*Dodges flying fruit* I know, I know! It's been forever! I am really sorry about that. However, my life is hectic and writing fanfiction is kind of my lowest priority.

Anyway.

To those who reviewed: guess what? You can't send pictures over PM. So the adorable picture I promised, I could not deliver. Imagine a baby panda eating bamboo.

HUGE thank-you to everyone who reviewed/favorited/followed! Special shout-out to Jalicelover21 whose review got me motivated to write this chapter!

Alright, you've waited for it long enough. Presenting...*drumroll* chapter 21!

Alice POV:
Violet had somehow managed to convince Hernandez to sit down and meet with her in the span of one relatively quick phone call. At twilight, she rode off with Keeah and Des to chat with him and came back as the sun rose with some good news:

"He seems open to the idea," Violet informed Kat, Jasper, and I as the three of them scarfed down a hasty breakfast. "I think we can make this work. I had to call in a few favors, but when we left he was willing to negotiate. The only thing left is to talk to Maria; that'll be the hard part."

She proceeded to finish her breakfast, and then march across the compound and into Maria's office. I stood next to Jasper, his arm curled around me protectively, and listened to Maria's reaction from outside the mansion. She was screaming fairly loudly, so it wasn't too hard to figure it out.

I asked Kat why she was so mad. Surely this was a good deal for her. She explained it to me. Maria is a fairly sadistic person, or maybe ruthless was a better term; apparently, she was hoping it would turn into a gruesome battle so that Violet and Keeah would be forced to stay and deal with the aftermath and therefore be unavailable to be claimed on their birthday.

Needless to say, Violet was not pleased. Eventually, Keeah and Kat pulled us away to continue with our day, but we could still hear them screaming at each other for hours, even from the other end of the compound.

Meanwhile, Jasper and I stuck close to Keeah and Kat as they returned to their day job: namely, training newborns. I watched, shocked, as my teenage daughter transformed from a quiet, introverted girl to a confident newborn-army general before my eyes.

She was tough. She barked orders. She ran drills. She taught by example. And when Violet joined her - a few hours later, after the yelling had finally stopped - I could easily see why they were the most formidable generals in the entire Western Hemisphere. They worked together to hone the skills of each newborn until every one was able to perform maneuvers with deadly precision and accuracy. And they didn't take any crap from anyone.

The two had been running sparring practices for about four and a half hours straight when a newborn got sick of following orders.

"Again," snapped Violet as one of the two-month olds messed up for the third time in a row. Wordlessly, the newborns slipped back into their starting positions.

Violet stalked among them, inspecting each pair on her half of the room as Keeah did the same on the other side. They met in the front of the room.

"No," Keeah instructed. "Francisco, your left arm needs to be level with your face. Al, no slouching. Kierra, if I hear you complain about your nails one more time, then I will rip them out one by one; then they won't be a problem anymore."

"Tony, chin lower, you're practically inviting someone to rip your head off," Violet added. "Ely, quit goofing off. Now all of you: again." She turned to walk to the back of the room to observe.

"No."

The entire room fell deathly quiet as she turned to face the impetuous newborn.

"Excuse me?" She spoke quietly, her tone promising death to the one that dared question her orders.

"You heard me. No." The one I identified as Ely swaggered forward with a confident smirk on his face. "I think my stance is just fine. In fact, " he added, " I think I could take on anyone in this room. And I'd do so well that you'd even compliment me. And we all know that you're too arrogant to give those out. Or do you not know what compliments are?" He sneered at her.

The glare she gave him could have leveled a small town.

She spoke slowly and precisely as he gulped slightly: "I know what a compliment is. And I do, in fact, give them out to those I feel deserve it. I don't usually give out compliments to arrogant fools who challenge my orders."

She stared him down until he turned back to face his partner and took his stance again. Satisfied, she continued to the back of the room. It was so quiet that you could have heard a pin drop as she turned back around.

"Again."

They continued through the motions another three times before anything else of interest happened.

Violet paused near the spot where Ely was sparring with an older newborn named Logan. She stared at them contemplatively for a moment. Just as Ely went in for the kill move, she spoke up:

"You're beautiful, kid."

Startled, Ely lost focus for a second, his arm wavering just long enough for Logan to slip under it and pull him into a headlock. He struggled against him futiley for a moment before giving up; Logan had won fair and square. Sighing, he tapped out and Logan pulled back into his fighting stance, allowing himself the barest hint of a triumphant grin before smoothing his face back into a more neutral position.

Ely turned toward Violet, annoyed.

"What was that for?"

She shrugged innocently. "You wanted a compliment."

"Yeah, but..."

She shook her head, effectively cutting him off. "No buts. You asked for a compliment and I gave you one. Was it worth it? Because you would have died if this were a real battle. Logan could have - and would have - easily ripped your head off." She raised her voice so the rest could hear. "I'm not in this for glory people. That's one of the reasons why I'm still alive. If I was fighting to gain honor or to sooth my pride, then I would have died years ago.

I'm here today because I'm fighting for my life.

Being the best fighter out there means that I survive. It means that I can protect my family and myself. That is my job. That is why I do what I do. And I happen to be rather good at it.

When I tell you to quit goofing off, when I correct your stance, when I'm tough on you, I do so because I know that the consequences for you will be far worse than they would be if I didn't. You all were dragged into this life against your will. And honestly? There's nothing you can do about it, so suck it up. You can't go back, you can't back out; you can only move forward.

I know how to survive this life. You don't. So when I tell you to do something, when I give you an order, you sure as heck better be listening. Because if you don't, you will end up getting killed."

She glanced around the room, looking each newborn in the eye as she finished, driving her point home and making sure they knew that she was deadly serious.

"If not by an enemy or and army, then by me. Because if you turn out to be more of a hinderance to my army than a benefit, I will make the call to kill one of you in order to make sure that the rest survive."

The entire room was silent for a few moments, heavy with the weight of her words. She gazed around seriously for a moment before smiling and heading back to the front of the room.

"Again."

~ TheVioletContradiction ~

I was impressed by the skill both my daughters possessed. Throughout the next week, as negotiations between Violet, Maria, and Hernandez progressed, I got a chance to talk to some of the newborns under my daughters' command. Every single one of them was unswervingly loyal to the girls. Each new person I talked to told me the same thing: they would do anything for my daughters, no matter the personal cost.

I was shocked at this level of devotion. Des explained it to me:

"They're loyal to Violet and Keeah because Violet and Keeah are loyal to them. Those girls know every newborn by name. They know what they like, what they dislike, their hopes, their dreams, their nicknames, what they long for. Heck, they even know what type of blood each one prefers. They are invested in each of their lives.

I know - absolutely, for certain- that if it came down to it, that Violet would willingly trade her life for mine. I know because she has put her life on the line for me. I couldn't tell you how many times she's saved my life. Why wouldn't we show them the same loyalty?"

This made sense to me, but the level of devotion our girls had for their newborns confused Jasper. He couldn't understand why they cared so much; when he had served Maria, it was every-man-for-himself. He cornered Violet one afternoon to ask her about it. I don't know what she told him, but he came out of it with a high respect for our daughter, and from then on they seemed to have an understanding with each other.

Even as his relationship with our children developed, his relationship with me also grew stronger. He and I had been thrust into a new situation, and therefore had to deal with things we hadn't ever had to deal with before.

Maria was still a jealous harpy. She'd taken up the habit of wearing the skimpiest clothes she could possible wear that were still technically covering her. While I wasn't really jealous - I'd gotten over my jealousy of the fact that Maria had been with Jasper long ago - it still made me feel incredibly insecure to see a strong, beautiful, barely-clothed woman flirting with my husband.

Jasper, on the other hand, was feeling vulnerable for the first time in a long while. He had been always been confident that he was the best when it came to fighting. He considered it to be the one skill that he possessed that made him an asset to our family. Being secure in the knowledge that he could protect his family - that he could protect me - from any harm that might come our way gave him confidence. But now he was surrounded by fighters that were ten times as good as he was, leaving both of us vulnerable for the first time in a very long time. Over the next couple of days, both he and I had been given fighting lessons, spending hours at a time learning how to defend ourselves seperately and as a team. It scared him to let me be vulnerable, even if it was to help me get better.

Through it all, however, we began to become stronger as a couple.

I started telling Jasper about my insecurities. Though it was awkward at first, the better I became at communicating with him, the better he was able to help me through it. He quickly learned to tell when I was feeling particularly insecure and what I needed from him to make me feel better. I quickly learned to trust my husband with my vulnerability, which not only helped me (when he comforted me), but also helped him. He liked that I respected him enough to come to him with my problems. He said it made him love me even more than he had before.

We started fighting together, as a team. Whereas before, Jasper mainly protected me, now I was able to protect him. By working together, we discovered different facets of our relationship. We could fight harder without having to constantly be watching over our shoulder for a stab in the back. We could rest easier knowing that the other person was perfectly capable of taking care of any threat we came across. We learned to trust each other on the battlefield where we had already trusted each other off of it.

So, by the end of the week, we were both stronger.

Little did we know how soon that strength would be put to the test.

I know, cliffhanger!

Please don't kill me, but I have no idea when I will get the next chapter up. It probably won't be for a couple of weeks because we have exams and then the ACT, but I honestly have no idea. It might be shorter, it might be longer.

So, I have no idea if people are still reading this story or not, because it's been so long (#coneofshame), but if you are, I would love to hear your input!

...

*stage-whispers* That means you should leave a review! ;)