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The zomboil was indeed engrossed in a book while lounging in his fiance's room, waiting for Yin to return. With a lot of things on his mind recently, hunters among the top ranking, along with a looming graduation and wedding plans that his mother would not let him escape from, Alexander had simply wanted some time to relax, hoping forget about all of that and just spend some time in the quiet comfort of the weremantis's presence.

He didn't really know when to expect Yin to be in. They were both quite busy at times, and Alex himself felt a strong sense of guilt for how absent he had been, between working his part time job at the maul and adhering to his duties as the Student Council's PR, among what felt like a million other things. He had no idea how long he'd even been there, waiting, when he heard the door to the dorm room creak open, a small smile playing along his lips before he even raised his eyes to see the monster boil in the doorway.

The smile slipped away when he saw him. He'd known Yin long enough now to recognize when something was wrong. He was...tense, that much was certain, but there was something else there, something that filled him with a sense of dread that twisted and writhed in his gut.

Folding his book closed and placing it on the bed beside him, concern etched across his features, he sat up, swinging his legs over the side. "Of course! What is it? Is...everything okay?" Maybe it was nothing. Yin sometimes got so worked up over such little things, it was probably nothing. Still, that feeling of dread didn't ease up even a tiny bit.

His concern spiked when Yin told him to sit down, and Alex actually opened his mouth to assure the weremantis that he was already sitting, when the other boil did it for him and the zomboils mouth snapped shut instead, with an audible click of his teeth. Did this have something to do with the wedding? Had Yin changed his mind? Alexander felt a gaping emptiness inside at the thought, a deep ache in his dark unbeating heart that he wouldn't have even been able to describe had somebody asked him to.

Still, he sat quietly, fighting the urge that had what little muscle remained in his legs twitching, wanting him to stand up and make his way over to the other boil, to hug him, to tell him it was okay before he could even hear what was wrong. But did he want to hear this? No, he knew he didn't. Before Yin said anything at all he knew that whatever it was would not be good. This wasn't going to be just some small matter gone completely over exaggerated. This was a big matter, something bad, and all Alex could think was that it had something to do with him.

But then Yin spoke, he began to explain, and Alexander began to feel something beyond the numb cold that had settled within his chest. He straightened, blinking in surprise, his body going rigid and stone still.

"Hunters." He repeated, the cold feeling inside of him was fading, as something else took it's place. Something hot and angry and intense. Something that darkened his face as he stood up quite abruptly, his hands curled into fists at his sides. "Took you?" He repeated yet more of what Yin said, as if not quite comprehending. "Again." Why? What could they possibly want with.....

"The tag." It was a realization that hit him like a ton of bricks. He had been stupid, blind. So stupid. How could he ever believe they wouldn't do anything? That maybe, just maybe, they had been bluffing the entire time.

"What." His voice had gone levels deeper and darker, an edge of a growl to it, "Did they do?" Yin was his. His. Not theirs! And they took him. They took him again. It was unacceptable. They weren't allowed! Alex would kill them. One wasn't enough.

He should not have stopped at just that one alone.

For a few moments more, Alexander was lost in a haze of rage that had turned his vision red, a shade much like that which had stained his hands after he had torn out that ghoul hunters throat. It was blood he could see, and it was blood that he wanted. They wouldn't quit, otherwise. They just wouldn't. Quit.

It was Yin's voice that slowly brought him back from his dark thoughts, pale eyes that seemed to be staring straight at the wall blinking as his gaze shifted back down to the weremantis, to his fiance that was...that was....

Apologizing?

Another blink, and the tension that had filled the zomboil seemed to mostly ease away as his body practically deflated right then and there. He was being so stupid, so...selfish. First jumping to conclusions about what Yin was going to tell him, conclusions that were far from the truth, and then thinking only of the fact that the hunters were messing with something of his, like Yin was only a precious belonging, and not something much more then that.

He was stammering and stumbling over his words, obviously distressed, perhaps frightened as well, and Alexander could not blame him for it one bit. His face stricken both with concern and shame for not realizing sooner that it was Yin that he should have been focusing on at the moment, he took steps towards the other boil and did the only thing that he could think of in that moment.

He reached for his fiance, his hands hoping to find his shoulders, and to slide to his back to pull him in to a hug if the other boil would allow for it, something meant to be gentle, and comforting. "It's not your fault. It's not. Don't apologize for what they're doing. Don't.." The full implications of what Yin was admitting to were finally starting to set in, and with the anger he'd harbored moments before suddenly leeching away, Alexander was instead faced with that cold numbness once more, and an ache in a chest that suddenly felt much too tight, his throat constricting, choking off his words mid sentence.

"They can't...I won't..." He started, and stopped, and tried again, but he just didn't know what to say, what he could possibly say to be more reassuring.

He felt completely helpless.

"I'm sorry." He finally said instead, in a hushed tone. "I'm so sorry. We...maybe..." He still had nothing, nothing that he could say that could possibly be comforting, nothing that he himself could actually say and believe to be true.

The zomboil would have been lying if he'd said he hadn't expected there to be any resistance from Yin. The way the other boil just let the embrace happen without a fuss was startling, and if anything made Alexander hold on to him all the tighter, not wanting to let go. Somehow he managed to refrain, however, though his fingers did rub in small circles between the other boils shoulder blades in a motion that was meant to sooth.

However laughable that notion was at this point. How could Yin possibly be soothed by anything Alexander did?

When Yin began to speak again, it was with little surprise that he admitted he'd gone to see his mother first. The thought of it might have stung a little, had it not made so much sense. She was older, wiser, she cared for him, enough so that she had adopted him. They had become close, and she was a Fear healer, one that would know if anything could be done.

And while Alex had always thought that nothing could possibly be done, as it turned out, he might have been wrong.

"What...what do you mean?" Yin didn't have to pull away, because Alex did, his hands sliding to the other boils arms as he moved back just enough to look at his face, a faint glimmer of hope shining in the sea of dismay that filled him.

We should talk about it.

Those words meant that there was more to say, that this wasn't something that could be done without risk. It meant that a decision needed to be made, and while Alexander did not need to breathe, he took in a shaking breath anyways before saying.

"Okay." Letting his hands fall, though the skeletal fingers of his right hand stopped to catch the other boils in his own, he glanced back towards the bed. "Maybe we should both sit down?" If Yin wanted, though he knew the other boil could hardly sit still when he was in any amount of distress at all.

The way Yin's fingers tightened around Alex's was at least comforting in it's own way as the zomboil sat himself back down on the edge of the bed, his feelings finally settling fully somewhere within the region senseless worry combined with a numb feeling in his chest and stomach. He didn't have a heartbeat for it to beat out of his chest in panic. He didn't have a pulse to quicken or lungs that required any oxygen at all, so he sat stone still, moving only to face his bonded with his scared concern visible in pale eyes. He waited, patiently, for Yin to say what he needed to, for him to find the words, his free hand moving to hold the other boils in a double grip, his thumb brushing against the warm skin on the back of Yin's hand as he waited.

She couldn't guarantee success. Of course she couldn't, but yet that small sense of hope lingered as Yin continued on, Alex's hands falling away from the weremantis's as he got up to pace the room, eyes following him back and forth. He was right that the Nurse wouldn't do it if she didn't think she had a real chance of success, Alexander knew that. She wouldn't. She wouldn't. He knew and yet he had to tell himself that fact over and over again even while processing all of the rest.

"So, it's possible...but there is a high chance of...complications. Unknown complications." Alexander repeated back to the other boil, voice hushed as he studied Yin's face. He wanted to hold him, wanted to kiss him and hug him and comfort him and tell him it was going to all be okay, but how could he? How could he tell him something that he wasn't sure he even believed himself? He couldn't. He just couldn't.

Why had the hunters taken him? Alexander frowned.

"Information maybe." Words spoken out loud that he meant to keep in his head, his eyes dropping as he found himself suddenly lost in thought, unwittingly distancing himself from what was likely the more important topic at hand by immersing himself in this question. "An interview perhaps, to ask you questions. You must be quite valuable to them. There can't be many others....." His voice trailed off, his lips suddenly pursing as if he realized just what he was doing.

"Sorry I just. This is... a lot to take in." He reached up to run fingers through his hair, his gaze moving upwards once more, elbows resting on knees, hands clasping. "What...what do you want to do?" He asked.

Alexander's thumbs began to twiddle together nervously while he waited for Yin's answer, though he was sure he knew what it would be already. He'd want the tag out, of course he would, if there was any chance that it could be taken out without ending his life completely then Alex knew that it is what the weremantis would want. Still, it helped to hear him say it out loud, and while the idea of it was frightening to the zomboil, so was knowing that the hunters still had a hold on Yin and could take him again at any time.

He could tell himself it wouldn't happen again, but it would. He couldn't stay at Yin's side all of the time, and he wouldn't want to see him locked away, and besides that, if the hunters wanted him, they would find a way to get him. It had been foolish to hope that they had simply forgotten about Yin.

"I understand." He said, before taking in a shaking breath, "And I agree. Something needs to be done and...and I haven't come up with anything better in all of this time." Short of destroying every last living hunter, what seemed to be a complete impossibility.

He'd thought that that was all. Yin had made his decision and Alex was there to lend him the support he needed, even if the entire situation refused to sit well with the zomboil. But that wasn't it, and when Yin spoke again, Alexander started, his eyes widening, and he stood up from his seat.

"N-no! Of course not!" He burst out, before stopping himself, closing his eyes and opening them again slowly. "I mean...I am bothered. I'm bothered a lot by what they are doing to you, but I could never not wish to be around you. We're in this together....right?" There was a sense of helplessness in his voice at the last, because while it was what he had assumed, there was a chance that he was wrong, that Yin didn't feel that way, that he didn't want Alexander to feel that way either.

"Don't make me leave, please." It wasn't hard to jump to that conclusion, not after the last time, when Yin had come back from the island, when they had gotten into their fight and Alexander had gone home. Or when he'd come back and things had been...okay. Different, but okay, until Yin had wanted him gone again.....

"I don't want to go."

It was comforting to hear, and once again Alexander was struck by the notion that this wasn't supposed to be a time for Yin to give him comfort, but the other way around. "Right, sorry, I just...." His voice trailed off, his hand slipping into Yin's, fingers lacing with his as he huffed out a sigh. "It's lot to take in." He repeated his statement from before, not wanting to think about everything Yin had said but knowing that he needed to.

"Of course." He squeezed the other boils hand in his, offering a small smile, completely unconvincing he was sure but still making the effort of remaining positive. He still couldn't think about the fact that the hunters had taken Yin, because it would bring about that nearly uncontrollable rage again, and that was not going to be helpful. Instead, he focused on the fact that Nurse Cricket was going to do something, and he knew she would not do it if she thought that it wouldn't work, or might hurt Yin more then help him....

Alexander met his fiances eyes, the worry still clearly present in them despite his best efforts. Yin's question was a surprising one, however, and the zomboil blinked, momentarily taken aback.

"Of..Of course." He answered. For once, ever, the zomboil too was without appetite, but he could understand that it might help to do something normal in the wake of these developments. Leaning in and down, Alexander brushed his lips against Yin's cheek, offering him a light kiss, and another small hand squeeze, before whispering quitely. "We'll be okay. You'll be okay." He then pulled away, and began to move towards the door.