Disclaimer: I do not own the Star Crossed series of the characters. If I did, there would have been a season 2.

Chapter 1

Emery

"Emery! Emery wake up!"

A panicked, deep voice broke through her consciousness, although she couldn't exactly place where it was coming from.

"Emery, please. I can't lose you… Please wake up."

The voice faded then, replaced by sudden screams of rage and grunts of protest. She felt as though she was falling, and winced subconsciously as the arms that had been holding her were ripped away harshly.

"No! I need to make sure she's okay!"

The screams became quieter, as well as the sounds of fists colliding with bone, and everything slowly went silent once more.

Emery heard garbled voices and her eyes fluttered open, only to close again quickly at the sudden shock of bright light. She groaned in annoyance and tried to open her eyes again.

"What's going on…" she droned, trying to find her voice. "Where…?" Her question faded as she began to lose consciousness again.

"I think she suffered a concussion. We need to take her for a CT scan."

The unfamiliar voice caused Emery to force her eyes open again, catching a glimpse of faces hovering above her, white light surrounding them like a large halo.

"Where's Roman…?" she managed to sigh before drifting back into unconsciousness.

2 Weeks Later

The sound of sirens broke Emery from her sleep and she rolled over in bed to check the bed-side clock. 6am. "Those damn sirens are getting old really quick…" she growled, voice half incoherent from sleep. She moved to push herself into a sitting position on the bed and hissed as a migraine made itself known. She had woken up with one every morning since she had returned home from the hospital, most likely as an after-effect from the concussion she had received from the Suvek's blast.

Pushing herself to her feet, she shuffled into the bathroom and popped a couple of extra strength ibuprofen, running a hand through her matted hair. She stared back at her tired reflection in the mirror. She looked like garbage. Dark circles were nestled beneath her eyes from lack of sleep, as most nights she re-lived the Suvek's explosion, hearing Roman's cries of protest as he was torn away from her by guards.

She worried about Roman and wondered how he was. The Sector had been placed on lockdown after the festival, the government saying that the explosion had been from a failed bombing attempt by Atrian Trags who has escaped the sector.

Although she hadn't left her home since she had returned from the hospital, Emery knew the happy town of Edendale had deteriorated over the last two weeks. The main square where the festival had taken place was still marked off by caution tape, as shown on the news everyday, and many beloved buildings bad been severely damaged from the blast, including Mudbug.

Emery remembered feeling the shock of seeing their high school hangout with a charred hole where the front door had once been. What was left of the building looked stressed, as if the walls might collapse at any moment, and all of the glass windows had been shattered from the blast. Emery had tried to call Lukas right after and had left various voice messages, but never received a response. She hoped he and his family were coping alright.

Emery threw her hair up into a messy bun and splashed water over her face, feeling the cheekbones that were beginning to protrude from lack of food over the last two weeks. Along with no sleep, she hadn't really had an appetite either. It seemed that worry was the only thing her mind and body knew at the moment.

As the migraine began to diminish, Emery changed into black tights and a form-fitted white tank. The sound of more police sirens outside, this time closer, drew her towards her bedroom window, where she drew back the curtains to get a better view. A black undercover car came to a stop in front of her house and two men in suits emerged. One took a moment to straighten his collar before looking up and making eye contact briefly with Emery. Her brown hues narrowed into annoyed slits, her eyebrows furrowed roughly. She had a good guess as to why they were here.

She had been found at ground zero of the Suvek's blast, and since there had been significant time for her to recover from her concussion and get her thoughts together, she knew they were coming to question her. Screw them.

Emery let the curtains fall and turned to jog down the stairs, ignoring the bits of migraine that still bounced around in her head. She reached the bottom step just as there was a harsh knock on the door.

"Emery, wait!" Her mom came from the kitchen, drying her hands off with a rag. "Let me get it." Ever since the town had been placed in a strict police-state, her mom had been a bit paranoid.

Emery said nothing and crossed her arms over her chest, stepping up beside her mom as she opened the door to reveal the two men, most likely government agents.

"Emery Whitehill?" one asked bluntly.

"That's me," Emery said instantly, pushing past her mom who sighed in annoyance. "What do you want?"

The man quirked an eyebrow and exchanged a look with his partner before pulling a pair of handcuffs out of his pocket. "You're needed for questioning at Headquarters. Please turn around."

He grabbed Emery's right arm and turned her around a bit harshly, slapping the cuffs around her wrists. She didn't fight back, knowing it would be a losing battle and not wanting to get her mother into trouble.

"Is that really necessary?" the older woman complained, worry lacing her words.

"Unfortunately, yes," was all he responded before dragging Emery off towards the car. She called back to her mother that she would be fine and watched the woman in the doorway, and then their house, vanish as the car headed towards Headquarters. An un-damaged building not too far from the sector had been re-assigned as a government building after the blast, home to a new agency that had overthrown Gloria and her integration program. Atrians and humans were not to interact anymore, at least for the time being.

As soon as they arrived, one of the men pulled Emery from the car and led her through the front doors, where they rode an elevator silently to the 3rd floor. She was shoved into an empty interrogation room and told to sit before being left alone.

The cuffs rubbed at her wrists and she absentmindedly tried to get out of them. After a few minutes, the door clicked and she stopped fidgeting as another man walked in. This one was tall as well, maybe around 6'5" and adorned a black suit as the others had. An old scar ran across his right cheek over sharp cheekbones. He had very dark eyes that made Emery feel on edge.

"What do you want from me?" she asked cautiously.

He moved fluently through the room and took a seat on the other side of the table, folding his hands together in front of him. "What I need from you, Miss Whitehill, is to tell me everything you know about the Suvek."

Emery sighed and leaned back in her chair. "I know what you know. It was a bomb set up by the Trags to take out the humans at the Mardi Gras Festival. They wanted to start a war. I was trying to stop it, along with my friends. Roman…" she choked up a bit as she said his name, that longing worry overcoming her again. "… he pulled out the key. They had a backup, though. One of the Trags, Zoe, re-activated the Suvek with a hand-held device. Then the explosion happened and that is all I remember."

The man stared thoughtfully at her for a moment before speaking. "And how do I know you're little Atrians friends didn't have something to do with building the Suvek? After all, you and your group were the ones to sneak it out of the sector on the float you built."

Emery scoffed in disbelief and leaned forward, glaring at him. "We were trying to get the Suvek away from the Trags so they wouldn't have access to it. Why the hell would they have shot Grayson if we were trying to help them?" she hissed, the knowledge of her friend who was laying in a hospital bed being kept alive by machines coming to mind.

"Calm down Miss Whitehill. I'm just exploring all the possibilities," he chided.

"Your possibilities are insane," she finished harshly, her eyes boring holes into his. "You said yourselves, it was a failed terrorist attack by the Trags. Roman, Drake, and Sofia are not Trags. They were trying to stop it."

A small smirk overtook the man's face and he crossed his arms over his chest. "You seem to be out of the loop, Emery. I guess that concussion did do a number on you."

"What are you talking about?" she shot back, the anger over Grayson still hot on her mind.

"The Suvek wasn't a bomb. It was a signal. Your Atrian boyfriend, Roman, admitted that when we brought him in for questioning."

Emery was taken aback. She had been unconscious and had only been brought up to speed by the news that everyone else was hearing. She had known there had been no casualties from the explosion, but hadn't put two and two together. There has been plenty of injuries such as her own, so she assumed everyone had just gotten lucky. "And that's why no one died?"

The big-wig nodded and leaned back in his chair. "The blast knocked everyone out so they wouldn't see what was happening. A signal was sent to something, more Atrians we assume." Emery stayed quiet, at a loss for words. The man continued. "Listen, whether your boyfriend was innocent in all this or not, his people have declared war on us by calling to their people. They can't be trusted in our society."

Emery grew angry and started to fight with the cuffs around her wrists. "Roman didn't do anything wrong! I swear, if you hurt him or any of them…"

"Ah… be careful there, Miss Whitehill. We don't take too kindly to threats here." He stood from the table and motioned for a guard to come in. "You're free to go. It is obvious you haven't been in contact with Roman. However, you have been labeled as an Atrian sympathizer and we will have eyes on you, and we will bring you in for questioning on a regular basis. Don't get any ideas about sneaking off to the sector or doing anything stupid."

The guard came over and took Emery by the wrists, walking her out of the room and down the hall towards the elevator. As the doors opened Emery's dad, dressed in uniform, appeared. "Emery?" He looked between her and the guard, anger in his eyes. "Take the handcuffs off of her, now. I'll take her from here." The guard did as he was told and Emery rubbed her wrists, stepping into the elevator.

"Are you okay? Why are you here?" he questioned, checking her wrists to make sure the cuffs hadn't done any damage.

"I'm fine. They brought me in for questioning. Why didn't you tell me the Suvek was a signal transmitter?" she asked, pain in her voice at the realization that her own father hadn't told her the truth.

He sighed and ran a hand over his face, then back through his short hair. "We weren't permitted to say anything. I didn't want to drag you into this. Knowing the truth is very dangerous. I don't know why they told you…" he trailed off suddenly, fear entering his eyes. The elevator doors pinged open and he grabbed her arm, pulling her quickly towards the back of the building.

"Dad, what is going on?" she questioned, shocked by the sudden change in attitude. He pulled her through a door and into an alley behind the building.

"Like I said, knowing the truth is dangerous. I'm going to take a guess here and say that the man who questioned you was Alexander. He's the one who overthrew Gloria and took over control of the Atrians. He runs everything here, and he doesn't like Atrian sympathizers." He paused for a moment and glanced up to see if any cameras were watching them. Seeing one, he ushered Emery to start walking with him again and lowered his voice. "You didn't know anything, which means he didn't have anything on you. He needed something on you to make you a threat, so he told you the truth. Now, if they get rid of you, he can explain why."

"But he said I was free to go for now," Emery snapped back. She planted her feet and came to a stop, yanking her arm out of his grasp. "What is going on?"

"Emery, they have a reason to kill you now!" her father sighed in exasperation. "I'm not going to let that happen," he promised, watching as his daughter drew in a ragged breath. "I need you to call a friend that you trust and find a place to hide. A good, secluded place. Lay low until things calm down. Change your appearance so that it will be hard to recognize you." He drew a burner phone out of his pocket and shoved it into her hands. "Use this to contact everyone. It isn't traceable. Do not contact me or your mother. It would be too dangerous. I can't let anything happen to you…"

He reached up and brushed his thumb gently over her cheek, bringing his forehead to meet her own. "I'm sorry it has to be like this, but it is for your own safety. I love you."

"I love you too," Emery responded weakly, not knowing what else to say. She tried to hold in the sudden tears that threatened to spill out of her eyes and took in a deep breath. Her father walked past her back towards the door and paused as he grabbed the handle. He turned back towards her briefly.

"And Emery, please, don't seek out Roman…"

Her heart dropped at those words. Her father vanished into the building before she could request any further details. Was Roman dead? Did he just want her to stay away from him her own safety? So many questions swirled around in her mind and another migraine threatened to take over. She shook her head and regretfully began to walk again, quickly dialing a number on the phone she had just received and bringing it to her ear.

It rang a few painfully long times before a familiar voice picked up. "Hello? Who is this?" The female's tone sounded scratchy and weak, a far cry from the upbeat, sassy voice that always reverberated through their school's hallways.

"Taylor, its Emery. I need your help."