i Disclaimer: I do NOT own MR or its characters if they aren't my OCs. They belong to James Patterson.!

Onwards, folks~

Neches:

I watched with downcast orbs as Mom quickly began packing clothes into suitcases with what little possessions we had. She had convinced L that we had to move to a different hotel immediately, and her anxiety was palpable. I knew they were coming. There was a weird sensation deep in my stomach. I recognized the signs that something awful was on its way.

"Mo- er, I mean, Shika. There are three Axlum members, right?"

Her body stiffened like a taught rubber band, but her back was to me, blocking what expression she was showing from my sight. She had been in the middle of shoving a pile of my shirts into a duffle bag.

". . . Yes," she spoke quietly. "Zeke –the leader-, Blake –the muscle-, and Amanda –the tracker-."

Dad had told me about them, warning me to always be on guard should Mom say they're coming. They wanted her, the one who was so lonely that she gave them more power than they had ever had before. Her kindness was hardly repaid with more kindness. I was sad she learned that lesson in such a way.

"How did they obtain powers from you if you were human back then?"

She turned to face me, shaking her head with a bitter smile. Her eyes were filled with regret for having done something so rash and amusement at my naivety. I had never seen her so self-judging in the few months we'd been here.

"The first dimension I went to was about a book series Maximum Ride. There, a woman came to claim me as her daughter, bringing along three teens about my age –sixteen-. They injected me with a sedative, taking me to the secret labs where human hybrids were made by the institution known as The School. The scientists working there were fascinated by the anomaly that took place as I landed in their world. It was the portal I had Jumped in. They wanted to see what genetic mutations I had so they could build armies with the same power. I was there for quite some time, so long that I couldn't keep count.

"The drugs they kept me on also succeeded in numbing my mind. I couldn't even think coherently for more than a minute before I was pulled back under a veil of soupy fog. All that I knew was the pain during tests and no pain in between them.

"After Shun had had enough, he started trying to pull my consciousness into dreams to communicate with me. He began telling me stories that I don't remember anymore, slowly bringing back my sanity that they had broken. Soon, I could recall why I was there. If I had someone to help me escape, then I wouldn't fail, but it took some time for me to consent to ask the three kids who took turns feeding me; the three who kidnapped me.

"After some convincing, I got them to agree to help me break out in exchange for a chance to leave the horrors of their parents' actions behind. I agreed wholeheartedly. As I was being prepped for yet another experiment, Shun possessed the nurse. He took out four syringes full of different colored liquids. He said that it was serums the doctors had successfully created, and would enhance those who used them. He also told me to be wise about who i entrusted them with, and one was for me.

"When we made it away and found a place to lay low, I started debating about the needles. Well, Shun came into my dream again, and said I'd leave soon, but the three couldn't go with me unless…"

"Unless you gave them the shots," I finished.

"Yeah.. Of course, having just left my family, I badly wanted company, so I decided to only give them each half of the full dosage of the blue, red, and purple serum, taking the full dose of the black one. I told them that I didn't know what the injections would do, but they weren't too thrilled about it.

"They said I was being selfish, and that I was just like The School, so they decided to try and drug me with Novocain. Luckily, with whatever it was I had pumped into my veins, I easily escaped. I should have taken their backgrounds into consideration.. I was so stupid."

"Oh," was all I could say.

Mom.. She went through so much, but was still sarcastic more often than not. It really explained her behavior. Could I really let her go through what they had planned for her? It wasn't like I could do anything about it. Dad would probably kill me before I got the words out.

I just hope she's strong enough to endure it…

"Come on, Neches," she sighed, grabbing our luggage. "It's about time for us to meet L and Watari downstairs."

"Okay," I agreed, a little nostalgically.