Hello!

Here's chapter 29! Enjoy it!

Like the previous chapter, this contains Caleb's POV it will be clearly marked where it begins though!

Chapter 29: Mending Broken Bridges

They went back to the fire that Caleb had built and got comfortable. Ember lay back on the grass and looked up at the stars. As she looked at the constellations, she tried to think up of a plan to convince Caleb that he wasn't a monster or whatever he was thinking he was. She didn't know what to do at all... all she could think of was taking Caleb back to FutureGate and have Cybele convince him that he wasn't a monster. Maybe if he didn't listen to her, maybe he would listen to Cybele after all, she was his mother's consciousness even though he didn't know who Cybele really was.

Although the trip there would be a hard one, as Ember probably couldn't count on Tweaks and Rory coming with them, they had their own lives to get back too. Rory had to get back to the Hippocratic faction before they started a witch hunt for Ember and Tweaks had to get back to the Wolf faction to help her father rebuilt after Orion's betrayal. Before they had gone back to their own lives, Ember would need to convince Caleb of what he was thinking was wrong, otherwise she wouldn't be able to get him back to FutureGate at all. It would just turn into a game of cat and mouse with Caleb trying to escape when Ember wasn't looking and her having to find him again to drag him back to FutureGate.

Ember glanced over at Caleb, he was looking up at the stars too, his hands folded behind his head as a makeshift pillow and Ember could see that he was quietly seething. She could understand that he was angry though, after all, she had slapped him unintentionally. Ember looked back at the stars and listened to Rory and Tweaks silently whispering amongst each other. She was lying close enough that she could actually hear what they were saying.

"What are we going to do?" Rory whispered. "We can't just let them go back to FutureGate like this."

"I don't know." Tweaks replied. "One of us will have to go back with them; Ruby won't be able to keep an eye on Caleb on her own."

"Which one of us is going to do that though?" Rory asked. "We both got to get back to our lives at some point."

"We'll find a way." Tweaks replied confidently. "With a bit of luck Ruby'll be able to convince Caleb of the fact he's not a monster like he thinks by the time we get back to your camp."

"Maybe." Rory replied. "But the way it's looking right now, I'm not so sure."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tweaks demanded quietly.

"Did you see the way Caleb was acting? It was almost like he wanted to attack Ruby." Rory replied.

"Can you blame him?" Tweaks replied. "Don't look at me like that, I'm not defending his actions, but think about it. He's angry, frustrated and who knows what else he's feeling. He needs some way to vent his anger."

"So he attacks Ruby?" Rory asked. "Come on, Tweaks, we both know that he wouldn't just do that. There's gotta be something going on with him, maybe with his cybernetics..."

Ember closed her eyes against the tears that threatened to spill down her face. She just couldn't understand how people could just pass judgement on Caleb just because of his cybernetics. It wasn't his fault he had them... but as she thought about it, she realized that other people wouldn't see it that way.

"Don't say that." Tweaks interrupted. "I might not know him as well as Ruby does, but I do know that his cybernetics aren't a bad thing."

"How do you know that for sure?" Rory asked.

"Ruby told me." Tweaks replied. "His cybernetics were given to him by his mother."

"And that's a guarantee because...?" Rory asked sceptically.

"It means that he wouldn't attack someone just like a Roboid would." Tweaks replied.

"How would you know?" Caleb asked, making Ember open her eyes.

She glanced over at him to find that he was sitting up and he clearly had been listening in on Tweaks and Rory's conversation.

"How can you know that for sure?" Caleb asked. "If my mum gave me my cybernetics, how do you know that they haven't been adapted by Roboidz?"

"Because I saw the schematics myself." Ember replied, sitting up herself. "They don't look anything like Roboid schematics. You might not remember this, but when you were sick, I dug through the FutureGate mainframe and found the schematics to your cybernetics..."

"So?" Caleb asked.

"So I checked each and every inch of your skull implant and the one in your leg." Ember replied. "They're still identical to the schematics, which were signed by your mother and father, Caleb."

Ember fell silent and watched Caleb as he stared at her. The tension that then filled the air could be cut with a knife and Ember could see the mental debate he was having with himself.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Caleb asked.

Ember sighed silently, she should have expected that question to come, but still it caught her off guard. She didn't know why she hadn't told Caleb before, it was probably because of the fact she didn't have an answer to that. Other than telling Caleb the whole truth about who Ember was to him, which was something that she couldn't do no matter what. But on the other hand, Tweaks was right, she couldn't keep protecting Caleb, he was a grown man, capable of making his own choices. She didn't have the right to keep things from him if it influenced him into making choices, especially because she'd been raised to believe that people should be allowed to make their own decisions.

"I didn't know how to tell you." Ember replied. "And you're not going to be happy with that, I know... but I really didn't know how to tell you everything..."

"And you didn't try." Caleb stated.

"No... I didn't..." Ember replied. "I was planning to tell you once we were back on FutureGate, but then everything within the Wolf Faction happened, and the whole thing with my infection... and I never got the chance... Caleb I'm sorry for not telling you, I really am... I know I should've but I was trying to protect you."

"Protect me from what?" Caleb asked.

"I wish I could give you a straight answer to that." Ember replied. "But honestly, I don't know what I was trying to protect you from... I guess I was... just... trying to protect you from all the bad things that happen... I realize I was wrong in doing that, you're a grown man capable of making your own decisions... and my actions are what got us to where are we are now... Caleb, I'm sorry for everything and if you hate me for what I did, I completely understand... you've got every right to..."

Ember sighed deeply as she climbed to her feet and walked away from the campfire to where she, Tweaks and Rory had left the jeep, feeling tears burning behind her eyes. By the time she reached the jeep, the tears had started to fall. Once she had reached it she kicked the front tire of it, just to let out all the pent up frustration and anger she was feeling. Ember wanted nothing more to just drive away from everything, but she couldn't... she'd just given Caleb the whole speech about how running away from your problems was the wrong thing to do and if she left herself, she would be nothing more than a coward...

Ember climbed into the driver's seat and rested her arms against the steering wheel before letting the sobs wash over her.

Caleb's POV

Caleb watched as Ruby walked away from the campfire before looking over at Tweaks and Rory, who were both looking at him with raised eyebrows.

"Well?" Rory asked.

"Well, what?" Caleb asked.

"Do you hate her or not?" Rory asked.

"Hate her?" Caleb repeated. "No, I don't hate Ruby... I'm angry yeah, but hate her..."

"Then go after her." Tweaks stated. "If you don't hate her, go after her and tell her."

"But she walked away..." Caleb said, not understanding what they were getting at. "Doesn't that mean that she wants to be alone?"

"Normally yes." Tweaks replied, getting to her feet and walking over to him. "But in this case, you've got to ignore that, so go after her."

Without another word, Tweaks pulled Caleb to his feet and pushed him over to the direction that Ruby had walked off in. Caleb turned back to look at Tweaks and Rory for a moment and both of them gestured for him to go on. Caleb sighed before going to follow Ruby.

It didn't take him that long to find her, she was sitting in the jeep behind the steering wheel, and for a moment Caleb thought that she was going to run away, but after everything she had told him, he doubted that she would. As Caleb came closer, he could see that Ruby had her arms rested on top of the steering wheel and her face rested on her arms. Her shoulders were shaking too, as if she was crying.

"Ruby?" Caleb asked as he walked around to the driver's side.

He watched as Ruby's shoulders froze and she straightened up. She looked around for a moment and when her eyes fell on Caleb, they widened. He could see that her eyes were looking puffy and were red around the edges, confirming Caleb's suspicion that she'd been crying. He recognized the way her eyes looked from when one of the younger recruits had gotten really homesick and the others had comforted the girl.

"Leave me alone." Ruby stated.

She climbed out of the jeep and started walking away from Caleb.

"Ruby, wait." Caleb said, grabbing hold of Ruby's arm to stop her.

"Let go." Ruby stated, trying to pull her arm free. "I want to be alone!"

"Ruby, listen to me." Caleb started.

"No, let go of me!" Ruby interrupted, still trying to pull her arm free. "I want to be alone!"

"Ruby, I don't hate you." Caleb stated.

Ruby stopped trying to pull her arm free of his grip and instead she stared at Caleb with wide eyes.

"You... you don't?" she slowly repeated. "After everything I did... I hit you..."

"I'm willing to forget that I you can." Caleb replied.

"No... I can't..." Ruby replied. "I hit you... I did the one thing I swore to myself I wouldn't do..."

"Which is?" Caleb asked calmly.

"Hurt you..." Ruby replied, looking down at the ground. "I swore to myself I wouldn't hurt you..."

"Ruby, I barely felt it." Caleb stated, smirking slightly. "My reaction was mostly shock than anything else."

"Caleb, I can't talk about this right now..." Ruby said as more tears fell down her face. "Please... let go."

"Ruby..." Caleb started.

"Please." Ruby replied. "Caleb, I just want to be alone for a while."

"Sorry, can't do that." Caleb smiled slightly. "I mean, you tried to help me more times that I can remember, you tried to protect me. Let me do the same for you, just this once."

Ruby stared at Caleb for a few moments and he could see that there were a million thoughts running through her mind. After a few moments, a fresh load of tears started to fall down her cheeks and as she started to sob, Ruby put her hands in front of her face. Caleb sighed before reaching out and hugging Ruby close to him. He felt Ruby pressing her face against his shoulder and her hands gripped the leather of his jacket in a vice like grip, as if she was scared that he was going to disappear.

"It's okay." Caleb whispered. "I'm here."

Ember's POV

Ember buried her face against Caleb's shoulder the second that she felt his arms coming around her. She couldn't believe that Caleb could just let things slide like this after everything, especially after her slapping him in the face. If it had been her who had gotten slapped, she wouldn't have just forgiven the person who'd hit her like that. She just couldn't understand how he could do that... then again, as she considered it, she realized that he probably hadn't gotten into a fight with anyone else before her.

"I'm so sorry." Ember cried. "I didn't mean any of it."

"I know." Caleb replied. "It's okay, just... just let it all out."

Ember shifted her arms until they were resting around his neck and buried her face against his shoulder again as she sobbed.

And that's it for this chapter!

We're almost at the end for this one! just 3 more chapters to go!

I'm pretty excited about it:P.

Untill next time!

X Abby.