Chapter 25: The Past Hurts, The Future Burns

I do not own any of the characters, they all belong to Disney/ Pixar. I only own my OCs, like Kiara.

~Not edited yet~

Kiara's POV

"You know, when I said bring it on, I wasn't expecting you to knock me out." I grumbled, crossing my arms.

Everything around me was just pitch black, the only thing that I could clearly see was… well, Mom. One moment, I was on that weird rock thing that everyone called Willy's Butte or something, then the next, I was here in this black…place… Mom just smiled at me, then started to walk. I took it as a sign to walk with her, so I did. I knew I wasn't awake, but I didn't know where I was.

"I'm not dead, am I?" I asked carefully,

"No, you're very much alive." Mom answered, looking straight ahead.

"So… where are we then?" I asked curiously.

Finally, mom stopped walking and turned to me. She started to glow, then flashed brightly. I covered my eyes to shield myself from the brightness. When the light cleared, I found myself back at… CHROME academy?

No wait… It looked more like the daycare near the academy, which was still a part of the agency.

I turned to look at Mom, who was still looking straight ahead. I followed her gaze until it I saw her. A little girl who looked about 5-years-old was playing with a doll. The little girl looked at the doll frustratedly before throwing it to the ground, then started to stomp on it. The doll's head popped right off after the first few stomps. The little girl smiled happily, then started to laugh. She picked up the doll's severed head and tried to shove it into a plastic tea pot. She eventually gave up and ended up tossing it into a tea cup. The little girl then took the headless doll, placed it in front of the same tea cup, and pretended to pour tea into it.

As disturbing as it looked, it was kind of cute to see her smile and laugh. I heard whispers from behind me, so I turned to look and saw what seemed to be almost 20 other little kids looking at the girl horrified. A few girls backed away and started to cry, while the boys pointed at her and shouted things at her. I saw one kid run away to find a teacher. They made it seem as if the little girl had committed murder.

"You're so weird!"

"What's wrong with you?!"

"You're crazy!"

"You killed Little Miss Strawberry!"

They all shouted insults at her. The girl just looked at them confused, she didn't understand why they thought it was wrong to have a tea party with a headless doll. To her, it seemed normal. The teacher walked over to the little girl and crouched down as the other little kids continued to stare and whisper. The little girl looked at the teacher and asked,

"Why are they so mean to me? What did I do?"

The teacher sighed and took the doll and the severed head away from her much to the little girl's dislike. The little girl crossed her arms and pouted.

"Miss, why can't I play with Little Miss Strawberry? It's not fair!" She whined.

"Well for one, you just beheaded her." The teacher said, looking at the headless doll, "And secondly, you broke the doll. You can't play with a headless doll. It's not appropriate," she tried to explain.

"Why not?" The girl questioned, "It's still the same doll. Just because it doesn't have its head anymore doesn't mean I can't play with it. Why can't I play with it? I like it. She's special now. She's way better than all those other boring dolls."

The teacher looked at her, then shook her head and stood up, "Sorry, but broken dolls like these belong in the trash. Besides, wouldn't you like a doll that actually has a head?"

"No."

The teacher sighed again, "I'm sure you'll find a toy that's better than this one."

"Hpmh… but she's fine the way she is…" The girl grumbled.

"Sweetie, this doll is broken and can't be fixed, who would want to play with it anyway?"

"I do! There's nothing wrong with her, Little Miss Strawberry is perfect, she-"

"That's enough." The teacher interrupted her, "This doll is useless, I'm throwing it away. Run along now Kiara, before you get a time out."

The little girl pouted before turning away from the teacher, but not before mumbling a few words, "Just because she's broken doesn't mean she can't be fixed…"

Kiara…?

Wait a minute, that little girl is…

"You." Mom said, "That's you, a year before you started school at CHROME academy."

I looked at the little girl and noticed something was different about her; her hair. It wasn't purple, instead it was black.

"But that can't be right, my hair is purple, not black. I… I don't remember it being black." I said, looking at my mom confused.

"You hair colour changed when you turned 7." Mom explained, "Don't you remember?"

"I don't really remember anything when I was younger… Who does?" I asked.

Mom just laughed. We kept walking, the scenery slowly faded around us. A new scene slowly faded in. We were standing in the gymnasium. Students that looked about the age of 10 or 12 were scattered on both sides, they seemed to be playing dodgeball or something.

"Nick! Nick! Ugh, Nick, pass me the damn ball already!" I heard a high-pitched, squeaky voice which made me cringe and roll me eyes. Natalie.

"Yeah, in a minute." Nick mumbled, as he grabbed another dodge ball off from the ground.

I remembered everything that happened that day. This was the day I met Nick… in fact, that was the day I made my first friend.

"I know you remember Kiara… you know what happens on this day."

I looked at her blankly, then nodded. I knew what she was talking about. It wasn't just the day Nick became my friend, or my first day at CHROME academy… it was the day something weird happened. I didn't know what, but it felt like something was watching me. No… it felt like someone was watching me. I always thought it was a coincidence that it was the same day I gained a friend, so I never really thought about it.

Just as I predicted, a younger Kiara walked into the gym. Her purple hair was tied up to a high ponytail; and her braces gleamed as she smiled awkwardly at the students who were all staring at her. Her red eyes seemed to repel everyone that looked at her. They all took in her appearance and immediately started whispering to each other as soon as her back was turned. A teacher followed closely behind her, oblivious to the whispering children; as well as two other adults who wore black suits and seemed to be emotionless to everything that was going on around them.

I growled to myself, before turning to my mom. "Yeah, I remember. My first day and everyone already started talking sh-"

"HEADS UP!" A voice called out.

A dodgeball came out of nowhere and was headed straight for me…well, young me. Kiara's arm reached out and grabbed the ball before it could hit her in the face. She looked in the direction of where the dodgeball came from, only to see a sheepish-looking Nick. He rose his eyebrows, impressed that she caught. Natalie narrowed her eyes at Kiara after noticing that Nick had become unnaturally quiet. Kiara was about to throw the ball over to Nick when one of the men in the black suits leaned down and whispered something in her ear.

The purple haired girl rolled her eyes then handed the ball to him.

"Students, this is Kiara Tenebris. She is apart of this class as of now, I expect you all to treat her with respect and show her around." The teacher, whom I recognized as , announced to the entire class who were now looking at me. I was given strange looks, but at the time I didn't notice because of how nervous I was.

The two men talked some more with , while the young Kiara just awkwardly stood in the middle of the gymnasium. Nick was the only one who walked up to Kiara.

"Why are your eyes red?" Was the first thing he said to me. Typical Nick.

"Um… I…they…uh…" Kiara stuttered, suddenly becoming shy.

"And what's wrong with your voice? Don't you know how to talk?" Nick blabbered on, "You know, it's kinda rude not answering a person when they're talking to you."

Kiara blinked a few times, then blushed in embarrassment, "Um… I'm sorry, I didn't man to-"

"And why is your hair purple? Did you dye it or something?"

I rolled my eyes. Nick was such an idiot. The young Kiara continued to stutter, trying to answer all of his questions. I smiled a bit, remembering how shy I was at first. I didn't know how I began to open myself up, but I just did. Maybe, it was because of that idiot, but I never really knew.

"Kiara," I heard my mom's voice, I turned to look at her, "this isn't what I needed to show you."

I tilted my head in confusion. Before I could ask her what she meant, her eyes and hands started glowing brightly. It was as if I was watching a movie being rewinded as she waving her glowing hands. She stopped when it got up to the part when young Kiara first walked in.

"Now listen, you heard what they said, you just don't remember because your mind wouldn't allow it."

I turned to look at the two men who were talking with Mr. Fittski, they're conversation was the only thing audible as everything else seemed to go mute. They're voices sounded stern and careful as they spoke to one another,

"Keep an eye on her, don't let your guard down." One of the men said.

"Orders from the head of CHROME himself, and the principal." The other added.

"She will be monitored at all times, but is to be kept obvious to her. She cannot be aware of what is happening as will be treated equally to prevent any suspicions. Is that clear, Fittski?"

glared at the two men before looking at the young girl who was already talking to one of his students.

"I don't understand. If Edwards wants to keep an eye on her, then why not just keep her in one of the top secure prisons or special institutions." Mr. Fittski asked frustratedly, "And anyway, why her? She's just a child. She doesn't even know what's going on. It's not her fault."

One of the men sneered at him, "It isn't your job to understand, it's your job to do it right. You were put on probation for a reason. So if I were you, I'd just do it, or do you want your sentence to be longer?"

"You're abusing your power." pointed out, still glaring.

"You're testing our patience," he countered.

I watched, shocked as eventually agreed. What I didn't understand was the reason why. My whole life I thought I was born to be a spy, and that I was one of the few gifted who were chosen. I knew I looked and acted different, but that wasn't going to stop me. It never did.

Was there more to it than just being chosen? Was I really born to work for CHROME, or was it something else that caused me to end up in the academy?

The scene faded to black as I stood, once again, in darkness. My mom stood in front of me, not saying anything. I looked up at her, then sighed.

"Alright, you showed me two difference memories of my past. Why?" I asked sternly, "What was the point of all of that? You claim that I'm special, you claim that I have some sort of 'great destiny', but I don't. I'm just a freaky teenager who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Everyone, including me knows that, so why? Why am I here, what's happening?"

"Kiara, please," she said gently, but I could hear the plea in her tone.

"Tell me," I said firmly.

"I can't, I-"

I glared at her as I spoke again. My voice was only a faint whisper,

"Who am I?"

No POV

"I don't know if following him around is really doing us any justice," Rose whispered.

The two women were hidden behind the town's clinic, watching Gary stroll the rest of the town. Both his hands were shoved in his pockets, and as usual, he had his black trench coat buttoned all the way up to his chin. It surprised everyone that he didn't seem to ever take it off, despite how warm and sunny it was in Arizona. Gary didn't seem to be doing anything suspicious, but Holley was determined to follow him around until she had solid evidence to prove that he was guilty of something, anything!

Meanwhile, Rose was still conflicted. Gary was her brother, and as secretive as he seemed to be, he was the only one she had left. Still…her morals got in the way of that, they always did. Even as a child, Rose had difficulty seeing the difference between right and wrong; especially choosing between family and what was right.

"Rose, he took Kiara's blood sample for a reason." Holley reminded her, "he couldn't have just taken it because it looked nice."

Rose rolled her eyes at Holley, "No, really? I couldn't have guessed otherwise. I mean, it's not like it's already painfully obvious at all! Gary always used to take things without reason because they looked nice!" She replied sarcastically.

Holley just glared at the other woman, "This isn't the time or the place."

Suddenly, the two were interrupted by the sound of footsteps approaching. They immediately froze, hoping that the footsteps would just pass by, but unfortunately, the stranger that the footsteps belonged to had other plans. Holley looked at Rose before tilting her head to the side, signalling her to move. Rose nodded, then waited a few moments before running as quickly and quietly as she could to the other side of the building, away from the footsteps. Holley took a deep breath before running the same direction. She jumped up on a bench just outside the doors of the clinic, then jumped again and hoisted herself up onto the roof of the building.

After a few moments of catching her breath, she carefully peeked down to see who the stranger was. It didn't surprise her that it was Gary. Although, she didn't recall seeing him make his way over.

Huh…that's odd… Holley thought to herself, still peering down at him from her hiding spot. Her eyes spotted Rose who was still hiding from a different corner. She was about to signal her again, until she was interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing. It was coming from Gary.

Holley her some shuffling until the ringing finally stopped. She shoved her hands into her pockets, desperately trying to find her gadget that allowed her to eavesdrop on not only Gary, but the person on the other line as well. Luckily, she did bring the small device with her. Holley put one earbud on, while aiming the mini disk at Gary.

Gary gulped nervously as he put the phone to his ear, "U-uh… hello sir…"

"Sharpski," The familiar deep voice spoke, "I want an update; how sooner are you to bringing her to me."

"S-sir, it's going to take…just a few more days…" Gary replied hesitantly, fearing how Axlerod would react.

"You have 3 days, Sharpski. I expect nothing less of you." Alxerod then chuckled darkly, "After all, you know what your consequence is."

"Yes, sir. I understand." Gary said with clenched teeth. His mood immediately changed once he was reminded. It angered him that Axlerod used his weakness as a lever. It wasn't fair.

"Other than the girl, how is McMissile doing? Does he suspect anything at all?"

"Yes, but luckily he was called back by his boss. He's not here at the moment."

"Then now is your time to strike. With McMissile gone, the plan can go forth quicker than before. Did his fellow agents go with him?"

"Not all of them, there's only two left. Agent Shiftwell, and… Rose…"

"Shiftwell isn't a threat. Just get rid of her. As for your sister, do whatever, as long as she does not interfere."

There was a short pause before Gary took a deep breath and spoke confidently.

"Alright. I'll dispose of Agent Shiftwell on one condition."

"Trying to bargain with me," Axlerod's tone became even darker, "that isn't wise."

"Your precious experiment is in a trance." Gary bit his tongue. Carefully watching his tone, he didn't want to anger Axlerod any further, despite his negative and frustrated mood. "I highly recommend that you restore her mind. Otherwise, she won't wake up, then plan can't go on any further."

"Fine. Consider yourself lucky this time, Sharpski." There was some shuffling and murmuring in the background, but Axlerod continued speaking. "I await your arrival in 3 days. If you don't come by then, the deal is off, and I'm taking matters into my own hands. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Axlerod." Gary almost growled, "Crystal."

As Gary hung up, Holley pulled the bud out of her ear, and silently scooted back to lean on the vent of the building. Her eyes wide from the shock of Gary's loyalty to Axlerod. Although, most of the conversation was cryptic and vague to her, she knew one thing. Holley had 3 days until Axlerod sent one of his men to get Kiara. She had to contact Finn. She couldn't face Gary alone, and she was certain that Rose wouldn't have the slightest satisfaction in taking her own brother down. She needed backup.

But… if I arrest him now, maybe there's a chance that I can interrogate him and get some information about where Axlerod is hiding, and why he's after Kiara. Holley thought.

But, before Holley could do anything, she was interrupted by a sound. She took another breath, then crawled back over to her previous spot, and peered down at the scene.

Gary's cheek was red, while Rose stood in front of him with her hand in front of her. Tears were starting to form in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Neither of the siblings spoke, both were shocked, hurt, and scared of the other. After a few more minutes of silence, Gary finally spoke.

"So…you heard…"

Rose gave him a death glare, but didn't say anything.

"You know…" Gary laughed bitterly to himself, "As crazy as it sounds, I'm doing this all for you. I'm doing this to protect you."

Rose took a shaky breath, still glaring at her brother, "What, 'disposing' of Holley, and restoring someone's mind is protecting me? What does that even mean?"

Gary was about to speak, but Rose continued, "You're really going to get rid of Holley, just to protect me? You stole Kiara's blood to protect me?!" Rose looked him in eye, with a hurt expression. "I guess it really does run in the family. We always pick family over morals… I know Sarah always did."

"Shut up."

"Excuse m-"

Before Rose could finish her sentence, Gary punched the wall beside her head. His knuckles cracked and started bleeding. Rose didn't even flinch at the sound of his fist making contact with the wall, or that his fist almost hit her.

"Sarah is dead." He said grimly, "I'll repeat it again if I have to. Everything I've done since her death, I've done to protect you. First dad, then Sarah…you're the only one left, Rose. I don't care who I have to kill, I'll kill anyone if it means keeping you out of danger."

Rose looked at Gary confused and shocked, "Gary, dad didn't die…he's still alive."

"Not the one you remember…"

Gary shook his head, turning on his heel to leave. Rose didn't follow him. Instead, she just stood where she was, trying to make sense of what he said.

"I'll kill everyone, including that monstrous freak, if it means protecting you." Gary mumbled darkly to himself as he walked away.

Family or morals… I'll never know which one I value more… Rose thought.

Siddeley walked out of the office with an unreadable expression on his face. He brushed past Stephenson, who was leaning on a wall near the office door. Stephenson looked up to say something, but sighed when he was ignored. He wanted to wait for Finn, but decided that Siddeley was more important. That, and he was afraid that he was going to do something reckless.

Only Stephenson, Aiden and Finn knew Siddeley's bitter history with Trevor Edwards, so it made sense for him to act the way he did. But, sometimes Siddeley let his anger get the best of him, and would rarely do stupid things that he'd regret later. It was a habit that he picked up not too long ago. It surprised everyone that their boss didn't fire him…literally.

After waiting a few seconds, Stephenson slowly followed Siddeley, careful not to get caught. Siddeley had a sharp eye, and was very observant…most of the time. But, everyone knew that Siddeley always got blinded by his anger. That was just the way he was. To everyone's relief, he rarely got angry. Siddeley was basically a walking bomb, just waiting to be set off.

"Stupid, freakin'- ugh!" Siddeley mumbled to himself, "Son of- argghh!"

Stephenson followed him all the way to his jet, much to Stephenson's dismay. Siddeley was waiting under the jet, trying not to curse.

"He can't be serious… He's a mad man! Siddeley kept mumbling.

After a few more minutes of listening to Siddeley rant to himself, Stephenson eventually got tired, and decided to reveal himself.

"All right, what's wrong, ya big baby?" Stephenson asked, leaning against one of the wheels of the jet.

Startled, Siddeley quickly turned around, but somehow tripped over his own feet. Stephenson smirked at him as he quickly got up and glared.

"The hell are you doing here?" Siddeley asked irritated,

"I work here, stupid." Stephenson replied back, still smirking.

"I know that, you pest. Besides, you know what I mean."

Stephenson shrugged, then walked over to Siddeley and slung his arm around his shoulders, "What, can't a guy hang out with his best pal? His buddy?"

Siddeley shoved him away, before replying coldly, "We're not buddies. Now, go away."

"C'mon, mate. Just tell, uncle Stephy what's wrong." Stephenson said in a childish tone.

"Whatever…Stephanie." Siddeley smirked at him.

"Call me that again, and I'll make your death look like an accident." Stephenson said with no emotion on his face.

"Aww, but I thought we were buddies? What happened to my Uncle Stephy?"

"Stephanie killed him."

Siddeley blinked a few times before turning around, "Okay…" he said awkwardly.

Stephenson shook his head, then grabbed Siddeley's shoulder to get him to turn around.

"Come on, Sid! Just tell me. We all know how you get when you don't express your feelings properly."

"I'm not a girl, Steph. I'll be fine." Siddeley rolled his eyes, getting annoyed at every passing second.

"Don't be a sexist idiot, just tell me."

"No."

"Please?"

"I said no."

"Come on, Sid!" Stephenson whined.

"No means no."

"I'll kiss you if you don't."

"If you do that, I'll make your death look like an accident." Siddeley said, repeating Stephenson's previous words.

"I'm not kidding. I'll do it, right here, right now."

"It's that easy. Poof! No more Stephenson. No one would even suspect me."

"Here come the lips of a virgin!"

"That's a lie, Leland was your first kiss."

"I tripped, dammit! Everyone saw me trip! It was his fault for volunteering to get more punch… Speaking of punch, it still hurts!"

"I'm pretty sure he got suspended for carrying those knuckle busters with him."

"He punched me! I wasn't even my fault! He should've apologized."

"The punch tasted like toast and mustard…"

"Took the easy way out, damn him." Stephenson ran out from under the jet and started shouting up at the sky, "When I get there, Leland, I expect an apology! I swear, I'm gonna beat your as-"

Stephenson was suddenly smacked from behind. He turned around to see Siddeley giving him a warning look, then tilted his head. Stephenson turned in the direction where Siddeley tilted his head to see Finn quickly approaching the two.

"Shut up, you know he's still sensitive about that…"

"Well, he needs to get over it."

"How can you be so insensitive?"

"Siddeley," Stephson spoke grimly, "this is our life. We risk our lives everyday, we know the dangers, we know. It was bound to happen sooner or later. And one day…it just might happen to either of us…maybe even Finn."

Siddeley was about to say something, when Finn finally caught up to the two of them. Siddeley just gave Stephenson a curt nod, before turning to Finn.

"Did you tell him yet?" Finn asked immediately.

"N-no…but I was going to," Siddeley replied, making it obvious that he was lying.

Stephenson rolled his eyes at Siddeley, then looked at Finn, "Tell me what?"

"We're going back to Radiator Springs."

"Well, that's great…isn't it?" He asked, confused at the unreadable expression on Finn's face.

When Finn didn't answer, Siddeley took it as a sign to continue for him. He gave a cold, yet quiet reply,

"No… he's going to arrest Kiara."

A/N: I'm still alive! So, I may or may not have interacted with two certain Siddelenson shippers… Yes, they are now called Siddelenson… Also, I'm not homophobic. But if one of my friends tried kissing me, I'd most likely punch them in the face, whether it be my guy friends or my girl friends.

Another thing, some parts are supposed to be in Italics, but the new Doc Manager thingy is messing up everything. So, sorry about that. I'm planning to rewrite this entire story once I finally complete it.

Anyway, please review! ^_^