Fallen Leaves

by Lune.Equinox

In her mind, Karma hurting her was never a possibility, but she guesses everything happens for a reason. Even if she is in pain day after day, minute after minute, Amy doesn't regret it. Karma, without knowing, opened the door of a life that Amy never thought possible, a life that she was lucky to be part of. Yes, Karma is her family, but now, she isn t the only one.

25. The Betrayal

"You don't seem okay to me" Amy whispered.

She hadn't seen Ren since their coffee date on Monday, now it was Thursday and her girlfriend had just appeared out of nowhere to pick her up and take her to school. They had spoken by the phone none stop, but Ren was really vague and not telling Amy what was going on.

At the moment they were in a park near Hester high, waiting for Amy's classes to start.

"I'm just worried, but I am okay" Ren said, curling her arms around Amy's waist and pulling her close until the girl was sitting on her lap. She leaned forward and gently kissed the hollow of Amy's neck.

"What are you worried about?" Amy asked, pushing Ren's hair away from her face.

"Emma and Jade had a fight. Jade left suddenly and I haven't heard from her since, she's blocking me. We usually talk constantly through the mirror, but she won't answer. I don't know what to think." Amy watched her girlfriend frown in worry and leaned forward to kiss her.

"We both know she's a tough woman, and she has a really cute little sister who she has to take care of as a reason to keep herself safe" Amy told her, Ren smiled slightly. "Why did they fight?"

"I don't know, Emma hasn't been very talkative lately. I've tried but she just shrugs me off or changes the subject, or gives me that look that makes me feel like the sole mention of the problem is hurting her. I don't know what to do" Ren started scratching her neck and Amy looked at her tenderly.

"Just be there for Emma, I'm sure she already feels bad enough. Try to make her feel better. I'm sure you know how" Amy told her and Ren nodded.

They stayed in silence for a little while, sharing lazy kisses while Amy caressed the back of Ren's head, playing with the soft baby hairs she loved to tangle her fingers in.

"Do you have classes in Hester today?" Amy asked Ren.

"Yes, I'll be there for the first few hours of class. I have practice with the school's band and a few other classes, then I have to go home for my other classes"

"How are those going?" Amy asked, looking into her girlfriend's eyes with a smile.

"Better. I feel more comfortable, she's very focused on me and she explains everything differently, my new teacher tries to make it as easy as possible to me" Amy smiled, leaning forward to kiss her forehead.

"You don't have a problem with counting, why is that? You actually use it to calm yourself, you find it soothing, you don't have a problem reading the clock either" Amy wondered, she had read about dyscalculia since Ren told her she had it, she had spent every free second she had since Sunday getting information about Ren's little problem, and she had seen that for people who had dyscalculia the most basic math was a problem.

Amy saw Ren smile. The emerald eyed girl leaned forward to kiss Amy's nose.

"I don't have a problem with counting because my mom spent every waking moment she had trying to teach me how to count without it making me feel stupid. I had and still have sometimes a problem with being able to tell quantities, like if there are three apples in one side and four in the other, I would have a problem being able to tell what three and four meant, and because of this I would have a problem telling that four is more than three" Ren paused for a second, making sure the blonde was following. Amy nodded for her to go on and so she did. "As I told you once, mom would always pick me up after school, and we will go for ice cream, on the way there would be cars, trees, benches, kids, people, steps, many things that I could see and she would use them to try and give numbers a meaning in my head. She would ask me to buy the ice cream myself, just so I could make sense of what 2 meant, and some other days she would tell me that she didn't want any ice cream just so I could make sense of 1, how instead of having both hands occupied, suddenly one of them would be empty. It soothes me because it reminds me of her and how we would always spend time together doing nothing more than telling which one of us had more dolls in their hands, or how many songs we had sung" Ren was smiling that nostalgic but fond smile that always came to her face when she talked about her parents, about her mother.

Amy loved it and hated it all the same, she couldn't stop thinking how different Ren's life would be if her parents were alive, how instead of having stab wounds scars and belt marks, she would have scrapped knees from playing in the park and a little one under her chin from running around like all kids normally did. Amy thought about it constantly, she could just guess how much Ren thought about it.

"Your mother is an angel" Amy whispered, and Ren smiled, she hadn't missed how her girlfriend had spoken in present tense. The emerald eyed girl couldn't stop herself from leaning in and kissing Amy square on the mouth, smiling into her lips all the way as she squeezed Amy's body against her own.

"You must be one too" Ren said after pulling away, Amy blushed and hid against her neck, hearing her girlfriend chuckle.

"What about the watch?" Amy asked a few minutes later and Ren brought up her wrist watch for Amy to see.

"It was hers, you know? Jade got it for me from our house a few years ago, with another personal things, she has made sure that the house stays intact. After learning which number comes first and which comes next the watch wasn't so hard, even if sometimes everything gets a bit messy in my head. It was really hard for me to not get lost in time because I couldn't understand the timespan, before teaching how to tell the hour, she had to explain me the concept of the passing of time. Mama taught me about a train that takes a summertime to get to every station" Ren said, and Amy frowned in confusion.

"A summertime?" Amy wondered.

"Yes, is the song that she used to sing to me. The song is 4 minutes and 54 seconds long, almost five, so my mom taught me that the number 12 was the point of the departure, the number one was the first stop, the first station and then after another summertime (another five minutes) the train would get to the second station (number 2 ) and then to the third and so on until the train gets to the starting point again, finishing its route and marking the passing of one hour" Ren explained, Amy's eyebrows arched in surprise, that was really clever.

"And what do you do when you have to give the time of the day to someone else?"

"Mama said that every time the train finished its route, the hour hand, which I just saw as the shorter hand, would move from station to station, if someone asks I have to tell them in witch station the hour hand is and then tell them where the train (the minute hand) is going, she said that if the train was passing by the first station it was "past 5" and that if it was passing by the second station it was "past 10" and so on" Ren explained, looking down at her watch and showing Amy by pointing with her finger.

"What about your thing with counting the seconds?" Amy asked, keeping a hand at the back of Ren's head, caressing her scalp with her fingers.

"As I said, I had trouble with the concept of the passing if time, the movement of the second hand is more notorious, and that accompanied with the ticking made me be conscious of the fact that time was actually passing. It also helps me because it's a constant movement, a constant sound that never goes faster or slower. It makes me feel calm because of its stability" Ren finished.

"Your mom is amazing" Amy said, leaning forward to hug Ren tightly. "If you ever need help with anything, I will do my best to help you, okay? I know that I'm a few years behind you, but I will find a way"

"It wouldn't surprise me if you did, you are very intelligent Amy" Ren said, and after seeing her surprised face, Ren continued. "Mrs Raudenfeld does pay attention at your grades, she does know about your straight As and occasional Bs, she's proud of you"

"It doesn't really matter, I have never stood out for my grades anyways" Amy said.

"You don't need to stand out to be intelligent, Apolline would agree with that" Ren said.

"Would she?" Amy said, pulling away from Ren and getting off of her lap. "Fleur is a war hero and she made quite the impact in her school, Gabrielle is filling pretty well her footsteps and I'm just another student with good grades that doesn't do much besides breathing. They were always in other clubs and activities and who knows what"

Ren reached out to take Amy's hand, smiling at her softly.

"Amy, you are not the kind of girl who likes to stand out. Fleur and Gabrielle have been forced to stand out, their veelas were always out in full force and people noticed, even if they didn't want the attention they would get it. Not everything is pleasant about being a veela. There is also the fact that they were raised differently than you, they were raised to be proud about who they are, to defend their family and their believes to death, to make those who though less of them respect them, and in school the best way to gain respect is to excel in everything you do, to be intelligent. They were never arrogant or full of themselves, but they knew when to stand up and defend themselves when needed. For Fleur specially school wasn't easy, you should ask her some day. I'm sure that Apolline would be more than pleased with your grades if you ever showed them to her" Ren told her, filling Amy with reassurance. Amy felt her girlfriend's soft lips touch the back of her hand and smiled.

She then looked at her wrist watch and stood up, helping Ren up right after.

"It's time to go to school. Will I meet you at lunch time?" Amy asked. Ren nodded.

"Sure, do you have a ride home after school or should I come pick you up?" Ren asked.

"I'm sure I can get a ride, don't worry. Do you have plans today?"

"After classes I'll keep working for a few hours on the treehouse, so I'll be at yours by the time you finish school. And tonight I will be at Clara's we had plans to for a a band before we left so we will talk about that a bit" Ren said, receiving a smile from Amy in response.

"A band? That sounds nice, but what will happen when you go to play and everything with girls and boys alike throwing themselves at you, what if I get jealous?" Amy wondered teasingly, curling her arms around Ren's neck and provoking her, whispering against her lips and the pulling away before Ren could kiss her.

"You can come with us every time we play and wait for me right in front of the stage. I will come down and kiss you just like this" Ren said, pulling Amy forward with a hand at the back of her neck and kissing her hard, parting Amy's lips with her tongue and smiling when she heard the blonde moan in pleasure, kissing Ren back strongly while tangling both hands in her soft hair, trailing them down her back and pulling her girlfriend even closer by the waist, taking control of the kiss and bitting Ren's bottom lip sensually before letting go. Pressing a peck against Ren's lips to finish, lips red and swollen, a bit of Amy's light pink lipstick smeared on Ren's mouth.

"Yeah" Ren said dazedly. "That should show them that I'm all yours" Amy watched her with wonder, the look Ren was giving her was the sight of love, it make Amy's heart crazy. The most beautiful thing was that Ren always looked at her like that, always. Like if she just had been struck by lightning, like if she had been hit by a tsunami. Right then Amy understood why people named tsunamis.

Ren had just been hit by a tsunami, and her name was Amy.

Emotions surged through the blonde's body, and she just couldn't hold it inside, she knew what she felt, the words were right there on the tip of her tongue, but she just couldn't, it wasn't the time.

She leaned in, peppering Ren's lips with kissed until they both bursted in chuckles.

"Let's go, if we keep going we will never make it to school" Amy whispered, giving Ren one last kiss and then pulling her love struck girlfriend toward the car.

...

She was wearing nothing but one of Jade's huge black shirts and some underwear, her hair was flowing wildly past her shoulders as she gently let the brush move around in the canvas, it was effortless, she wasn't even thinking about it. It came to her as naturally as breathing. Since Jade left, Emma hadn't been able to get much sleep, she could just recall the look Jade had given her after she had said one of the most stupid things she had ever said.

It was hard to explain, Jade's eyes were usually unfeeling and cold, but they had that spark of mischief, that malice that made her so appealing to everyone. Emma had made that spark disappear, making Jade's eyes not only cold, but also dark.

The few times she had being able to sleep, Emma had had exactly the same dream. She was always standing in a clearing, the moon shining bright as noises fill the air, she's always dressed in one of Jade's shirts and nothing more, she always takes a look at the moon, which is always full, and then at the deep forest, so thick that it looks completely black. And always out of nowhere she sees a pair of stormy blue eyes with a silver circle around the pupil looking back at her from the darkness of the forest, they look at her with an unknown mystery that calls her in, everything is so dark that the eyes seem to be floating in the air.

The light tones she used to paint the full moon and the stars were leaving stains on Jade's shirt, Emma wasn't really being careful, she was finishing her fourth painting when someone came in, she didn't notice, she was trying to get the right shade of blue into those beautiful eyes that look so deep into her own.

"Feeling inspired?" Ren asked. Emma turned around, wiping her hands on Jade's shirt and not moving her eyes from the painting, the outline of the trees was gorgeous, dark greens, blues, blacks and browns mixing together beautifully. "I didn't realize that you missed her this much" Ren whispered seeing the other canvases leaning against one of the walls, while Emma didn't move her gaze from the one resting on the easel.

"Miss who?" Emma asked, not really paying attention.

"Jade, I didn't know you had seen her transformed before" Ren finished and Emma turned around to look at her with a confused expression.

"I haven't seen her transformed" Emma said

"Then how are you painting her transformed?" Ren asked. "Everything is really dark, the shades are on point. Right here, this are the ears, the top of the head, the eyes, the muzzle, the front legs and paws. The eyes are perfect, they always look like that because Jade is able to balance her human and her wolf when transformed, that's why the silver circle goes around the pupil, some others who can balance both their human and their wolf have one eye silver and one eye with their natural color. This is obviously Jade, the size also, this wolf is very big, and Jade is an alpha by blood, this is her. She's so powerful when transformed, she makes everyone, absolutely everyone bend to her will"

Emma studied her paintings carefully, in three of them she was able to see the outline of the wolf, Lauren was right, it was there. And in the other, the first one she had made, she had focused on the eyes, painting them big across the canvas with a very black and blue background, making them stand out with outstanding accuracy, it was beautiful.

"What does this mean, Lauren? I wasn't even thinking about her. I have had the same dream for two nights, this is it, this is my dream" Emma told her.

"You have been dreaming about Jade, this is Jade, there's not much to think about. You haven't talked about what happened, maybe is time to do it. What happened for her to leave like that?"

Emma leaned against the window, looking right at Jade's empty bed, which was right next to it. She had the painting brush tight in her hand as she refused to meet Lauren's eyes.

"She was being nice to me, no teasing, no joking, no mocking, she was just trying to be nice. She was telling me beautiful things, how beautiful she thinks I am, but I wouldn't believe her, she asked me why would she lie and I told her it was just so she could get in my pants" Emma was glad she wasn't looking into Lauren's eyes, because when she finally turned to look at her, her fist were so tight that her knuckles were turning white.

"You told her that after I specifically told you that she wasn't, that she isn't that kind of person?" Lauren asked, her look was harsher than she intended it to be, she knew her eyes were being filled with silver. Emma just nodded. "That fucking hurts, you know?" Lauren said, Emma's eyes widened, she was clearly mad. Lauren never cursed, never.

"I just don't understand. She acts so cold all the time and then when we are alone she turns into this person that seems to care so much. How I'm I supposed to believe anything she says or does, if she's always slipping back into her asshole self" Emma covered her eyes with one of her hands as she always did when she was feeling particularly upset, staining her own face with her painted fingers.

"Do you realize that she acts like an asshole with everyone but you?" Lauren told her. "She teases you and jokes around, because she likes it when you blush and God, she loves it when you smile. Why do you think that happens? Why would she be so kind to you? Why would she go against everything she believes in to try and make you feel better? Why would she travel from one country to another when she could just stay wherever she is? If you think that Jade acts like an asshole with you, you know nothing. She doesn't know how to be good, how to be kind, how to love, because since she was born she was treated like dirt and she's angry, because everyone she loves seems to be suffering. Me, her dearest friends, Niclaus, you. She doesn't know how to handle her emotions so she settles with anger because it is easier. You and I know what love is because my mom showed us, but no one showed her. So why do you think she tries not to be an asshole with you?" Lauren said, she was angry, she was in touch with her emotions, she was an empath so she didn't have much trouble with figuring out what she was feeling, but other people seemed to be so oblivious to their own feelings and to those of others.

Lauren saw Emma shake her head in denial. Emma was intelligent, she had caught on what Lauren was saying from the beginning, but it couldn't be true, it couldn't.

"You can't be serious, it's impossible" Emma said.

"Why? You are nice and gentle, you are caring and intelligent, you don't take shit from anyone and you don't just accept what she says, you challenge her. She's impulsive and filled with the desire to run, to scape, but also to fight and have numerous adventures, and you are the kind of people who wouldn't back out from a challenge. She's the challenge and you have been thinking about her, way before the fight happened. You were almost mute the first time she left, you feel desperate when she's in danger and you feel so very frustrated because you know you won't be able to help her. You like it when she's around, because you feel protected around her, you admire her in someway, her strength and her drive, the way she never gives up, she never backs out. You like how she always seems to be in control of every thing, it gives you stability and when she's gone, you feel like the rug has been pulled from under your feet, you feel unstable. When she's back, you smile more, you laugh more, you are more comfortable because you can sense how she cares. How she buys food so you don't have to cook, how she keeps the house clean so you don't have to do it, how she washes the dishes before you get to. How she always reassures you that she will come back even if we all know that maybe we won't see her again" Lauren's eyes watered and she saw a tear trail down Emma's cheek. "I know you still have feelings for me, but you feel something for her too, if you didn't you wouldn't be so on edge now that she's gone, you wouldn't have so much trouble sleeping, you wouldn't be thinking about her so much" Lauren said, pointing to the four paintings. "I know that she's complicated, but we both know that one day she may not come back, and the first thought that will come to your mind is "what if..." and it will suck and you will spend the rest of your life wondering..." Lauren cut herself off when she saw an owl landing on the window with a letter, she gently moved Emma out of the way and opened the window, taking the letter from the animal who quickly flew away.

Lauren took out her wand and tested the letter, making sure that there was nothing wrong with it, and then opened it, reading it aloud for Emma to hear.

"Dear Ms Blume" Lauren read. "We send word to you, to inform that your solicitude to start your medical studies in Morgan West Magical Hospital, has been accepted" Lauren stopped, looking up at Emma with confusion. The white haired girl was even more surprised than her. "We apologize for not sending word before, your solicitation seemed to have been unprocessed until this very moment. Taking into account that the school year is almost over, we will be happy to accept you into our school this autumn on September first, since then your full scholarship will start taking place" Lauren stopped once again, eyes widening. She had read correctly, it said full scholarship. "With the intention of making up to you the delay with the start of your medical education, we would like to invite you to the Morgan West Magical Hospital the following Monday to introduce you to those who will be your teachers and to take you into a medical pre course in which you will be learning the basics of magical healing, one on one with nurses, doctors and patients alike. We extend our complete support and again apologize for the internal problems we had with your application." Lauren again paused, looking up at Emma with a frown. "We hope that you still consider our hospital and school as one of your options, we would be happy to have such a bright student as your self in our grounds. Again, we apologize for the delay. In case that you do accept to stay with us we will be waiting for you at 7:00 Am on January 19th in our hospital to start with your medical education. Thank you for considering us as one of your options, Amanda Anderson, Headmistress." Lauren finished reading and turned to look at Emma. "Emma, what is this? When did you apply to study in Austin's only magical hospital"

"I didn't. I swear I have never even heard of it, I didn't even send any applications. This must be a mistake" she said, taking the letter from Lauren's hand and reading over it quickly. Lauren moved to read again over her shoulder until she again moved to the name of the hospital, Morgan West Magical Hospital, everything fell into place right then.

"Did you tell Jade about your desire to study medicine?" Lauren asked.

"Yes, I told her the same day we fought" Emma said, turning to look at Lauren. "What?"

"She did this, her family has been alive for centuries as one of the most ancient pure blooded Lycan families, their roots are unknown, but Morgan West was one of the firsts who bore the name. Jade has told me about her, Jade is a direct descendant of Morgan West's brother. Jade told me that for some reason she had been kicked out of the wolf pack. Morgan disappeared for a while, running away from her own family and then reappearing again when she invented some sort of medicine based on lycan's saliva, this sort of cure made her famous world wide. This hospital was named after her right after she received an award for her cure. To make it short, Jade is her direct descendant, the direct descendant of her brother, she must have connections, enough for them to give you a full scholarship"

Emma sat down on the nearest bed, which happened to be Jade's, and pushed her hair away from her eyes. Even after what she had told Jade, the young woman was still helping her, making her dreams come true quite literally.

"She has feelings for me" Emma whispered to herself, Lauren simply nodded, kneeling in front her best friend.

"You trust her, you care about her, you think about her, you gave yourself to her. I know you still have feelings for me, but you must be feeling something for her too. You wouldn't feel so bad for what you did to her if you didn't" Lauren told her.

"Am I her mate?" Emma asked. Lauren looked up at her and shook her head.

"I don't know, and it shouldn't matter, she has feelings for you, that's what matters" Lauren told her, seeing her friend nod gently.

"Do you think she will come back soon?" Emma asked.

"I'm not sure, she wasn't supposed to leave to begin with. I don't know where she could be" Lauren said.

Emma nodded looking past Lauren's shoulder and to the black wolf that looked at her from the painting.

Lauren watched her and silently left the room.

...

Like every other morning Ren knocked on the door of the Raudenfeld-Cooper house and was greeted by Farrah, who invited her in, and told her that they would have breakfast together.

Ren's girlfriend came down stairs a few minutes later, taking advantage of her mother's turned back to kiss her girlfriend passionately, and then sitting right next to her to eat breakfast.

Ren and Amy left the house with hands interlocked, they got into Ren's car and drove to school singing every song in the mix tape that Ren had given Amy. It was a normal morning for them. When they got to Hester high they didn't see any of Amy's friends around so Ren decided to walk her girlfriend to her classroom.

They still had a few minutes until their first classes started so they stayed there, Amy with her back pressed up against the lockers and keeping Ren tightly pressed against her. Ren was supporting herself with one of her forearms against the lockers right next to Amy's head at they spoke to each other in soft whispers, forcing themselves to pull each other closer to be able to hear.

"Tomorrow is Saturday, do you want to go to our cave? We can have a nice dinner there, I'll tell you stories about the stars and you can tell me about how the story of the veela and the wolf is going" Ren proposed. "We can swim under the light of the moon" Ren continued, leaning in to suck gently on Amy's neck. "Just like we did last time" she whispered against Amy's skin, pressing kisses all over the side of her neck and then moving towards her lips, stopping just inches from Amy's mouth. "Sounds good?"

"Sounds perfect. Will you be as uncovered as you were last time?" Amy asked with a smirk, taking back the power of the situation as Ren blushed and pressed her face against Amy's shoulder in embarrassment.

"I tore my clothes when I shifted, I didn't mean to be so uncovered" Ren whispered her voice muffled against Amy's skin. The blonde laughed, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend.

"By all means, don't mind me. Tear your clothes all you want" Amy laughed louder when she watched Ren blush harder.

The emerald eyed girl looked at her girlfriend with a smile, shutting her up with a kiss, covering Amy's lips with her own and kissing her hard and slow, swiping her tongue over Amy's bottom lip swiftly, smiling into the kiss as she felt Amy's hands tense on her back. Ren pressed her body further into Amy's, trapping her against the lockers and kissing her soundly, until none of them could breathe. Amy was left with a far away look and Ren chuckled. Her girlfriend's soft laugh snapped Amy out of her trance and just to mess with her Amy pulled Ren's beanie down until it covered her eyes. Ren laughed and reached up to fix her beanie, Amy didn't let her. The blonde just pulled her close once again, curling her arms tightly around Ren's neck and kissing her hotly once again. She was gently nibbling Ren's bottom lip when a very upset voice called out to her.

"Amy?" It was Karma, her voice sounded devastated. Amy felt Ren pull away and just then she turned to look at her best friend, her eyes were soaked with tears, her shoulders slumped as if she had just completely deflated. From the corner of her eye Amy saw Ren uncovering her eyes as she fixed the beanie on her head. "What is this, Amy?" Karma's voice was rising and the hallway was just now filling with students.

"What do you mean?" Amy was feeling very thrown off, she had told Karma she had spend the entire weekend with Ren and that they had gone to a coffee date on Monday, and that the day before they had stayed at home doing nothing together. "I was in the middle of a very nice kiss with my girlfriend" Amy said, it was the first time she said those words to Karma and she would stand up to them, she would stand up for Ren. Amy sneaked a look at her girlfriend, the older girl was looking terribly uncomfortable, both her hands were pulling incessantly at the hem of her blouse, her jaw was tense and her left foot was tapping the floor. She was clearly getting anxious, Amy turned to look at her and kissed her cheek, taking one of her hands and interlocking their fingers, running her thumb over the back of her hand.

"Your girlfriend?" Karma croaked, one single tear trailed down her cheek. Amy was feeling very torn, she didn't want to hurt her friend, she really didn't, but she had to give Ren her place. Karma hadn't had a problem with doing the same with Liam. "When did that happen? Why didn't you tell me? I thought you two were in the middle of a big fight" Karma's tears were falling like rivers down both her cheeks.

"Karms..."

"Don't call me that" Karma snapped. "You said you would come back to me" her voice raising further, she was shouting now, and they were getting everyone's attention, a crowd was forming around them.

"You told her that you'd come back to her?" Ren suddenly interrupted, trying to pull her hand away from Amy's, her eyes pained. Amy snapped her eyes at her girlfriend and then back at Karma.

"No! She asked me to come back to her, I said nothing. I swear Ren, I said nothing!" Amy was looking at Ren, her eyes alarmed. The blonde then turned to look at Karma. "I said nothing, Karma. I didn't promise you that. I said nothing!"

"You were considering it!" Karma shouted, her face wet. "How did you went from considering being with me to be her girlfriend?"

"We deserve this!" Amy shouted back. "We deserve a chance to be together. And I told you, I told you I had spent the weekend with her, I told you we went on a coffee date on Monday, I told you!"

"I thought you were talking about your SISTER!" Karma screamed, her face going red with anger. "Your 'girlfriend' came back looking like she was run over by a car, she came back alone, I thought you were done with her once she came back alone from the trip"

"We fought, and we are still recovering from our fight. One fight doesn't mean that we are done" Amy said.

"you can't be serious" Karma exclaimed, she chuckled dryly. "You still love me, Amy. You know it's the truth"

Amy couldn't deny.

"I might still have feelings for you, I might even still love you, but I love her too" Amy said, realizing just there that Karma was giving her the last push she needed to say what she had realized a long while ago. "I love Ren too, she's my girlfriend, and I love her so much I don't know how to explain it. I almost lost her once, and I'm not gonna ruin this"

"You can't love both of us, you just can't" Karma said, trying her harder to ignore what Amy had said, she closed her eyes tight for a second, trying to eliminate Amy's words from her head.

"I know that if I had chosen you, she would have been happy for me, because that's what love is. You have seen me this last few days, you have seen how happy I've been, but anyways you are here, saying all this things that you know are hurting her, that you know will put us in a bad place, that you know can harm our relationship. I know that maybe you can't be happy for me, but you should at least respect this, respect her, respect us and our relationship, because that's the right thing to do. That's what love is, and you are incapable of that because you only care about yourself, it has always been about you, but now my world revolves around her. I choose her because she loves me for real, she loves me more than she loves herself, and she has never told me so, I can feel it and that, the way she loves me, makes me love her more than I love you. I love her more. And I'm sure one day my whole heart will be hers." Amy finished, an infinite amount of words left on the tip of her tongue, there was so many thing she wanted to say, so many reasons why she loved Ren, so many things she loved about her.

Even if she wanted to say them, even if she wanted to list them for the whole world to hear, she wasn't heartless. She knew how a broken heart felt and nothing pained her more than being the one breaking Karma's, but she knew that she wasn't hurting Karma as much as the girl had hurt her, she knew it. Amy knew perfectly that she was Karma's second choice, and even if she tried she would never forget it, never.

She watched Karma physically deflate, she watched her face turn red and her hands come up to her face, trying to hold back sobs as Amy held onto Ren's hand for dear life.

Before any of them could say anything else Shane came and with him Liam.

"Karma, baby what's wrong? Why are you crying?" He whispered, taking her face with his hands and kissing her lips gently, hugging her close.

They were still together.

Karma was unable to answer and just let Liam guide her outside as Shane made everyone that was still lurking around go away

Amy sighed loudly, afraid to turn to look at Ren. The blonde almost jumped out of her skin when the bell rang.

She was suddenly pulled into a warm embrace, the scent of roses making its way up her nostrils as her hand clutched hard onto Ren's jacket.

"Shh, shh. It's okay, belle. I'm here and I won't leave" Ren whispered and Amy wondered how she always knew exactly what she needed to hear. "We are alright, I promise"

"Really?" Amy wondered, pulling away slightly to look up into Ren's eyes. The emerald eyed girl smiled down at her and kissed her forehead and then her soft lips.

"Yeah, we need to talk a bit, but we are okay" Ren whispered, pressing her lips against Amy's forehead and pulling her close. A few seconds later something began vibrating incessantly between them, Amy frowned and pulled away, her phone was in her bag so it must be Ren's. "It's Emma, I need to take it"

"Lauren?" Emma's voice sounded shaky and afraid. Lauren knew that voice perfectly, Emma was at the edge of breakdown.

"Hey, Emmy what's wrong?" Ren asked, Amy instantly recognized her worried tone and looked up at her with a frown.

"Is the candle Lauren, it's melting, it's freaking melting! What the fuck does that mean?" Ren could hear Emma pacing.

"Emma, what candle are you talking about?" Ren told her, she could practically feel the anguish her friend was feeling.

"Before she left Jade left me a candle, the candle has been alight since then, she said that if the flame ever was to extinguish it would mean that I would have to miss her, we both know what that means. Since then the candle has been alight and it still is, but it is melting, it has been alight for days and it just started melting a second ago. What does that mean Lauren? It can't be anything good. God it can't be anything good" Emma cried. "She didn't mention anything about it melting. Where the fuck is she, Lauren? We need to find her, I can't take this shit anymore, I'll go crazy. What if she's in danger? What if she's hurt somewhere?"

The hairs on the back of Lauren's neck stood on end as worry cursed through her veins, she knew that the candle melting was not a good sign.

"I'll be there in a second, I'm going home. We will contact someone. Where is Thomas? Is he in the house?"

"No, I don't know. I didn't even remember he was back, but I'm alone" Emma responded.

Amy was getting more and more worried by the second, she could only hear Lauren's side of the conversation, but the way her girlfriend had paled could never be good.

"Stay in the house, don't move and try to calm down. I'm going to give you some directions and I need you to follow them, okay?"

"Yes, tell me?"

"Go to the study, on the small bookshelve that's under the painting of Queen Fleur and Queen Hermione there is a copy of the book Les Misérables, inside there is a piece of a two faced mirror, on the other side of it there must be a man that goes by the name Draco Malfoy. He is a friend of Jade's and he is a member of the pentagon, tell him what's going on, and tell him to let the Queen know. If something happens to Jade the crown will take a very strong blow, she needs to know. Do that, I'm on my way there, don't talk to anyone else, secure the house. I'm gonna take a look at her car before going inside the house, I don't want you out by any means, okay?" Ren spoke fast and secure, her voice didn't waver or broke, she was strong and commanding, just like Jade had taught her to be.

"I understand, I'll be at the study" without saying anything else, Emma hung up.

Before Amy could say anything Ren interrupted.

"I need you to listen to me very carefully" Ren said, grabbing Amy's upper arms with both hands and looking right into her eyes. "Things are not looking good, they are looking very bad actually. I don't want you alone at any time, always stay in big crowds of people, somewhere visible, never alone. Today you won't take the bus, those few blocks you have to walk to your house are dangerous, you will leave the school with your sister. You will text me as soon as you leave the school and you will text me again as soon as you are inside of your house. You won't leave your house until I allow you to do so. This is for your safety, did you understand?" Ren asked, looking intensely into Amy's eyes.

"I understand" She whispered reaching up to cup Ren's face. "What about you?"

"I'll be okay, I will talk to you constantly, don't call me, wait for me to call you. If I'm ever to leave town or something like that I will tell you" Ren whispered, kissing Amy's forehead gently before pulling away.

Amy grabbed her arm before she could leave, Ren turned around, there was urgency in her eyes.

"Promise me that you will stay safe" Amy whispered. Ren moved forwards and wrapped her up in her arms.

"I promise" Ren whispered against Amy's lips right before kissing her with everything she had. "I'll see you soon, don't worry"

...

By the time Lauren made it home the house was already surrounded with people, she could feel it, at least a complete pack of lycans was subtly surrounding the house. And it wasn't any pack, it was her pack. The Sannen's were there.

Noah, the oldest and alpha of the pack, standing in the middle of his younger siblings, the twins, Joël and Adèle. The three smiled at Lauren, waiting for her to come close to envelope her into a tight hug.

"We missed you, Noah is barely able to keep everyone in check" Joël joked, he had grown so much, he was shorter than Noah, but he still stood several inches above Lauren, his hazel eyes were calm as always, a circle of green surrounding the pupil.

"Yeah, Noah sucks as an Alpha, you should have staid" Adèle said.

"Thanks for coming here, guys. It means a lot" Lauren told them.

"You are still a part of us, Lauren. Jade is your sister, of course we will help, the rest of the pack is always around, I sent some of them to Amy's school just to be sure, she won't notice they are there" Noah said. Lauren nodded, relived to know that Amy was protected. "You should go inside, they are waiting for you. Adèle, go with her"

Instead of going to check the car as she had planned, she decided to go directly inside finding 4 people in the living room, Emma was in the process of guiding them towards the study.

Ren analyzed her friend, she was shaky and clearly upset, she had just met this people, she had just seen their deaths. Ren frowned and went to stand next to her.

"Miss Jekyll, my name is Draco, Draco Malfoy" he offered her his hand and she courtly accepted it. He was a very elegant man, very well mannered and almost as cold as Jade.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Malfoy, if you will" she said motioning him to go inside the study the rest of the pentagon members following inside.

"The Queen wants to be here, is that a problem?"

"No" Lauren said instantly and she suddenly saw Adèle's brown eyes turn honey gold.

"Hi, Lauren. It's nice to see you after so long" Hermione's voice came out of Adèle's mouth. It was one of the most disturbing things she had ever experienced.

"My Queen" Lauren bowed in respect. "My sister is in danger, I need your help"

"I know child, and I will do everything in my power to get her home safe. Tell me what happened"

"Jade left on Tuesday, the day after Thomas came back with her car, he had found it abandoned a few kilometers away from Austin..."

"The car is clean, there are only traces of Jade, Thomas and Emma inside of the car" Draco interrupted, they had already analyzed the car. The Queen in Adèle's body, nodded.

"On Thursday a letter came for Emma, saying that she had been accepted in the Morgan West Magical hospital to study, that means Jade had time to make that happen before she was attacked. Just today the candle started melting, we don't know what that means, we just know it can't be good" Lauren finished.

"It isn't" Draco said. "It means that she's being hurt badly enough to put her life in danger, we need to track her and find out who is doing this to her" he finished, Lauren swallowed hard, she saw Emma sway on her spot and curled an arm around her body.

"What do we do?" Lauren finally asked.

"A tracking spell, we need a map and an object that's connected to her, a knife too" Hermione said. They emptied the desk, putting the map on top, Lauren took off the wolf necklace she shared with Jade and put it on top of the table.

"Cut your hand" Hermione indicated. "Let a few drops fall on the map, you have bonded your blood with hers, that will help greatly"

Hermione hadn't finished when Lauren already had teared her hand with the knife.

...

She was still confused, heavily thrown off by the lack of memories, by the huge mental void in her head. One moment she was in her car and the next she was tied with multiple chains attached to the ceiling of what she could recognize as a basement. She was underground, the lack of natural light, the lack of windows, and the heavy steps she heard above her head, wherever she was it was full of people, of powerful people nonetheless. She could feel the electrifying sensation of magic making her blood buzz as people surrounded her.

For some reason, in the back of her head there was a heavy sense of betrayal, she knew she had been rather easy to take down, because whoever had done it was someone of her trust, by the time they stabbed her with a knife coated with Aconitum she was already theirs.

It had being a minimum amount of Aconitum, enough to make her insides burn and render her useless. Since she was brought she had been unable to open her eyes, the poison was running through her veins slowly and god it hurt. It felt like someone was pressing the gentle flame of a lighter against her nerves, to say that she was in pain was understatement, that besides the fact that she was bleeding.

She felt steps coming closer, someone grabbed her face, pulling one of her eyelids up and then letting drops of poison fall right into her eye. She wasn't ready, who would be ready to feel liquid acid being poured into one of their organs.

Just as the first drop fell, her screaming started, she couldn't hold it back, it was too painful. Her eye was burning and so did her cheek as the drops traveled down her skin, leaving bloody lines down the side of her face. To lycans, Aconitum was like acid, just being close to the plant was dangerous enough. Now, they were gonna torture her with it.

"I see you are awake, Miss West" the man laughed, letting go of her face while chuckling, Jade tried to open her other eye, in the corner of the room there was something boiling in a cauldron, the scent of it made it's way through her nostrils and she physically recoiled. Aconitum. There were several people in the room with her, making sure she wouldn't try anything. It's not like she could. "It's a pleasure to have you here with us" he said, walking around the room with an array of tools and knives, soaking each one in Aconitum before leaving them to rest in a small table near. "We would like you to help us with something" he said, soaking a cloth in the liquid and folding it gently with his hands. "We would like to send a message to your Queen, but don't worry, you don't have to remember any words, when we finish with you the message will be quite clear" he said, smiling evilly at her right before putting a hand at the back of her head, pressing the cloth hard against her nose and mouth.

She squeezed her eyes closed in pain, feeling the skin of her face being burnt by the direct contact with the Aconitum, she squirmed and fought and pulled away, but he wouldn't let her go. She knew the point wasn't to injure her face, he wanted her to breathe in, and she wouldn't do it, it would be like breathing fire, it would damage her airways, it would fill her oxygen with poison and make it directly into her blood.

She held her breath, tears falling from her eyes as the Aconitum irritated them and damaged her skin.

"Don't be a bad girl, come on, take a deep breath, just one very deep breath" he mocked, pressing the cloth harder against her face. Jade wouldn't bulge, she preferred to suffocate than to breathe that in. "Looks like we will need a bit of help here" Jade continued to kick and squirm as she saw another man come towards them, receiving a nod from the other, the man punched Jade hard in the gut, she gasped, her whole body contorting in agony as she felt like acid was poured down her throat and into her lungs, she was punched again, forced to breathe the Aconitum in until she was coughing, the man pulled away and laughed as Jade coughed up blood, the skin of her lips, mouth and nose completely burnt as she kept coughing her lungs out, blood coming out with each cough as her chest burned with pain. She now was unable to breathe property, each breath was agony now that her airways had been damaged.

"Miss West, this is just the beginning" he said filling a small vial with Aconitum and forcing it down her throat, covering her mouth and forcing her to swallow. The poison burned its way down to Jade's stomach and settled there, tearing her apart from the inside as her body shook in agony, rejecting the poison and doing everything it could to get it out.

The taste of blood filled Jade's mouth as the contents of her stomach lurched and made their way up, burning everything they touched, damaging her organs, blood pouring out of Jade's mouth, her chest and her stomach left constricting in agonizing pain as the man laughed, ripping her shirt apart until she was left in nothing but her bra, her chest and abdomen exposed for him and for everyone in the room to see.

Jade was in too much pain, her heart was racing as a ringing noise took power of her ears, her breathing was short, she was trying not to breathe at all, it hurt too much. She was fading rapidly, her skin turning grey as her world seemed to turn black, the poison wouldn't take much to get to her heart, damage it, and then pump the aconitum to the rest of her body.

She tried to keep herself awake, blinking her eyes open for a second as she noticed the man touching her, bile rushed up her throat in disgust as he squeezed her breasts harshly.

"You are a very gorgeous woman, Miss West. It's a shame that you chose the wrong side of the coin, now I have no choice, I have to kill you" he said, sighing with apparent sadness. "You would have been such a great asset to our troops. Maybe like this you will learn" he said, filling the dropper with Aconitum and forcing her good eye open.

A second later the room was filled with her chilling screams.

...

"Seattle, whoever has her is very powerful. This spell should have given us her exact location, but it didn't. This is the best we will get" Draco said, not a second later the members of the Pentagon started disappearing, cracking sounds filling the room as Adèle's eyes went back to brown.

"I'll go tell the pack, we have to move quick" the girl said, leaving the room just as the car pulled up at the entrance. Lauren felt a familiar smell ghost over her and a second later Amy was barreling into her arms.

"Amy, what are you doing here? You should be in school"

"I know, but I was too worried. I couldn't stay there and just ignore something was wrong. Don't worry I didn't come alone, my sister brought me here, I told her to leave" Amy whispered. "How can I help?"

"We need to leave, we are going to Seattle. I need you to go to Emma's room, there is a candle there, it's melting very fast, I need you to call me if something happens to it, if the flames extinguish or something of the like, I don't know when I'll be back, but don't leave the house alone, okay?" Amy nodded quickly, a leaning forward to kiss Lauren's lips gently.

"Remember what you promised" Amy whispered to her, watching Lauren nod before taking Emma's hand and disappearing with a crack.

Amy rushed up stairs, sitting on Emma's bed watching intently the black candle that was quickly melting in the night table.

...

Jade spluttered and coughed as more water was poured brutally against her face, the cloth covering it wouldn't let her breathe, she was suffocating, she could feel her chest constricting, her lungs pressing against her wounded ribs as her chest convulsed, trying to cough the excess of water out of her mouth. Her head was hurting horribly, she was doing her best to not feel desperate, but she felt like she was drowning. More water hit her face and she pulled at her restrains trying to get the cloth away from herself to take a breath, but she couldn't.

Her heart was beating harshly, rattling her ribcage with the insistent beats as they laughed, mocking her incessantly. She then felt the whip come down against her abdomen, her shout of pain was muffled as more water was poured against her face. Jade could feel the tender skin that had just been offended splitting as the whip was lowered once again.

The cloth that was suffocating her was suddenly pulled away from her face, finally allowing her to get the excess of water out of her lungs. She felt the restrains around her wrist and ankles let go and her body instantly curled around itself, the man laughed and took out his wand, forcing her onto her back with just a wave. He then moved to put his face right in front of her and clutched her neck with his hand, squeezing tightly.

"You are such a shame, your father was a visionary man. He knew who would win this war and you ended him" the man said, clutching her throat harder, she was gasping, no air at all going through her lungs, her eyes were bloodshot and wide, the man was squeezing harder and harder as her face contorted in agony, in desperation, her ears were ringing and the fear was gripping her heart tightly, her eyes watered, she would leave Lauren alone, she promised that she would be there always, that she would keep her safe, that she would be her family, and she wouldn't be there, she was going to leave her alone. "You ruined the plans we had with him, and now you are gonna pay for it" he then put his other hand around her neck, squeezing the life out of her, watching as her face lost all remaining color, as each one of her limbs slowly stopped the fight against him. And finally he watched her eyes, glassy, and blown until they simply rolled back, letting him see nothing but white as her body fell limp and lifeless, he took his hands back and smirked using his wand to chain her body to the ceiling and leaving her there, unconscious and hanging from her wrists.

"My Lord? You should give her a rest if you don't want to finish her off too quickly" a woman intervened. Her eyes locked in the barely moving, disfigured body hanging from the ceiling. The woman was barely breathing by now, the man had been very good a breaking some of her ribs while forcing her to inhale the Aconitum, she was barely able to get enough oxygen to her damaged lungs to stay alive for a while longer.

The man nodded, he knew that the girl wouldn't survive another inhale, every time she took a deep breath she would end up coughing up blood, her airways hurt and constricted.

"The dose of Aconitum in her system is too high, she will stop breathing soon if you don't heal her" the woman continued, Jade's face fell down limply, her hair damp and sticking to her face, long marks traveled down her abdomen, whip marks red and slightly bleeding.

The man took a small vial and poured into Jade's mouth just a sip of the liquid.

"That's not enough" the woman spoke.

"I don't want to save her, I want to keep her alive and now it is your turn" the man said evilly, the woman took a step back.

"She's going to die, you do not need to apply that kind of torture on her, the physical torture is enough" she retailed.

"It is not a suggestion, my dear. Your little mind games are by far my favorites. Please, don't make me ask you again" he said, wiping his bloody hands in a rag and sitting on a near chair.

"She's unconscious, we'll need to wait until she wakes up" the woman said taking another step away from Jade.

"Why wait?" The man said, standing up and taking hold of a knife, kneeling in front of the fire place and putting the knife in the fire, waiting until the blade was red hot. "I've heard that Miss West is not very fond of the heat" he said and without waiting a second longer, he stabbed her shoulder harshly. Jade snapped awake screaming, only the handle of the knife was visible as the red hot blade stayed buried deep in her right shoulder. "Did you have a nice dream?" The man asked her. "I'm going to introduce you to someone, this is Sarah and she will play with you for a little while, after that we will send you back home, sounds good?" He asked, obviously mocking her.

Jade said nothing, she hadn't said a word to him since she was brought to him, she hadn't showed fear before and she wouldn't do it now. She couldn't stop thinking about Lauren, about Emma. She was going to leave them alone. Who was going to protect them?

Jade watched the woman, Sarah, move to stand in front of her. Jade's eyes were open just a crack, her sight blurry and distorted because of the Aconitum that had being poured into her eyes before.

Sarah did nothing but look into Jade's eyes. Jade watched in confusion as the woman's eyes turned completely red. She took a step closer to Jade and looked intensely into her swollen and irritated eyes.

"I'm sorry" the woman whispered just for Jade to hear, her mouth wasn't moving, but Jade could hear her in her head. "I'll find a way to help you, but if I don't do this now, he will be suspicious and I have a family. I'm really sorry" and before Jade could think something in response, the woman grabbed harshly both sides of her head. Jade's eyes widened and a second later agonic screaming filled the room. The man laughed loudly as he watched Sarah take a step back, her red eyes focused on Jade as the young woman screamed, pulling harshly at the restrains that kept her hanging from the ceiling, trying to pull her hands down to hold her head.

The man continued to laugh as he watched impressed as the girl seemingly unconscious of the damage she was doing to her body, pulled and pulled at the chains, dislocating one of her shoulders as she continued, tears pouring from her eyes for the first time as her breathing got rapid, hurting herself further as she used her whole body to try to free her hands.

The man stood from his chair impressed when she finally snapped the chains, her body crashing against the ground as she held her head with her hands, clawing at her own face almost as if she was going to rip her eyes out. Instead he saw the girl resort to bang whichever part of her head she could against the hard surface of the floor. He watched with perverted amazement as the girl broke the skin of her temple, a gash forming as she crashed her head against the ground, only stopping when her eyes rolled to the back of her head once again and she fell limply against the ground.

With a heavy heart Sarah stopped even if her commander hadn't told her to, the girl on the floor was someone's daughter, someone's sister, someone's girlfriend, someone's best friend. And now, she was laying on the floor in a puddle of her own blood as her body started to spam uncontrollably, harsh convulsions taking over her body as her limbs trashed, blood spluttering out of her mouth as she harshly bit her tongue, her dislocated arm moving wildly, worsening the injury as the seizure progressed. Finally stopping several minutes later. The only sound in the room was that of his sick laughter.

"Let's take a look around the property, we don't have to stay here for much longer, she's no longer a threat to anyone" the man said, leaving the room with the rest of his people, leaving Sarah behind with Jade.

Once she felt them leave the property she kneeled next to Jade, pouring in her mouth the rest of the vial, it would help her body deal with the overdose of Aconitum. She took Jade's hand, watching what looked like a dragon tattoo curling around her hand and wrist.

"Your dragon won't be happy about what they have done to you, what I have done to you. I'm sorry, I will call him" Sarah whispered to fallen girl, breaking the curse the commander had put on Jade, stopping her from using magic. After the spell was broken Sarah took control of Jade's magic and used it to call the dragon. "I'm really sorry, Miss West. I hope you get to live" Sarah said, before disappearing, giving the girl one last pained look and feeling the ground above her shake with force. "You have freed me, Miss West" the woman said, hearing the screaming of the inhuman men that had been in the room just moments before. "One day I'll find a way to repay you"

...

They had looked all over Seattle, they found nothing. There was no trace of Jade, absolutely no trace. Lauren was quickly getting angry, and Emma. Emma was a complete mess, Amy had called just minutes before.

"Ren?"

"Belle, please tell me that the candle has stopped melting" Ren pleaded, even if it was very unlikely. Emma didn't turn to look at her, but Lauren knew she was listening to the conversation.

They were sitting in a small hut in the middle of nowhere, they were trying to make a plan, Jade was somewhere in Seattle, but they couldn't pinpoint exactly where.

"It hasn't, baby" Ren's heart jumped for two completely different reasons. It was the first time Amy called her that, and the worry she felt for Jade was killing her. "It has been melting faster, there is very little wax left, and something weird has been going on with flame, it is like someone is blowing it, I obviously I'm not, and the windows are closed, but even at this moment, it's like someone is blowing it, I don't know what to do" Ren squeezed her eyes shut. And when she spoke Amy's heart broke.

"There is nothing you can do, thanks for helping, belle. I miss you so much"

"I'll be right here waiting for you, I won't go anywhere, Ren" Amy said. "Call me soon, okay?

Lauren ended the call by accident when Draco harshly threw everything on the floor. He was enraged, what kind of magic was that? They had to have good wards if they were unable to find Jade.

Suddenly Niclaus came in, his face sour and cold, a mask exactly like the one Jade used. Emma had to remind herself of the fact that he had taught her everything she knows.

"I saw a dragon flying over magical Seattle, it was Jade's dragon. It started a fire in the middle of nowhere, we have the location, Jade must be there if the dragon is attacking"

Noah who was in his wolf form quickly communicated telepathically with the rest of his pack and told them to disappear with Niclaus towards the location.

Ren entered his mind to keep up with what was going in the place, she knew they couldn't just appear there without knowing what the situation was. It was like she was seeing though the wolves eyes.

There was a dragon burning everything down to flames as unknown wizards attacked it while others tried to escape. The members of the pack appeared out of nowhere, attacking the wizards and taking them down while others escaped. None of them could see any apparent place where they could have been hiding.

"Noah, tell Joël or someone to sniff around, if Jade is hurt the scent of her blood must be very strong" the wolf nodded, and Lauren could hear him giving orders to his pack. A light brown and white wolf was seen sniffing the air as the fight kept going, the pack covering his back so he wouldn't get hurt while distracted from the fight.

After a few minutes the wolf started walking, sniffing the ground, it started howling quickly after when he seemed to crash against an invisible barrier. Noah grimaced, he could almost smell Jade's blood himself. Ren pulled out of his head.

"She's there" she said, grabbing Emma's arms and disappearing with her before receiving any indications from Draco, when they got there, the wolves were trying to take down some of the wizards who had gotten to immobilize the dragon by tying chains around his jaws, stopping him from spitting out more fire.

Ren and Emma ran towards Joël, the rest of the pack covering their backs as Niclaus worked in throwing the barriers down. Sweat coated his brow, his jaw was tense as he murmured quickly to himself, hands out and towards the invisible barrier.

Getting impatient, Emma put her hand on his shoulder pouring her power into him to strengthen his spell, Lauren quickly did the same, and Joël seeing how much they were straining pressed one of his paws against Lauren's leg, connecting every member of their pack to the spell. Soon enough a small cabin appeared in front of their eyes.

Niclaus kicked the door open, finding three men warding the a door at the back, he put up shield as they attacked them at the same time, spells flying towards him, Emma and Lauren, and crashing against the shield. Ren was quick to stun one and appear behind the other, hitting him from behind and immobilizing him, when the only one left turned to attack her, he was attacked from behind by Emma, who ran to the door they were warding, blasting it open with a quick spell and rushing down the stairs.

Her mind, her heart, her everything shut down when she saw Jade laying in the middle of the room, completely soaked in her own blood. Emma was just there, frozen and looking at her as if she had never seen her before.

From the corner of her eye she saw Lauren rush to her sister side, eyes furious and blazing with silver. The emerald eyed girl went to grab Jade, pulling her hands back quickly with a yelp of pain, both her palms were now red and aching furiously.

Emma heard her shout, she saw Lauren's eyes meeting hers as she shouted. Jade wasn't breathing. Jade didn't have a pulse. Jade was soaked in Aconitum.

She looked at Jade, her skin red and burnt, her body a canvas filled with different shades of purple and red, contrasting so harshly with her usually pale skin. Emma looked at her face, dry blood everywhere, eyes swollen and shut, flesh broken.

Lauren couldn't touch Jade, she screamed at Emma once again, giving up and then shouting for Niclaus, who had stayed up stairs for some reason.

"Emma please, I need you to help me, to help her" Lauren pleaded, her face drenched in tears.

Emma just kept looking at Jade, every moment they ever shared together flashing through her head in quick succession.

She fell to her knees, pushing Jade onto her back and tilting her face back just a bit. The taste of Jade's blood filled Emma's mouth once she pressed their mouths together, blowing into her mouth twice and then giving her quick and constant chest compressions.

29-30-31.

Nothing.

Emma cursed, moving to blow into Jade's mouth again, pressing her hands against her chest while looking at Jade's face.

"You said it, Jade. You said that you weren't going away. You said that we would see each other soon. You can't give up on me now" Emma told her, all the time counting in her head

29-30-31.

Nothing.

Emma blowed into her mouth twice once again. This couldn't be her last memory of Jade. This couldn't be the last time she kissed her lips, this couldn't the last time she touched her. This couldn't be the last time she was with her, it couldn't. Emma continued with the chest compressions, she could hear Lauren sobbing, calling out to her sister like a little child and receiving no response.

"Don't cry, Lauren. She will be fine, this is not her time. You will see, she will be okay" Emma told her.

29-30-31.

Nothing.

Emma was getting angry, vey angry. She pressed her mouth against Jade's and blew. Pressing her hands harder against her chest. She looked down, seeing how now her own hands were stained with blood, seeing the huge stab wound Jade had on her shoulder, seeing the smaller ones, the harmless ones, made just with the purpose of torture and nothing else. She saw the burns all over Jade's torso and arms, she had been burnt with Aconitum, she also saw how purple her chest area was, her ribs obviously injured. Her eyes watered for the first time and she started begging whoever was up there to save her, because if she died, she really didn't know what she would do.

7-8-9. Gasp.

Emma moved her eyes to Jade's face, it was scrunched up in pain as she started coughing badly, blood coming out of her mouth with each cough. Her eyes stayed closed as Emma moved to wrap her arms around her and hold her gently.

Without waiting a second longer Lauren put her arms around Emma's shoulders, making them both disappear. Appearing once again in Seattle's magical hospital.

Healers, who had been previously told about the situation rushed to them as soon as they saw them. Taking Jade's mangled body from them and rushing her into the emergency room.

Emma was left standing there with a void look as she watched Jade's body leave her sight.

A nurse walked up to them a few seconds later.

"We need to know her blood type and if she has any allergies or medical conditions" the nurse said and Lauren rushed to respond.

"She is A negative, no allergies and no medical complications" the nurse nodded and turned to leave.

"Wait!" Emma shouted. "She does have a medical complication, she was diagnosed with HBP very recently, and hasn't taken her medication for the last three days" the nurse frowned and rushed back to the emergency room.

"HBP?" Emma heard Lauren ask, when the white haired turned to look at her best friend, the emerald eyed girl was frowning. "When did that happen? And why I know nothing about it?" Emma saw her eyes shine silver and pulled Lauren to one of the few free chairs in the waiting room, explaining when and how Jade had been diagnosed.

"And you just decided not to tell me"

"Jade asked me not to"

"And you decided not to" Ren shouted/whispered angrily.

"Do you really think this is the right moment to talk about this?" Emma retailed, looking at Lauren through unfeeling blue eyes and then quickly looking away.

Lauren was about to say something else when another nice looking nurse walked up to them.

"Would you come with me? I need to treat the wounds in your hands" she asked kindly, looking down at Lauren with a smile. The green eyed girl wanted nothing but to be away from Emma so she accepted. Watching as the nurse also offered Emma a clean simple white shirt, her own was ruined, Jade's blood all over it.

She watched as the woman gently dabbed a weird smelling potion over the wounds with a ball of cotton.

"Do you know anything about my sister?" She asked, the desperation was dripping from her voice.

"I know that she's in good hands" the nurse smiled. "She's critical at the moment, you need to be strong for her, okay? Lauren nodded and stood up from the stretcher when her hands were completely bandaged and no longer hurting. She thanked the nurse and walked around the deserted hallway of the hospital. Feeling for the first time how her cellphone was vibrating in the back pocket of her pants.

"Amy?" Ren asked shakily.

"Ren? I've been calling you for ages, I've been so scared. Where are you? Are you okay? Are you safe?" Amy asked frantically, she had seen the flame of the candle disappear suddenly, she knew what that meant.

There was a moment of silence and moments later Amy heard Lauren crying softly through the phone.

"I need you here, Amy. I can't deal with this alone. I need you" Ren cried, her voice breaking all over the place.

"I want to be there for you. How do I get there?" Amy asked, her heart bleeding out for Lauren.

"I'll send someone to get you, okay?"

"Sure. I'll be there as soon as possible"

Lauren walked shakily towards the waiting room of the hospital. She saw the Sannen siblings standing at a respectful distance from Emma, who had her head covered, looking down at her feet.

They quickly approached Lauren when they saw her come. The three of them were bruised and beaten up, but they leaned forward to envelope her in a caring hug anyways.

"You okay there, sister?" Noah's deep voice spoke.

"Jade is tough, she will make it" Joël said, rubbing her back gently.

"This mutt heads are right, Lo. Jade is kickass, she will laugh in Death's face, she will give it the finger and come to kick our asses in no time. Don't worry" Adèle finished.

"Thank you, guys. I'm so glad you are here, are you all okay?"

"We need a nap, but we are fine. Is there anything you need?" Joël asked.

"Could you bring Amy here? I really want to see her" Lauren asked, the three siblings smiled.

"You know Noah is Gabrielle's mate, if you keep Amy one day we will be family for real!" Adèle said with a smile. Lauren smiled back quickly and Joël put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'll go get your girl, be back in a second" he disappeared a second later.

Minutes passed, Adèle and Noah left to get something to eat at the cafeteria and Lauren didn't feel like speaking to Emma right now. She counted the seconds, she counted and counted, pacing in the waiting room while scratching harshly the back of her neck.

A hand suddenly stopped her and when she turned around she found the light green gaze of her girlfriend staring back at her. Lauren didn't wait to throw herself at her.

Amy held her tightly, cradling the back of Lauren's head with one of her arms while she wrapped the other around her back, feeling her girlfriend start to shake against her body.

"Shh, it's fine, my wonder. I'm here with you, I won't leave you. We will get pass this together, I'll be there by your side, okay?" Amy felt Ren nod against her shoulder and kissed repeatedly the side of her face. "How is she? Do you know anything?

"No. She was already gone when we found her. No breathing, no pulse. Emma took so long in bringing her back. They were torturing her for hours" Amy grimaced, kissing Ren's hair and caressing the back of her head with her fingers. "We brought her here as soon as she was breathing again, but I don't know if she will make it"

"I'm sure she will. You look very tired, let's go get some water" Amy suggested, Ren didn't respond, but followed her towards the cafeteria.

Amy got Lauren a bottle of water and then walked her back to the waiting room, sitting down and wrapping an arm around her shoulders as she got her to take a few sips of water.

Hours passed as Amy told her the story of the veela and the wolf, trying to use it to calm her girlfriend down.

"After the wolf shifted back to her human form the veela took her to their small hut, she was ecstatic to see her girlfriend for the first time, to be able to touch her and hold her, and see her smile. The veela filled pages and pages describing her lover's every feature, and I'm sure I could do the same with you and never finish" Amy whispered to Ren, kissing the top of her head once again, watching how her cheeks got tinted pink. "The wolf didn't remember anything about herself, not her name, not her age, not her family, not where she came from, she just remembered waking up as a wolf in the forest and everything that happened from that point. She didn't have a name so the veela decided to name her herself. Since that day the wolf was named Lune, the veela explained to her that she was a child of the moon and that's why she named her that. Lune wasn't used to walking on two legs, she wasn't used to being human so the veela spend a few days teaching her how to walk again. They spend her days very calmly, taking walks around the forest, sharing kisses under the light of the moon. The veela taught the wolf how to hunt, to climb trees, to make pretty braids. Pages are filled with how they spend their days, everything was very gentle, very sweet, and one day, one normal day like any other, they made love" Amy said, caressing her girlfriend's hair, the girl was smiling and was starting to fall asleep. "They had spent all night out, the wolf had had a specially difficult night with the full moon, she still was trying to minimize the pain while shifting, but it was very hard. As soon as the moon disappeared in the sky the wolf shifted back to her human form, falling exhaustedly into her girlfriend's arms. The veela held her worn out body with care, and carried her to a near lake, holding her gently as they went into the water. None of them had the intension of doing anything else besides sharing soft kisses, but the water was warm, and the soft rays of the rising sun were hitting their skins, the kisses were hot, and they couldn't stop themselves for going one step further. Without they realizing it everything got more intense, the kisses, the touches, the wandering hands...

"Friends and family of Jade West?" A doctor in blood stained green scrubs, walked into the waiting room with a floating notepad and a quill trailing behind him. Lauren jumped from her sit and was right in the doctor's face in an instant, Emma just right next to her.

"Doctor, how is my sister?" Lauren rushed out looking up at the worn out looking woman. Emma was looking directly into the doctor's eyes, making her clearly uncomfortable with her intense glare and pushing her to answer.

"She's alive, and that's more than we can ask from her after what they did to her" the doctor said, her face grim. Amy gripped hard Ren's hand, rubbing her thumb against her skin gently. "It's a miracle that she made it out of there alive, the amount of Aconitum in her system would have killed a lycan hours ago, she's definitely strong. We lost her twice on the table, the amount of blood loss, the trauma and the high blood pressure, those factors made really hard for us to keep her alive. At the moment she's unable to breathe by herself, she inhaled great quantities of Aconitum and because of this her air ways have been heavily compromised. We performed a tracheostomy to aid her with breathing, and along with the oxygen the potion that should counter the effects of the Aconitum is also flowing in her system, like this her airways should get better and less constricted, as long as her airways are clear enough we will take the tube out. She's a Lycan, her body was very resistant to the beating she took, her ribs even if we have been able to mend them will take time to stop hurting as well as her dislocated shower. Most of the stab wounds located all over her torso and abdomen are harmless, they weren't done to harm her life, it was just with he purpose of making her suffer, they will heal quickly. The most dangerous one is one located in her right shoulder, it went from the front and through her back and it will take time to heal, she will need physical therapy to gain back complete movement of that arm..." The doctor stopped to take a breath, sighing quietly right after. She hadn't gotten to the worst part yet.

Amy was holding back the urge to vomit, she saw how Ren started heaving and wrapped an arm around her waist, trying to keep her composure as she held her girlfriend securely in her arms.

"Continue" Emma said, and Amy felt Ren tense in her arms, they have never heard her voice so cold. The doctor turned her face to look at her.

"She has a severe wound in the head, her brain was swelling and she was deprived of oxygen for too long, she slipped into a coma, we could do nothing to avoid it. It'd be a miracle if she survives the next two nights, if she does there might be a chance of recovery, but if not..." The doctor stopped herself from uttering another word when Emma gave her another sharp glare. "We will continue doing everything we can to help her. She's in the ICU at the moment"

"Move her into a private room" Ren said, her voice stern. "We want to be with her alone, move her into a private room"

"I'm afraid I can do that miss, her state is critical, we can't move her, and I can allow you to visit her until she's stable enough" the doctor said, taking a step back when she saw Lauren's eyes turn silver.

"You will takes her into a room, and you will let us be with her as long as we want to" Lauren said. "It's an order" the doctor frowned at the disrespect.

"Who do you think you are to give orders here?" She questioned Lauren, taking one step forward.

Lauren pulled away from Amy and straightened her back, rising her hand for the doctor to see, showing the woman her ring, the ring. The sun and the moon together. The symbol of the kingdom, Fallen Leaves.

The doctor gasped and took a step back.

"I'm sorry, Miss... Miss..."

"Jekyll" Lauren provided, looking at her with clear anger in her eyes, her jaw tense and her voice cold.

"I'm sorry, Miss Jekyll. I'll make sure your sister is moved into a private room with the best care possible right now. You can make your way towards the third floor room 3-27 on the right side, she will be there by the time you and your companions get there" Lauren nodded courtly at her and watched her leave.

"You should go and see her, we will stay here and keep watch" Noah said, and Lauren nodded, clutching Amy's hand tight and pulling her to the stairs. Emma had gone up stairs as soon as the doctor had mentioned the number of the room.

Amy saw Ren stop right at the door, her face sporting a deep grimace as she held onto the doorknob.

"It's okay, my wonder. I'll be right here all the time" Amy whispered, kissing the side of her face as Ren pushed the door open.

It wasn't what Amy expected, Amy expected machines, buzzing, white lights and beeping. There was none of that. No machines, no white lights, no beeping noises.

There were big windows and a big rustic bed in the middle, next to it there was a bedside table full with small vials. And on the bed, there was Jade. Amy was having trouble believing it, it didn't look like her at all, it couldn't be her, this disfigured and mangled figure couldn't be Jade, it just couldn't.

Her head was bandaged, and so was her torso and arms, her left arm strapped to her body in a sling made with a blanket. The scariest thing was the tube protruding from her neck, the sight was gruesome. Amy looked away for a second, and then back again, just noticing that the tube wasn't connected to anything but a plastic pump that had some kind of weird fumes or smoke inside, and that was pumping alone, there was nothing making it pump, it just was.

Amy then watched Jade's face, grimacing when she saw the burns around her mouth and nose, reaching her cheeks. Her eyes were also deeply irritated and swollen, completely red. Emma was sitting next to her, silent tears leaving wet marks down her cheeks as she picked up one of the vials, pouring a bit of its contents onto a ball of cotton and then pressing it gently against the burns around Jade's mouth, Amy watched in amazement as the harsh burns ended up being just red irritated wounds on her skin.

Emma took her time, pressing the ball of cotton as gently as she could against Jade's lips, trying to not look down at the tube in her neck, at the purple handprints marked on her skin. There was almost no expanse of skin that wasn't burnt or injured. Emma was doing her best to not break down, she knew it was her fault, Jade wasn't supposed to leave, but she did because Emma hurt her, and now here she was, lying on bed with a tube keeping her alive. Emma's tears continued to fall as she pressed the ball of cotton gently over Jade's nose, watching as the burnt flesh slowly healed.

Amy watched Ren walk to her sister's bedside, drop to her knees and clutch her hand with a pained expression, her eyes blazing silver as she pressed her lips against the back of Jade's hand. Amy stood back, trying to give them some space as she watched Ren's eyes turn dark as she whispered to Jade softly, her face looked harsh and angry, in her eyes there was a madness that she had never seen before, a dark desire. When she finished, Amy watched her kiss Jade's hand once again and lean up to press her lips against her forehead, standing up to pull a chair next to the bed for herself and then another for Amy.

Ren looked up at the blonde, motioning to come closer, Amy moved slowly, sitting next to the bed as Ren curled an arm protectively around her shoulders. Even if she was still a little put off by the look she had seen in her eyes, Amy did nothing but press her body against her girlfriend's side and kiss the side of her face while holding the hand that wasn't tightly attached to Jade's.

"She will make it, I'm sure. She wouldn't leave you, she loves you too much, she will fight" Amy whispered to her and Ren breathed in deeply.

"Emma" Ren called, and watched as the girl looked up at them, her gaze broken. "I know you saw the rune she carved in her arm the day she did that spell, the spell she used to give her health and power to someone else. I need you to show me the rune" Amy tensed, her eyes alarmed, that didn't sound good at all.

"I wouldn't tell you anything about the rune even if I could, I know that Jade wouldn't want me to tell you and I don't remember the rune completely, it was paired with an spell and Jade never mentioned it, without the spell the rune is useless" Emma said, going back to stare at Jade's face and placing her hand on the top of her head, caressing it gently with her thumb over the bandage.

Amy felt Ren's body tense in frustration, and anger.

"The last thing Jade would want is you losing your health to help her, you know she would be enraged if you did that, she's strong, she will pull though on her own, please, have faith" Amy tried to convince her.

But how could Lauren do nothing when seconds later Jade's back arched from the bed, arms and legs moving uncontrollably as the seizure took over her body, a beeping sound flooded the room and doctors appeared inside seconds later, ushering everyone out.

Amy moved away on her own, pulling Lauren, who seemed to be completely lost and shocked, by the hand. All the time the blonde watched Emma.

The white haired girl had to be pulled away from Jade by force, nurses trying to take her away as she fought, screaming at Jade all the way, begging her not to leave. Her screaming seemed to pull Lauren out of her trance, because a moment later the emerald eyed girl had her best friend by the waist and carried her out of the room, the door closing in their faces as Emma let her body rest against Lauren's, resting her face on her shoulder.

"This is my fault, I'm sorry Lauren, I'm so sorry. This is my fault"

"It isn't, you didn't do this to her, it is not your fault. Don't say that" Ren hugged her tighter, brushing her fingers through her hair gently. "It's their fault alone, and we will make them pay"

"We will" a masculine interrupted. Emma, Lauren and Amy turned to look at him, at Draco, who came walking to them with his face darkened, Niclaus at his side, his face expressionless as always. "We were able to caught many of them, there were others who disappeared as soon as the dragon got there, but we have many of them, and we will make them pay"

The doctor came out of Jade's room with a tired face, she just gave them a soft nod before speaking,

"Visiting hours are almost over, only one of you can stay with her. That's not something that can be changed" she said, when she saw them all with the intention of interrupting her.

"You stay with her" Lauren told Emma. "I'll be here tomorrow as soon as the visiting hours start. Call me if anything happens, okay?" Emma nodded quickly and Ren hugged her tightly, kissing her forehead after and turning around, taking Amy's hand on her way out.

"We have people surrounding the place, if they were to attack us we will be ready. I found you a place to stay right in front of the hospital. I'm gonna speak with the doctor to move her to Morgan West Magical Hospital so she's closer to your home, is there anything else I can help you with?"

"No, thank you, Draco" Lauren whispered, she gave him a slight nod and walked away.

...

Emma walked back inside Jade's room with her chest feeling heavy, it was a suffocating sensation, it made her feel like her breathing was constricted, like everything inside was failing. Amazing, wasn't it? How the lack of one, single, short, unconscious breath could make the difference.

Emma sat next to Jade, knowing perfectly that what she felt wasn't real, that she was perfectly able to breathe, that everything was in her head. Jade couldn't say the same, Emma thought. She actually couldn't say anything

Emma watched once again the tube in her neck, the one that kept her alive, a mere piece of plastic. Emma watched the purple marks, the handprints in her neck. She shuddered and again it was something of the mind, she wasn't cold, not cold at all. Her eyes watered. That was the difference, usually when Jade was cold, the room she was in would get colder too, the space around her would get colder, her skin would be pale white, fresh and looking like porcelain, her lips would look blood red, and under the black polish of her nails her skin would be pink, but now, now the room was warm, and her hands were freezing in the kind of cold that tells you something is wrong, her skin looked grayish and sick, the skin under her nails looked blue, and her usually blood red lips were literally blood red, burnt and hurt with aconitum.

Emma knew it was her, but that didn't make believing it any easier. Just days ago they had been together, laying in bed while speaking. She remembers every word Jade spoke that day, and it made Emma smile, because when she first saw her in that basement, dead, she couldn't remember the sound of her voice, she couldn't remember the feel of her hands, and worst of all, she couldn't remember the exact shade of blue of her eyes, it was impossible, sometimes they looked grey, some others blue, most of the time both, and Emma wanted to see every shade, every single one until she wasn't left breathless by her gaze anymore. She knew that wouldn't happen, she would always shiver under Jade's gaze, it happened the first time they saw each other in Lauren's basement and it happened the last time they saw each other in their room, even when Jade's eyes lost their light they still made Emma feel some kind of way, they always made her feel something.

Emma smiled, leaning forward to place a gentle kiss on Jade's bandaged forehead.

"I remember the first time we saw each other, you almost freeze my arm off" Emma chuckled. "You entered the room loudly, banging the door against the wall, and looking so fierce, you hair was moving behind you wildly, and your jaw was tense as it always is when you are stressed. I was in pain, and you weren't sorry, you still aren't because you knew how far you could go before hurting me, and still as soon as we locked eyes you stopped" Emma said, feeling like the silence in the room would eventually swallow her. "I didn't notice that little detail until very recently, i was pressing your chest as hard as I could, and I was looking at your face, looking so desperate and agonic even unconscious, and I couldn't stop thinking about the first time I had really looked at you, and how you had stopped, how your eyes lost all aggression as they looked into mine, how they simply softened" Emma whispered, caressing the top of Jade's head withe her thumb. "I know what we are Jade, I know that Lauren refused to tell me when I asked, but I know, I feel like I have always known, it's like when you need an answer, and it's right in front of you, but you don't see it because you are looking for something else. I thought my question had been answered five years ago, when Lauren and I kissed for the first time, but I was wrong, and it is still hard for me to see anything but her. She's definitely right we are not the same, my heart doesn't speed up when I look at her as it did before, and yes, sometimes my chest aches when I see her with Amy because I know that if we hadn't been separated we would be together now, it's a nostalgic feeling more than anything else. I think that meeting Lauren was only the path that would lead me to you eventually, that's the way I see it now. I know it can't be a coincidence, I know it isn't, out of all the people the Queen could have chosen to take care of Lauren she chose you, and the led to our meeting. In the world we live in nothing is a coincidence and I can't ignore the way you act with me, you were really good at keeping it covered, keeping me unaware of it, but I just had to feel you dead under my hands to see how a live without you would be, and I realized that I didn't feel like living without you there to mess with me and make me smile" Emma smiled through her tears, her free hand moving to caress Jade's cheek. "You made everything feel like it was nothing special, but it was, wasn't it?" Emma asked, always smiling at Jade, her eyes tired. "You let me be a part of your life, you made me feel like I can count on you, and I know I can. You refused to let me do everything around the house, and washed the dishes and bought food as often as you could, you let me take care of you" Emma whispered, her smile slipping from her face as her sorrow got too strong. "You told me parts and bits of your story, you told me about your dreams, and even if you don't feel like the best of all roll models, you were Lauren's and she turned out to be pretty awesome if you ask me. She still needs you, you can't go away now..."

Emma breathed in deeply, looking down at her lap and noticing for the first time that she was wearing a shirt that wasn't Jade's and for some reason that bothered her.

"You never said anything about me wearing your shirts, and I have seen how there are always more of these shirts. I know you have noticed that I don't have much clothes. I have found in our closet sweaters, they are all gorgeous and very light in color, you would never wear them, they are not yours, but they are there and I know you have gotten them for me. I have also seen shirts, and jackets, pants, and underwear. You have put them there without me noticing, and you have said nothing about them, but I know you got them and I never had the chance to say thank you" Emma muttered, her eyes blurry with the flood of tears. "I'm the only person you have let ride Lyth with you, your dragon, and you have done everything you can to make me feel better about myself, I value that, but it's hard" She paused. "I never saw any of this as more than you being nice, and then I noticed that you aren't like that with anyone else. I hope one day you forgive me for what I told you, it was unfair and hurtful, I didn't mean it at all, I promise you that, I didn't mean it"

Emma stayed in silence once again, and looked up at Jade's closed lids, lids that were swollen and red, deeply irritated.

"I promise you Jade, that we will never have just sex again, ever" Emma whispered to her and leaned down, placing soft peck in her hurt lips. "You told me once that you wouldn't go away. It wasn't a promise, but it felt like one to me. Come back Jade, please, come back" Emma whispered, her heart falling to her feet when a blaring siren filled the room. She broke into sobs once she saw one of the doctors burst inside and straddle Jade's waist, putting both hands against her chest and pressing down.

The doctors were shouting to each other, wands drawn and pointed at Jade, each one of them checking something different and shouting the results to one another.

Emma was being restrained by a male nurse as they took Jade out of the room. The constant blaring noise that symbolized her lack of heart beat still resounding in Emma's ears.

...

"Do you know what family is?"

Amy felt a shiver go down her spine, her skin chilled and she stayed still, she knew that Lauren wasn't looking for an answer, she knew she wasn't supposed to answer her question. Lauren's usual posture was gone, she stood painfully straight with her chin up as she paced in the room slowly, her steps hard and heavy, her face was expressionless as she twirled what looked like a circular pin between her fingers with ease.

The room was nearly completely dark, in the magical world there was no electricity, no bulbs of light, just flames and candles. In their room there were very little candles left alight, but they were enough to let Amy see how Lauren's eyes shone with malice, with anger, with something Amy had never seen before, not in Lauren's eyes, the darkness that had always been there was now accompanied by a deep desire of aggression.

"She taught me how to drive a car, she ran with me in the deep of the forest, she told the best stories I have ever heard, she wrapped me in her arms, she healed my wounds time and time again, she fed me, she got me everything I ever needed, she was there every time she could. She taught me everything I needed to know about life, about love, about freedom..." Lauren said strongly, holding the pin between her fingers, it was a circular pin with a dragon inside. Amy had never seen her with it before. It was a dragon spitting flames and engulfed in ice. "I know what family is. My family is her, only her, she's the only one I have left and she was tortured, nearly killed by some bastards who wanted to send a message to the Kingdom" Lauren spit out that last words with so much disdain. "She was betrayed, someone close to her did it and when I find them, when I find them..." Amy had had enough.

"When you find them what will you do? Kill them? Torture them? Do exactly what they did? Be like them?" Amy said, trying to make Lauren snap out of this anger driven state she was in.

The blonde girl stood up and moved to cup Lauren face with her hands.

"Jade wouldn't want this, she wouldn't want you to do anything like that in her name"

"If I was the one tortured, poisoned and beaten to death, Jade would freeze each of their limbs until they fell off and then feed the left overs to her dragon. She would make them wish they weren't even born" Lauren said, and Amy knew Jade enough to know that it was the truth.

"I'm sure that if someone ever lays a hand on you Jade would do that and more, and I swear to god I would help her, but Ren, I'm sure she would never want you to be like her in that way. You said it yourself, she taught you about life, about love, about freedom, not about torture and revenge, you are not that person, and I'm sure she wouldn't want you to be that person because of her" Amy knew she was getting somewhere with her words, and she thanked whoever was looking after them up there because she wasn't stumbling between words, she had never been good at speaking, she wasn't good at speaking, but she was saying what needed to be said, she didn't want to see Lauren like that ever again, so full of hatred and anger, so bloodthirsty.

"What am I going to do if she leaves? What am I going to do? I'm not ready to be alone Amy" Lauren whispered, and Amy watched those hard eyes fade away and let the pained grey sip in slowly, so full of fear and despair it was making Amy's chest ache.

Amy looked up into her eyes, she rubbed her upper arms, she smiled, and then she spoke once again.

"You will never be alone Ren, I'm here and so is Emma and Bastien and Thomas, we are all your family, we all love you. You are not alone, and I'm sure that Jade will pull though this"

"It's not the same, they will never be what she is, no one is gonna fill the space she will leave if she dies, no one" Ren's voice broke and Amy brought her close for a tight embrace.

"She's gonna be okay darling, I'm sure. She wouldn't leave you now, she wouldn't leave now that she's needed so much" Amy whispered.

"I'm not so sure, it was Aconitum, they gave her so much of it" Lauren cried. "It must have been so painful. That alone is enough to kill her, being in a room with it is enough I weaken us, they made her inhale it, swallow it, they practically bathed her with it" Lauren said, her breathing getting harder as she spoke each word. Amy winced, she knew, she had seen Jade with her own eyes. "I can't get the image out of my head, of her limp and lifeless, soaked in her own blood, lying there fragile and weak on the floor. I can't stop imagining how they did it..."

"Shh shh" Amy kissed gently Lauren's lips to shut her up. "Stop, don think about that. Think about my hands, think about how they feel around your body, how my breath feels against your neck, how my lips feel against yours" Amy whispered, leaning forward to pull Lauren closer, feeling the girl's cheek press against her shoulder. "Think about our night in the cave, how our body's intertwined in the warm water, how we kissed, how the fire felt so close to us, think about us, Ren, about me and you, together" Amy murmured, Ren was breathing evenly now, her body relaxed, hands around Amy's waist.

"I don't know what I would do if you weren't here with me" Ren said, pulling back slightly to look brokenly into Amy's eyes, her own were filled with so much pain, the blonde could barely stand to look at them.

Amy leaned in, taking Ren's lips with her own, wrapping a hand around the back of her neck and kissing her with sweetness, a sweetness tainted by the taste of Ren's tears, her lips started trembling slightly between Amy's and her jaw was tense, it didn't take long for the kiss to be broken by a quiet sob. Amy was quick to take her to the bed and make her rest against her chest.

"You will never have to ask yourself that, ever" Amy told her, kissing the top of her head and tightening her hold around her body.

Amy whispered the softest word she could think of, she caressed her back gently, she kissed whatever part of her body was close enough to be kissed. And when she stopped feeling Ren's tears hitting her skin, when she felt her breathing evening out and her body going limp, was when she finally allowed herself to close her eyes.

She was woken up in what felt like minutes later. Ren was screaming in her sleep.

...

Emma was amazed, even in her state Jade got to have the most beautiful hair Emma has ever seen. It was pitch black and wavy, natural curls at the ends, unnatural softness and a thickness that felt wonderful between her fingers.

Today she had been allowed to brush her hair, and she was enjoying it, she knew Jade wouldn't let her touch it other wise, she would say that Emma would mess it up and then she wouldn't be able to do her killer flicks, so she was doing it slowly, enjoying the feel between her fingers and being extra careful with the wounded side of her head, the bandage had been taken off, but the part where the wound was was still covered, the wound started on her temple and got lost in her hair. Emma thanked the Gods for the magic, she knew that Jade would through a fit if they had shaved part of her head to treat the wound, which would have been done in a regular hospital. Emma knew that they would uncover it soon, putting skin together was the quickest and easiest part, in a few days it would be done, but in the inside, Emma couldn't say the same. She knew that even in her state Jade shouldn't be having so many seizures.

The white haired girl shook her head to clear the thoughts from her head and looked down at Jade with a smile. Her face looked much better, the burns were almost completely healed, it looked just slightly red now. Emma was happy, Sunday was almost over and Jade hadn't gone into cardiac arrest.

"You are so strong, I know you will get better soon, you are doing great" Emma said, leaning down to kiss her forehead and then she moved her hand to run her fingers gently over Jade's forehead. "I'll be here with you all the time, I'll take care of you as I did before, you will be fine"

"You won't be here with her all the time" Lauren's voice interrupted, and Emma turned to look at her.

Amy and Lauren were sitting together in chairs at the end of the bed. Lauren's eyes were red and had deep dark bags under them, her face and lips were completely pale and void of color. She was leaning most of her weight against Amy, who looked tired too. The blonde girl kept one arm wrapped around Lauren's shoulders gently.

"Tomorrow is Monday, you will start your medical studies, you won't lose that opportunity" Lauren said strongly.

"I won't leave her" Emma said.

"Yes, you will" Emma was about to protest when Lauren interrupted. "We won't stay in Seattle any longer, I have classes, Amy has classes, you have classes, our lives are in Austin now. Jade was supposed to start Amy's training, but that assignment has been passed onto me now that she's unable. She will be moved tomorrow morning to the magical hospital in Austin"

"She will be moved to the Morgan West Magical Hospital? Is that safe?" Emma wondered.

"The healers have told us it is, you will be able to see her from time to time between classes" Lauren said, sighing deeply and looking down at her watch, as if on cue a nurse stepped inside.

"Visiting hours are over, you will be able to see her tomorrow once she is already moved" the nurse said, giving them a nod before leaving again.

"The hospital is heavily warded, the Sannen's are everywhere. Joël, Noah and Adèle will stay with Amy and I, if anything happens don't doubt calling me, okay?" Emma nodded, Lauren had reappeared the same thing the last two nights, it was unlikely they would have another attack, but they were taking all the necessary precautions.

"Let's go, Ren. You need to get some sleep" Amy smiled up at her and kissed her cheek. Ren nodded and took her hand, guiding Amy out of the room.

Emma looked down at Jade once again.

"Come back" She whispered. "Please, come back"

...

Somewhere in Norway.

"What do you mean when you say she's alive?" His jaw moved slowly, voice falling low and hiss-like as he looked into the fire. His eyes, completely black didn't bother to look at the person who spoke to him. His forefinger was slowly tracing the rim of the coup in his hand.

"They were suddenly attacked by a dragon, some got to fly away and are making their way here as we speak, some others were taken by them, the rest were burnt to ashes" a young man spoke, his voice quiet and afraid.

"A dragon" The man muttered with a sadistic smile.

"Yes, my Lord. It seems to be her dragon, it attacked when our men were doing rounds around the property. I don't know how she called it, her magic was blocked, she couldn't have done it herself"

"You are implying we were betrayed" the man said, finally turning around to look at the young man.

"It wouldn't be surprising, my lord, she was betrayed too" the man turned around laughing loudly. His whole body convulsing with laughter.

The young man smiled to himself, his smile falling from his face once he was thrown against one of the walls of the room, his head bounced against the rock and his gaze turned white for a second.

"Do you think you are funny, boy?" The man spat on his face while saying the words. "You stabbed your friend in the gut and brought her to me to be tortured and killed, you have an information I need and are unable to tell me because you made an un breakable vow to her, and if you tell me you die..."

"We just need to kill her, my Lord, once we do the vow will be broken and I'll be able to tell you everything you want to know" the young man uttered fearfully and his Lord just laughed.

"There are a handful of people who have the information I desire, the dammed Queens, the members of the Pentagon and you. I need to know who the Protectors are, to slit their throats open or to get them onto my side, you know who they are and you can't tell me until we take Jade West out of the picture, because if you open your mouth now the fucking vow will kill you. Tell me why shouldn't I kill you and find someone else to do your job"

"The stupidity of your men have caused this my Lord, they were playing games with her instead of just killing her. I did my part, I gave you the power over her, and your men wasted it because they wanted to have some fun with her. Don't blame me for their mistakes, you can't replace me, you know how hard it will be to get to touch someone from the Pentagon, I'm already in, everyone already trusts me. Kill Jade and you will get what you want" The Lord broke the spell he had on the young man and allowed him to fall from the wall, walking away just to turn back and strike the young man right in the face.

He fell to the floor with a busted lip, his face hurting as the Lord smiled, using his handkerchief to clean away the blood from one of his rings.

"Talk to me like that again and you won't live to see another day, I don't care about your reasons, no one is irreplaceable to me. You are dismissed" the young man scrambled to his feet, leaving the room as quickly as possible.

...

Amy watched the sunrise from her position on Ren's bed, monday was just beginning and they were both back in Austin. Her back was pressed against the mattress as her girlfriend rested on her chest, her warm breath ghosting over Amy's collarbones. Amy sighed, and continued her soft caresses to the back of Ren's neck, it had taken the blonde a while to calm Ren down after another nightmare. Amy looked down with worried eyes, the brunette was tense even in her sleep, her hand clutching Amy's shirt tightly as her factions resembled that of someone who was deeply pained. Amy kissed the top of her head and pulled the covers up until Ren's shoulders were covered.

Amy moved her hand to the bedside table without disturbing her resting angel and grabbed her phone, seeing what she had refused to see.

32 missed calls

Karma.

1 text message.

'We need to talk'

Amy sighed, watching her friend's picture on her phone and remembering how everything had unraveled the last time they saw each other. All thought left her mind once she heard Ren whimper in her sleep.

"Hey baby, I'm here. Shh, it's okay" she whispered gently, rolling them both onto their sides. She was now able to see her face, scrunched up in fear and desperation. Amy's heart clamped painfully at the sight, she leaned down to kiss her cheek gently, rubbing her back and whispering soft nothings into her ear until the room was silent once again.

She smiled when she felt Ren kiss her neck, when she felt her hands sneak around her waist to pull her closer, when she felt her leg push between hers.

Amy smiled when she felt a soft hand cupping her cheek, warm lips coming a second later and taking her own in a gentle kiss. Their chests were flush together, breaths shaky as Ren pushed against her mouth harder, nibbling at Amy's bottom lip slightly and pushing her way inside without hesitation once the blonde gave her access. The veela couldn't help but moan hotly once Ren's nails sunk on her lower back, the brunette sucking hard on her bottom lip and pulling it slightly with her teeth before letting it go and taking Amy's mouth once again, not giving her time to take a breath, fingers lightly tracing the half moon shapes she had left on the blonde's skin.

When they finally pulled away they were breathing hard, Amy's cheeks were flushed and her lips swollen and red. She leaned in to tuck a strand of hair behind Ren's ear and peck her lips.

"What was that for?" Amy asked, curling her arms around Ren's shoulders to pull her close once again.

"That was for many things, for being here, for supporting me, for not letting me lose myself to this pain, for chasing my nightmares away, for letting me be your girlfriend, for making me feel the way I do..." Ren's voice was throaty and hoarse, sounding tired and low, the rasp it usually had was now stronger because for the exhaustion and the endless crying.

"For loving you?" Amy asked with a smile, the words falling from her lips sounding soft and sure. Her heart doing flips once she saw Ren's eyes come back to life for the first time since friday.

"That still sounds a bit unbelievable to me, but yes for that more than for anything else" Ren said with a smile.

"Ren, why does that sounds so unbelievable to you?" Amy asked, her brows furrowed and her eyes worried. Ren looked away from a second.

"I feel so broken Amy, all the time, and I have these thoughts that make me just want to be done with everything. I have loved so many before and I have lost them all, I don't even know if there's anything good left of me"

"Being broken doesn't make you bad, it just makes you a fighter. Everyday you fight to pull the pieces back together, to find a way to put them together and to do that without cutting yourself. It just makes you more wonderful than you already are and I promise I will help you, I will be there for you. It doesn't matter how much you cut yourself, it doesn't matter how many times you cut me. I'll be here and maybe one day you will wake up and it won't feel like that anymore, sometimes the best way to get better it's without trying at all, sometimes the best way to do it is through living and breathing and going about your day, maybe you are trying too hard to stop feeling it, and maybe that it's stopping you from feeling better, maybe you just need to live" Amy whispered, trying to hide how worried she felt about Ren, how bad it really was. Her girlfriend struggled so much every single day, she really tried to be the best person she could be, but while doing so she was ignoring the broken pieces and even Amy knew that wouldn't get her anywhere.

"Why would you want to be with someone like me? Don't you see how much of a burden it is? I haven't let you sleep since friday with my nightmares, and I have constant headaches, I'm obviously traumatized by several things and I know I look like crazy when I start counting to myself. I can't dance to save my life, I feel truly claustrophobic at parties and I'm not the most clever person you will ever meet..." Amy pressed her fingers against Ren's lips, tired from hearing so much nonsense so early in the morning, and more than a little bit upset.

"Do you realize that most of the things you mentioned are things that are not your fault and that you can't control?" Amy said, not really waiting for an answer. "I can double those reasons, I can even triple them with reasons why you are wonderful. I truly can and I wouldn't be able to finish, do you want me to start?" Amy wondered watching as Ren's cheeks tinted pink as she shook her head while nuzzling her face against Amy's neck. "Feelings are not there to be questioned, they just are, let them be. The whys and how's are irrelevant. I have feelings for you, deal with it" Amy whispered, arms tight around Ren, smiling when she felt her girlfriend smile against her skin.

"I guess we will have to deal with each other quite a lot" Ren whispered back, words muffled against Amy, voice tired and laced with sleep.

"I wouldn't have it any other way" Amy kissed the top of her head, rolling onto her back to let Ren rest comfortably on her chest once again. Within minutes her girlfriend's back was going up and own evenly, body limp and pressed against Amy's, her face was finally relaxed, a soft smile lingering at the corner of her lips.