Lauren comes running into my room the next morning, looking excited. She had morning hair, wore her pajamas, and was barefooted when she came scrambling in.

"Lin, Lin! I have a brother!" she yells excitedly.

I rolled over, and groaned, trying to get back to sleep. "Get off of me," I mumble.

"I have a brother! Oh my gosh, I've always wanted one! Do you know how much this means to me?! This is amazing!" She kept rambling on and on about how she had always wished she had a sibling, while I managed to smile to myself just a little. I wanted a brother too. Now, I have Zane. My smile vanished when I remembered that what he told me could have been a lie that someone might have told him to keep him alive.

On the chance that I am not his little sister, then I don't know what I would do to comfort him. He was so full of hope last night and I didn't want to shatter it.

I got up, trying to get that depressing thought out of my head. What would he do if we find out we're not related? How would he react?

"Oh yeah, Lin? Zane told me to give these to you!" She handed me a turquoise ninja suit and a mask.

My hands reached out to take it, wondering if it was a gift from him. The fabric was soft and felt like velvet on my hands. I stared at it wide-eyed. It looked pretty. And I liked pretty things, but it gets me into trouble sometimes. Like that one time, I tried to pick a flower that had grown through a crack in the middle of the road and almost got hit by a car had it not been for Brent.

Instantly, I felt hollowed out. Brent. He was still back there, and my parents were too. They're probably worried sick about me. And Brent...

I shook that thought out of my head too and went into the bathroom to slip it on. When I did, the fabric felt amazing against my skin. It was stretchy and breathable. I could feel the wind through this thing. Now, there was only one more thing. I did my best to tie the mask onto my face and I pulled up the hoodie.

I smiled a little. I looked pretty darn good in this thing. I pulled down my mask and hoodie and stepped out with my clothes in my hands. "Oh!"

Zane was standing there in the doorway, leaning against the wall, which startled me a bit since I didn't hear him coming in from the bathroom. He took in what I was wearing, and smiled a little. It was warm and gentle. "Do you like it?" he asks hopefully.

"Yes. Yes, I do," I say gratefully, as I tossed my clothes onto my bed. "How much did it cost?"

He raised a brow. "It cost nothing. I made it myself. It took a while to get the hang of it. I poked myself a lot, but in the end, it was worth it."

"How did you know my size?"

"I didn't. So I just made a really lose one, hoping that it'll fit you. And it does, you just need to tie it in with a belt and you're good to go."

I just stared at the teenaged boy in front of me in gratefulness, and slowly, a small smile crept on to my lips. Who is this guy? I guess I really do need to get to know him more. "Thank you."

Again, he blushed. "No problem."

I looked at his hair. "Is it me, or does your hair just defies gravity like that?"

"It's just like that."

He leads me towards the dining room again, where there was an empty seat with a plate of waffles. Jay, Lauren, and Cole were gorging themselves while Kai just nibbled on his food. I took the empty seat next to Cole and took a bite into the waffle. Zane took the seat in front of me. "Your training begins today. You have to be ready for anything. If someone attacks you, you'll have to be able to defend yourself."

I nodded. I didn't really take in what he was saying since I was too busy focusing on the food, which tasted amazing.

He smiled a bit, as he took a bite. "You like it?"

"It's probably the most amazing thing I've tasted in my life."

He smiles again, blushing.

"Yeah, I know right?" Jay says, barging in. "He made it! But on the contrary, Cole here can't cook shit! He can't cook to save his own life!"

"Oh really?" Lauren asks, raising a brow.

"Excuse you, Jay, but I wasn't the one who put extra hot ghost peppers into the cake that I baked!" Cole snapped.

"That's what you get for eating my frozen yogurt from the fridge!"

"You didn't even have your name on it!" Cole sputters. "How was I supposed to know?!"

Lauren watched in amusement, as the two bickered back and forth. Zane and I finished our food and washed the plates.

"You two go ahead," she says.

He took the plate from me and put it in a cabinet before we headed outside.

"This is the courtyard," he says.

"Oh."

"What have you been calling it this whole time?"

"The Backyard."

"Anyways, here," he tossed me a wooden stick. "I don't want to cut you. Now, there's the block, and then there's attack..."

Little by little, he taught me what to do in specific situations and how to do it. By the time lunch was nearly there, I had most of the moves down.

"Okay, now I'm going to spar with you. Remember, keep your eyes on the target and the weapon-"

"Where else would they be?"

"-And remember to move as efficiently and quickly as possible. Also remember that you can kick, and punch. Pretend that I'm your worst enemy. I'll try to go easy since it's your first time. Ready?"

"No."

"Go!"

He charged at me and swung from the top. I brought up my stick at a diagonal, and his own stick slid right off. He brought it up this time, from the lower right, and I spun around to dodge it, and met his stick with my own, bringing it to the ground.

In my head, I imagined that instead of him who was fighting me, a monster was. That seemed to work and I tried to punch him in the face. He caught it in mid-air and pushed it back making me lose my balance a little. He took that chance and swung at me but I was ready. I stepped off to the side, and he stumbles past me, but before he could trip and fall, I spin and landed a roundhouse kick to his abdomen intending to knock out his breath.

That was a huge mistake.

He cried out in pain and collapsed, clutching at where I had kicked him. That's when I suddenly remembered that he had a bandage over a wound...that was on his abdomen. Panic surged through me, and I rushed to his side where he lay writhing on the floor. His head rested on my knee as if that would give him any comfort or lessen the pain.

"Oh my gods, I'm so sorry! I-I didn't mean to- OH MY GODS, IS THAT BLOOD?!"

The blood on his bandage seemed to grow a little and I watched in horror. Then, it stopped but not before I realized the damage that I had done. He winced.

"H-hey, Callie," he groans. Through his agony, he smiled at me. "You actually did pretty well."

I stared at him in disbelief. "Thank you, but YOU ARE BLEEDING TO DEATH, WE HAVE TO GET YOU INSIDE!" I screeched.

He grimaced, as I put one arm over and behind my neck and pulled him up. He gasped, and I definitely didn't take that as a good sign.

Right then, Kai came out with a sword and spotted us. "What happened to him?!"

"Do you have a healer here?"

Sensing my urgency, he ushered us inside. "Sensei!" he called out. The old man came running and took him groaning, from me.

"He'll be alright," he assures me. "It's nothing too serious. He'll be out in a half an hour."

I nodded grimly and walked outside to the porch to sit.

"Hey." Kai's hand rests on my shoulders.

"Yeah?"

"It's just training. I think he's gotten hurt before. Oh, hell's, Callie, or Lin, or whichever name you prefer, I got tossed into one of these walls a hundred times!"

"Okay."

"He'll be out. Don't worry."

He sits down next to me, and I scooted over to make space. "Don't you think that Zane is a bit weird?" he asks.

"Weird how?"

"Like he's so...distant, and cold...like he doesn't have emotions but then suddenly, you came along and then he started...feeling I guess."

"Huh."

He scooted closer to me and leaned in close. "Hey. Are you his girlfriend?" he asks quietly.

"What?! No!"

"Oh. Then what are you to him?"

Resenting his presence, I managed to grumble out some words. "He says I'm his sister."

"You don't sound or look too happy about that."

"No, it's not the sound of having a bigger brother that has me down. I've always wanted one. It's not knowing for certain if he is my brother or not. I don't know how he will react if he finds out I'm not his sister."

"Ah. Got it." He leaned back with his hands behind him. "You got a boyfriend yet?"

"Excuse you?"

"You got a boyfriend yet?" he repeated.

"Why do you care?"

"Just wanna get to know you better if we're going to be on the same team."

I sighed. "No. I haven't had one yet."

"Ah. Gotcha. So what was it like?"

"What?"

"What was it like living in the other world?"

"Well, I lived in a state called Michigan. The state is in a country known as America..."

"Okay. And?"

"It snows a lot."

"I've never seen it. I lived somewhere where it was hella hot. It was hot all year and my sister and I worked a blacksmith shop."

"A blacksmith shop? Where they make weapons?"

"Yeah."

"Sweet."

The door suddenly slid open and Zane stood in the doorway, looking as if I hadn't kicked him at all. "You ready to continue?"

"How-?"

He smiled. "You could say that there was a bit of...magic involved."

I raised a brow. "Do you know how to use it yet?"

"I can't do much. Only a small snowflake and Jay and Cole are having a hard time with it."

"Sounds like you're more of a leader than Cole is."

"I'm a fast learner."

"Then show me how to do the things you do."

He walks down the steps and picks up another stick. "I guess I can. But only as much as I know."

"Fair enough."

Kai headed back inside, leaving just me and him alone again.

"We'll take it easy first. I want to...talk about some things."

He hit me without really trying, and I blocked it.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

He thought for a moment. "...Have you ever...been in love before?"

I raised a brow. "No. Why?"

"Nothing. It's just that...while I was stuck on the streets, I've seen people together...they kiss...and they're happy." I tried to hit him from the side, but he easily blocks it. "And they dance."

"Have you ever danced with anyone before?"

He shook his head, spun, and brought the stick down on me which I sidestepped. "Sometimes, they danced very slowly. There was a park that I usually go to and I slept in the trees there. Sometimes, I would see a couple of people dancing very slowly as the sun sets or rises. And they watched it together. What's the word for it? Romance? I think." He swung his feet up slowly and pretended to kick me.

"Yeah. That's pretty romantic." I lunged forward and pretended to stab him. "Do you know how to slow dance?"

"No."

I dropped my stick and set his on the ground. "What are you doing?" he asks.

"I'm teaching you how to slow dance. You need to when the right girl comes."

"Uhhh..."

I stepped in close. "You're supposed to put your hands...here." I placed his hands on my back and adjusted it. "And she or he is supposed to put their hands behind your neck."

He shifted uncomfortably. I paused.

"Maybe another time?" I asked, not wanting to make him do something he didn't want to do.

"No. Keep going. It's just that it feels like you're going to strangle me."

I laughed a little. "What? Your little sister strangling you? She'll never hurt you like that. C'mon. And then you move like this." I shifted my weight from left to right and we moved slowly around. "See? It's easy."

"Yeah."

"Find the pattern of their feet so you won't step on it. Okay, now be ready when the girl or guy does this." I rested my head on his chest, which startled him a little.

"Oh! Uhh..." He puts one hand behind my head, holding it close to him. "Like this?"

"Yes! Exactly." I pulled away from him gently. "Alright. I think we're done for now."

"Let's go back inside and take a break."

I nodded, agreeing with him and helped put away the wooden sticks. "What will happen when I'm ready to fight?"

"Then we'll go on our first mission. It'll be dangerous, but I'll be there to protect you if you need it."

We started heading back inside. "What will you do if I'm not your sister?"

He froze completely in the middle of the doorway. "I don't know," he replies quietly. "I just...don't want to be lost again." He didn't look at me when he said those words. Then, he shook his head and continued walking. I grabbed his hand which stopped him.

"You won't be. Because I'll be here for you."

He turns around, smiling. "Thank you."

. . .

About a week later, my fighting skills were a lot better, but Zane still won most of the time. Lauren's faring way better than I was but she got beaten by her own brother a lot too.

When Zane and I walked out to the courtyard to try to get some practice in today, she was chasing Jay around with a stick.

"What happened here?" I asked quietly, out loud.

Immediately, they stopped and turned to look at me.

"Jay told me I look and act like a spoiled baby brat," Lauren pouted.

"Because you are!" Jay snapped at her.

"Why don't you two calm down a little, and head inside?" Zane suggests calmly.

"Uhh, sure thing, weirdo," Jay murmurs.

I punched him in the arm as he walked by. "Ow," he whined.

After the door shut after them, we just stood there for a moment.

"Come here. I want to show you something," he says quietly.

"Is it something good?" I asked as he leads me up to the door. "Woah, wait, I've never been out there!"

"Well, that's great. I'll get to be the first one to show you!"

He pulls open the door with ease. "It takes someone strong to move these doors. Jay couldn't do it."

Oh. So that's why Lauren and I couldn't pull that thing open. When I stepped out, I gasped.

We were on a cliff. A few feet in front of me, there was a huge drop, I felt dizzy just looking at it. There was a single narrows staircase made out of rock that probably spiraled down the huge mountain we were on. The clouds were literally at the level at which we were standing at, and he had to hold me steady.

"Sit down."

I did as he told me to, but I leaned back against the wall.

"The view here is amazing once you stop thinking about the drop."

"Uh...yeah," I murmur nervously.

"I like to go here to think. I've been going here a lot more lately."

"This is probably a bad time to mention it, but the other guys think that you're weird."

He didn't say anything after that, but he just looked at the clouds, with a distant look in his eyes. "People have been thinking I'm weird my whole life. You get used to it after a while. Got shunned out of more places than I could count. The only place that didn't, was the park that I slept in."

I gulped, not sure of what to make of this new information.

"You ever been told that you were weird?" he asks me.

"Yeah," I reply. "I was quiet and distant. Like you. People didn't like that, so they started teasing me. It's just a little. But over time, it piles up you know."

And then just like that, I was confessing.

"They said that I was too quiet so they started trying to get me to talk by putting me into a debate class. I had to talk in front of everyone since I'm apparently the smart one because...because of my race. That place was a hell hole."

"Explain to me how."

"Lot's of stereotypes. And whenever I went up and talked, my hands would always shake really badly and I would start using a quiet voice without meaning to. Then there's the pressure. Everybody's eyes would be on me and if I messed up, then...that would be embarrassing. And I hate that. I quit that class as soon as it ended."

"What did you do after that?"

"Surprisingly, I took to theatre. It's strange, isn't it? I can't speak in front of twenty or so people, but I'm able to perform and exceed the director's expectations in front of thousands of people."

He nodded, agreeing with me. "Yeah."

There were a few more moments where we were silent. "Tomorrow is our first mission."

"The week went by fast."

"Yeah. Don't worry. I'll be there for you." His hand shifts over to mine, and he holds it, trying to give me reassurance.

"Thank you. But don't get hurt again. Your bandage just came off yesterday."

"I'll try not to."

In the morning, I would be off, on my first mission. I didn't think that I would be able to get any sleep tonight and I didn't expect to get it. Sensei said we all had to unlock a key to be able to do what he did. Honestly, I just wanted to go back home. Brent and my parents must be missing me terribly. And what if I couldn't go back?

My mind flashed back to when I waved goodbye to him. Would that be the last time I would say goodbye? Would that day be the last thing he remembers about me?

If it was, I would be a little happy. I would have spent my last moments with him, sitting close to him. Close. We had always been close. Maybe I'll ask about that later. Maybe there is a way back, but then, what about Zane?

I can't just abandon him like this! Should I take him back with me then? That sounds like a good idea, but then again, he might not want to.

I sighed, trying to clear my head, and decided to head back inside to wait it out. What else could I do?