You can open your eyes now, by the way."

Cathryn peeked through her fingers, before dropping her hands with a relieved sigh. "I-I don't think summoning you is going to be a common occurrence. I don't exactly run into life threatening crisises a regular basis."

"True." Andrew nodded. They fell silent for a moment, before Andrew continued. "So… what are we gonna do about all this? This bond- or I guess, Bond, isn't going away. Going back to your regular life is not going to be an option. You're- you're Bonded now. With everything that comes with it."

Cathryn hesitated. "What- what does that mean? I got that we're connected, but… Bonded? Like- like Beast Bonded? What- what does that make me?"

Andrew paused. "Well, a lot of things, actually. Even I haven't really gotten to it all yet… but essentially, it looks like there is an illuminati, and you just entered into the upper ranks. Money, power, privilege, all that crap. Plus, superpowers, cause why not." Andrew cocked his head. "Don't air blast anyone. It will not be pretty."

Cathryn's eyes widened. "I- what?!? How would I- I have superpowers?!?"

"Well, we'll have to test it, but if the Bond is the same Bond as normal Bonded, then yeah." Andrew nodded. "Thankfully you don't have to deal with the physical strength though. That's a bitch."

"I- I guess…" Cathryn hesitated. "Wouldn't- wouldn't it have been easier to explain? At least a little? So people understood? I get why you don't just tell everyone everything, but you could have said something right?"

Andrew shrugged. "Would any explanation have really helped? 'Oh, I'm sorry guys, I didn't mean too! It's just I'm so strong that any casual blow could leave you crippled for life or dead! You'll still hang out and act normally around me, right?' Keeping it a secret is better. At least then people are just nervous, rather than outright terrified."

Cathryn flushed. "I-I suppose you have a point…"

"Yeah. I mean, I'd be down if people actually would understand, but we know that isn't the case. There's a reason the Bonded have spent thousands of years hiding themselves." Andrew sighed.

Cathryn nodded along, and the two fell into a morose silence. After a moment, Cathryn looked up. "So… what do we do? About this?"

Andrew let out a breath. "I honestly don't know… as I said, it looks like you're just a Bonded now, and there isn't anything we can do about it. Of course, since your Beast is me, you don't really have much to actually do with that… uh, except, the range might be an issue."

"Range?" Cathryn asked, cocking her head.

"Yeah. See, Beasts can only get so far away from their human. It isn't too restrictive, up to a hundred or so miles, but it'd mean you'd need to follow me to the base camp when I need to hunt." Andrew explained, before pausing slightly. "Seeing as I need to hunt pretty much every week, at least until the end of summer, that might get pretty inconvenient for you."

Cathryn looked at him with a speechless expression. "You need to hunt every week? Why? What- what even are you hunting?!?"

"Other Beasts. The wild ones. I need to hunt them and gather their crystals to grow stronger. There are other ways to earn crystals, such as joining an organization, but if you aren't strong enough, even those aren't an option. You can't get a job if you don't have enough power to face a wild Beast and it takes you forever to charge a simple enchantment." Andrew explained.

Cathryn considered his explanation, before sighing and nodding. "Okay, fine. You know this world better than I do anyway. How does this hunting work then? Do we just spend the night here before going back?"

"Uh, well, we could but… well, the plan was to spend an entire week hunting, just going back for weekends." Andrew answered.

Cathryn's eyes widened. "A week!?! I-I can't- I have a family! A job! I-I can't just leave every week until the end of summer!"

"Okay, first, you don't need to worry about the job." Andrew assured her. "As far as I can tell, Bonded don't really need to worry about money at all. Hell, everything in the City is free! Well, the mortal stuff. Plus, we have enough connections that you could probably get any job you wanted without even trying. As for your family… well, you could tell them the truth-"

"No, nope, not gonna happen." Cathryn immediately shook her head. "My mom could not handle knowing about something like this. She'd call in a priest or something to get me exorcized."

"Right, so, the other option is to find an excuse for you being gone, such as a potential internship that means you need to go away during the week or something? I don't know, but I'm sure we can figure something out." Andrew continued.

Cathryn hesitated slightly, before letting out an aggravated groan, sitting down and burying her face in her hands. "Why is this happening to me!?! All I was trying to do was help my mom out over the summer, make some extra money so things weren't so tight! Is that so bad? Why- why do I need to deal with Beasts and Bonds and all this- this- bullshit!?!"

Andrew shrugged. "Hey, look on the brightside. You could be de-" Andrew froze, his eyes widening as a solution popped into his head. "Oh… hey, you could be dead."

Cathryn looked up at him like he was crazy. "Is this how you think you're supposed to comfort someone?"

Andrew shook his head. "Sorry, let me explain. We could fake your death. Make it some sort of accident that pays out a huge lump sum for your mom. That way, you don't need to worry about hiding anything or coming up with explanations, and your mom will be well taken care of. Win win!"

"Except for the fact that my mom will think I'm dead!" Cathryn retorted, staring at him incredulously.

"Well, yeah, but that's going to have to happen at some point anyway. Might as well be now." Andrew responded with a shrug.

Cathryn frowned. "What do you mean?"

Andrew cocked an eyebrow at her. "Well, eventually, she's going to realize you're not aging anymore, right? Like, sometime around your mid thirties, you're going to have to disappear, or it'll be too weird."

Cathryn's eyes widened. "Wh-what?!? Why would I stop aging!?!"

Andrew frowned. "Haven't you been listening? We're bonded. Our lives are shared. As long as one of us doesn't die, neither will the other. And since my lifespan is essentially infinite, that means we'll both never die, at least, not from natural causes."

"Wh-what?" Cathryn asked again, stunned.

Andrew gave her a look. "I'm immortal, therefore you're immortal."

*

Once Cathryn managed to calm down from the sudden realization, she insisted that she still didn't want her mom to think she was dead. Even if she eventually had to do it, it wouldn't be for another two decades, time which she didn't want to just give up on. Andrew was of the opinion it would just complicate things unnecessarily, but it was her life, so he wasn't going to argue. Still, that meant they needed to figure out the exact limits of their bond, so they could make the appropriate decisions.

Andrew walked back to the sitting room with Cathryn, finding Ertemis still searching for Arose while growling a series of increasingly complex insults. He paused for a moment, before walking over to a small cabinet, opening the door to see Arose contorted expertly into the cramped space. "Grandpa, I'm going to take Cathryn to base camp Aleph to test out the details of our bond. I'll meet you at the Monkey Clan building once we're done." Andrew explained, as Arose's expression twisted in horror.

"Found you!" Ertemis pounced towards the cabinet.

"Noooo!" Arose exclaimed, scrambling away as Ertemis chased him through the house.

"Come on, let's go." Andrew waved Cathryn after him, heading back to the portal square.

"How did you find him so fast?" Cathryn asked, cocking her head.

"One, I can sense auras, and two, he wasn't actually hiding. Grandma knew where he was, she was just playing along. I'm sure she'll let him escape and he'll hide somewhere else, and they'll play again." Andrew explained.

Cathryn's eyes widened. "That was them playing?!?"

"Of course. With their strength, if they wanted to really fight, let alone the house, the entire district would probably be destroyed." Andrew commented.

Cathryn frowned. "Their strength? I- aren't they human? I thought only the Beasts got stronger."

"Well, they do, but you're forgetting about abilities. With the level of their abilities, they can turn them into physical force, using emotions and thoughts as weapons, and that isn't even accounting for the dozens of mutations they might have." Andrew replied as if such a thing was normal.

Cathryn froze, turning to Andrew with wide eyes. "That's- that's insane!"

Andrew shrugged. "That's Beasts. Even with half their power, Bonded are forces of nature."

"I-I can't even fathom that level of power…" Cathryn muttered, clutching her head.

"Right?" Andres agreed. "Now remember that they're only a few thousand years old. Imagine how strong Beasts that are tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of years old are! Beasts that have been around since the beginning of time, like the World Tree or the Black Dragon!" Andrew turned to Cathryn in excitement, before pausing as he saw her practically shivering from fear. "Uh… but don't worry, they wouldn't bother with us. We're too weak to even draw their attention."

Cathryn let out a ragged breath, nodding slightly. Andrew could tell she was still scared, but he had no idea how to help, cursing himself for even bringing the subject up. They continued their journey in silence, until they reached the base camp. "Okay, first, let's test our range. It should be about a hundred miles, but who knows? Maybe we got lucky somehow." Andrew shrugged. Grabbing a cabin, Andrew left Cathryn there with his clothes, using his Tiger form to run as far as he could into the wild. With his speed, it only took him about an hour before he felt a sort of tension, as if he was connected to a bungee cord. The further he went, the more it tugged at him.

Andrew groaned internally as he felt it. He'd known it was a likely possibility, but he'd been hoping that somehow their bond would be different. Letting out a sigh, he was about to contact Cathryn through their bond and tell her to call him back, before he paused. He should probably test out recalling himself, right? He focused on the thin thread connecting them, giving it a tug. At first nothing happened, and then-

*Ahhhh!!!* Cathryn screamed as she turned to smoke, flowing out of the base camp and merging with Andrew. *What the frickity-frack just happened!?!*

"I- I was just trying to return through the Bond!" Andrew exclaimed, just as confused as she was. "Why- you can't- you aren't supposed to be able to even do this!"

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*Let me out!* Cathryn yelled.

"No!" Andrew immediately exclaimed. "We're a hundred miles away from the base camp and you'll be naked!" Andrew paused. "Shit, we have to get back." He muttered, immediately turning around and running back towards the base camp as fast as he could, using his aura sense to avoid every Beast, no matter how strong they were. He could feel Cathryn's anxiety inside him, pushing him to go even faster, adding in a few air blasts every now and then to push himself forward. Thankfully, without a Beast Tide, the area around the base camp was fairly safe, so they made it back without incident.

"Oh thank god!" Cathryn groaned in relief as they reached the cabin and she separated from Andrew. The two retreated to their respective rooms to put on their clothes before returning to the living room. "That was terrifying!"

"Yeah, that- that wasn't supposed to happen." Andrew muttered, frowning. "The Bond isn't some two way street! Beasts are called and released, not humans!"

Cathryn paused. "Well, you aren't just a Beast, right? You're human too. Maybe that's the problem?"

Andrew froze. That- that was a good point. "Huh… wow, that's a bit of whiplash."

"What do you mean?" Cathryn asked.

"Nothing, just… Well, I'm used to my weirdness coming from my Beast side. Feels weird for my human side to be the problem for once." Andrew explained, a weird look on his face.

Cathryn snorted. "Your human side is plenty weird, trust me."

"Hey, I'm not weird, I'm damaged." Andrew joked.

Cathryn snickered, before letting out a groan. "Am I really going to have to quit my job?"

"Probably." Andrew sighed. "But even if you didn't, why would you even want to keep that job? We could provide you with a much better one, one that pays better, gives you better hours, looks better on your résumé…"

"I guess, but… isn't- isn't that like… cheating?" Cathryn replied, frowning slightly.

Andrew snorted. "How do you figure that?"

"Well… I didn't do anything to earn such a good job… getting something like that without working for it… it just feels wrong." Cathryn explained.

Andrew shook his head. "Who says you didn't do anything? You know me. I know people. That's called connections. It's how the world works."

"That's not-" Cathryn began, before Andrew cut her off.

"Okay, look at it this way." He began, leaning forward. "Say you're a boss, looking to hire a new employee, and it comes down to two candidates with close to equal skills. The only difference between them is that one of them you know, or at least, you know someone who knows them, and you've heard good things. The other, you don't know anything about, beyond what you learned in the interview. Which one do you choose?"

"I-" Cathryn began again.

"Exactly! You choose the one you know. It just makes sense." Andrew continued.

"But it's still cheating! It's using an advantage that other people don't have access to to get ahead!" Cathryn retorted.

Andrew rolled his eyes. "It's unavoidable. Is it unfair? Absolutely, but that doesn't make it cheating. It's like how certain people are more athletic than others. They get more opportunities because of their advantages, opportunities that other people don't get because they lack those advantages. Do you think that is cheating?"

Cathryn hesitated. "N-no?"

"So why would connections be cheating?" Andrew asked.

Cathryn frowned. "I guess if you put it that way…"

Andrew smiled victoriously, before pausing. "Kind of a moot point, though. You really don't need a job."

Cathryn frowned. "Then what am I supposed to do? I can't just sit around and do nothing."

Andrew paused. "You could join an organization, like me. Hell, you'll probably have to. Since we're Bonded, we're technically the same person, according to our laws, so if I join, you join. I don't know what that'd mean work wise, though… the laws are set up for one human, one Beast. At our level, the human would do the work while the Beast hunted. Only after they gained enough power would they be given tasks that require both."

Cathryn blinked. "So why don't you just hunt while I do the job?"

"Because I might die." Andrew rolled his eyes. "Normal Beasts can just recall back to their human, but- but- but-" Andrew's eyes widened as the implications of the fact that he was actually Bonded now hit him. He didn't have to worry about dying anymore! He had an escape route! All he had to do was recall himself back to Cathryn, just like any other Beast! "I actually- I'm fucking- I can fucking hunt!"

*

Once Andrew calmed down after a long bout of cackling like a madman, the two did a few more tests, making sure they could both call the other, and recall themselves to the other person. Andrew found that the trick to recall was to push on the thread instead of pulling, which made some sort of sense he guessed. Finally, Andrew dragged Cathryn to a practice field, where he had her test to see if she had his abilities.

"Okay, let's start simple. Sensing. Do you see that bug right there?" Andrew asked, pointing as a beetle crawling through the sand. Cathryn nodded, looking confused. "Good, now, what is it feeling?"

Cathryn frowned, confused, concentrating on the beetle as she wondered why she should know what it was feeling, when her eyes suddenly widened in shock. "It- it feels hungry, and- and hot?"

Andrew nodded. "Good, so emotion sensing works."

"Emotion- Is that why I've been feeling random emotions all day?!? I thought I was in shock or something!" Cathryn exclaimed, looking between Andrew and the beetle. She paused. "Wait, you can sense emotions? Is that- that's how you-" She stammered, beginning to flush.

Andrew sighed. "Yes, that's how I knew you were trying to be my friend out of pity. Have fun with it. It's the perfect bane to the social delusion most people operate under."

"I- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" Cathryn attempted to apologize, before Andrew sighed.

"Don't worry about it. I know you didn't mean any harm, and usually it'd be a great thing to do, I just don't enjoy the feeling of people feeling sad for me. Plus, you're far from the worst. Benjamin practically shits himself everytime he sees me. Like five years of friendship were nothing." Andrew muttered, an old ache twinging as he did.

"Andrew…" Cathryn's expression softened, before her eyes widened. "Sorry! I didn't mean- ugh, I'm so bad at this!" She groaned. "Every time I try to get closer to you, I just end up pushing you further away."

"Why would you even want to get closer to me?" Andrew asked. "As you said, I'm weird. And after what happened with Eric… why would anyone want to get close to me?" He muttered sadly.

Cathryn hesitated. "You are weird, but- I've always- I-I thought, maybe if- if we actually talked, without yelling at each other, we could maybe get along, cause… I'm kinda weird too." She began to mumble towards the end, flushing in embarrassment.

"Not gonna argue with that." Andrew snorted. "I guess we'll see then, huh? There's no getting away from each other now. Even if we hate each other, we're stuck together."

*

They tested Andrew's other abilities, finding that Cathryn could use all of them just fine, with the exception of his aura sense. For some reason, that ability didn't move across the Bond, though Andrew had no idea why. Now that he thought about it, he actually had no idea where his aura sensing even came from. It wasn't a Beast thing, and it obviously wasn't a Bonded thing, so why could he do it? Why could he manipulate his cores too? Why did retracting his aura change his strength? He had too many questions and not enough answers, with no idea who to even ask for help.

Once they finished, they headed back to the City, heading to the Monkey Clan ziggurat. When they arrived, they found Arose and Elder Barry chatting lightly as they waited for them to return, Arose sporting a few new bruises. "Ah, Andrew! And you must be Cathryn! Welcome!" Elder Barry greeted them in English for Cathryn's sake, standing up to shake their hands. "Lord Arose has been informing me of your strange situation. A curious circumstance to be sure. Just another reminder that no matter how old you get, this world will never cease to surprise you! Though I will say, it does become slightly worrisome when the majority of those recent surprises revolve around a single individual…"

"To be fair, I don't think any of it has been my fault." Andrew commented with a frown.

"That only makes things more worrisome." Elder Barry sighed. "The last person to bear the burden of a life of ceaseless shock and amazement ended up being the key to the creation of an entirely new race. The more I observe this world, the clearer it becomes that the uniqueness of an individual seems to be directly proportional to the burden they'll have to bear."

"Oh-kay… dark." Andrew replied, with a click of his tongue. Such an observation did not bode well for his future.

Elder Barry chuckled lightly. "Don't worry too much. A heavy burden doesn't necessarily equal a negative outcome. Many such individuals thrive under their responsibility. Take the Orcgod for example. His unique existence has made him responsible for the rest of his race, much like Long, and he's managed to raise up a powerful army that even we would hesitate to go against, ruling over the plains with an iron fist."

"So what you're saying is that if I want to live well despite my uniqueness, I have to be evil?" Andrew retorted, raising an eyebrow. The way Orcgod had risen to power was by using his unique ability to enslave a horde of Beasts, letting his fellow orcs use them as mounts. Honestly, if Long had done something similar, simply going around killing any Beast that opposed him, things might have worked out similarly. His ability was unique in that it balanced power levels, letting him become as strong as whatever opponent he was facing, at least ability wise, which wasn't something to scoff at at the higher levels of power. As long as his skill exceeded theirs, his victory was assured, and given humans innate intelligence, this wasn't a difficult condition to meet. Of course, then the Bonded wouldn't exist, and Long would still need to protect a weak, ever growing human population on his own… though, he would still be alive… Andrew honestly didn't know what decision he'd make in that situation.

Elder Barry paused, frowning as he went over the various examples he'd personally observed, before coughing awkwardly. "Yes, well, as long as you're evil to those outside your own, I don't suppose it'd be too much of a problem. You know what they say: sometimes being kind to others is being cruel to yourself."

Andrew shook his head. "Anyway, none of that is important right now." He commented, getting the conversation back on track. "We tested everything out and it's pretty much completely confirmed. Me and Cathryn are Bonded, in every sense of the word. How are we going to handle this?"

"How do you want to handle this?" Elder Barry asked. "This is a situation we've never encountered before. Two individuals suddenly Bonded… our normal methods won't be sufficient. We obviously can't treat you both as the same person, because you aren't, but we also can't say you're both separate individuals either. So, many decisions are up to you. Would you rather share a credit account, or have two separate ones? Would you like to be able to join separate organizations? If you have separate credit accounts, how should we divide the credits when Andrew participates in something like a Beast Tide, which is only made possible by his Bond with Cathryn?"

They both considered the questions, their thoughts intermingling as they did. "Okay, so, first, we should only need one credit account, so that solves a lot of problems there." Andrew began. "I don't think we need to be able to join separate organizations either, but… maybe leave it open as an option, just in case? Honestly, for a lot of things, it's better to just treat us like one person. The only issue would be things like living situations or official identities on Earth… actually, anything on Earth, really. How about we do that? For anything Outside, we're one, but on Earth, we're two. As long as we don't have to be too far away from each other, obviously."

Elder Barry nodded. "That should be acceptable." He agreed, before leaning forward, with a strange glint in his eye. "Now, for a somewhat… tangential issue. We would like to suggest that you impregnate Cathryn, sooner rather than later."

Both teenagers froze. "Excuse me?" Andrew replied while Cathryn flushed deeply, attempting to shrink into her chair.

Arose coughed. "Allow me to explain. Due to your unique condition, many of the upper ranks have been very interested in what it will look like once you have children. We've been content to wait, allowing you to find your own partner as you like, but… with this Bond, we cannot let you simply decide to not have a child with her. You see, with another Bonded, you may have a higher chance of the child being Bonded, but likely nothing more. However, with Cathryn… there is every chance that a child between you two would result in something unique, like Andrew. Maybe not exactly the same, but anything even close could give us the edge we need to finally put to rest the threats surrounding us."

Andrew was stunned. People were interested in his kids?!? Like he was some sort of animal being bred for his genetics?!? He knew the Bonded were invested in finding ways to increase their population. They were slowly growing, but so were the threats they had to face. If they could find a way to rapidly increase their population, then several problems would resolve themselves almost instantly. Andrew understood that, on some level, but instinctively, he rejected the idea that his reproduction should be dictated by anyone other than himself. That anyone besides the woman he decided to have kids with should be in any way interested in them. Those kids were his.

Andrew took a deep breath as he let out a bit more of his Tiger and Lizard auras, helping him focus on responsibility and giving him a bit more emotional detachment. "Okay, first, while I understand where you guys are coming from, we're both still in high school. There is absolutely no way I'm going to have any kids until after I graduate." Andrew stated firmly, before glancing at Cathryn, who was trying to hide in her chair, wishing she was literally anywhere else. "I also don't want to be forced to have kids. I'll do it once, to see what happens, but anything after that is between the two of us, not some edict handed down by the higher ups."

Elder Barry frowned. "I don't think you truly understand how important this could be for us. Your children could-"

"Barry." Arose interrupted in a cold tone. "He's right. This is his life, not ours. Even making him have one child is pushing it. I won't have my grandson turned into some sort of glorified stud."

Elder Barry hesitated for a moment, before letting out a sigh. "Yes, you're right, I apologize. I let myself get too focused on the communal benefits, while ignoring the individual costs. Thank you both for making even this small sacrifice for the Clans." He stood, giving Andrew and Cathryn a slight bow, before returning to his seat

Andrew glanced at Cathryn again, realizing he'd literally just promised to have a baby with her, before coughing and looking away. "Alright, so, that's taken care of. I should probably get Cathryn home then. If we keep her out too late, her family might get worried."

Elder Barry chuckled, shaking his head at the young man's obvious attempt to escape an uncomfortable situation. "I won't keep you any longer then. I wish you both luck as you navigate this unique situation you've been thrown into. And don't forget, I'm always here to help if you need me!" He shouted after them as Andrew practically carried Cathryn out the door, rushing to escape before the two old men made any more requests of them.