I'm sorry this took so long – I had my school camp last week, so I was a little busy, but I'm back now! So here's an update for you, and I'll be back to my normal update schedule now – two or three updates a week. Enjoy!

Caroline

Sometime after I'd finished my breakfast and changed into another outfit of borrowed clothes from Vanessa – this time a pair of black-and-white printed leggings and a dark blue shirt that was longer at the back than the front, paired with a borrowed pair of black boots – I found myself in Zoe's room, looking through the meagre possessions she'd left behind. Even though I'd never set foot in this room before, I somehow knew that this was most of her stuff – she hadn't taken very much with her when she left. This was the room of Zoe London, a girl who was just discovering herself while falling in love with her best friend.

On one wall, there was an array of photos pinned to the wall. Apparently there used to be more there than there was now – some of the pins weren't holding any photos up, they were sitting there, stabbed into the wall, with a little bit of a photo caught between the wall and the pinhead. There was about five photos left – all of a smiling, redheaded girl and a younger, happier Dan. One photo in particular made me smile – Dan and Zoe were standing side by side at the beach and Dan had his arm around Zoe's waist, and their temples were pressed together. I'd always thought they looked good together, those two, and that opinion hadn't changed, even now.

"Care?"

I didn't look up – I knew that it was Ains standing in the doorway. From just the voice, I could tell that it wasn't Vanessa or Janette; the voice was much too deep. And I could tell that it wasn't Dan from the figure I could see in my peripheral vision; they were too tall, the hair much too dark to have been my brother.

I sighed, still looking at the photos of Dan and Zoe. "She really did love him, didn't she?"

"Yeah, she did. Enough to give him her only piece of jewellery, anyway," Ains said, moving to stand beside me. "She still does."

I glanced at him, my brow furrowed. "She does? How do you know?"

"I can hear it, whenever she calls. She's always asking me to ask you how Dan is."

I frowned and looked up at him. "Well, how come you've never asked me?"

His mouth twisted into a smile. "Because I always tell her to grow up, swallow her pride and call Dan."

"And she does it?"

"Every time." He replied, grinning. "I think she's a little afraid that if she doesn't, I'm going to track her down and haul her arse back home."

"Do you ever consider doing it?" I asked.

"A few times, I've considered doing it. Do you?"

I sighed and looked back at the photos of Dan and Zoe, of the happy, carefree boy that my brother used to be, instead of the hard young man that he's been replaced with. "Every single time I look at my brother, I wish she'd just end all this and come back and I'm tempted to track her down and bring her back, just so he would start smiling again."

I saw him smile from the corner of my eye, saw him reach up and knead the back of my neck quickly with two fingers before he let his hand drop, trailing down my arm. "You know, I wish I had a sister like you."

I smiled and turning to him, pushing up on the tips of my toes and pressing my mouth against his quickly before I drew away. He looked puzzled for a moment until I said, "You'd never be able to do that with your sister."

Ains laughed. "Definitely not."

I turned to back to the photos, feeling my smile fading. "I don't know if I'd ever be able to do what she's done."

"She had her reasons," Ains said, reaching out and tracing patterns that I couldn't see across the back of my hand.

"She just went to find her sisters, didn't she?" I asked, but Ains looked away.

"Didn't she?" I asked, my voice harder this time. I stared at him. "There's more to it. There's more to her leaving than just wanting to find her sisters, isn't there?"

Ains looked away. "It's not my place to tell you, Care."

"To hell it's not," I said. "He's my brother, Ains. Is there more to it?"

Ains looked away and I grasped his chin, looking him in the eye. "Is there?"

Ains sighed. "Damn you, woman."

I clenched my jaw. "Are you going to tell me now?"

He sighed softly and leaned against the computer desk. "Zoe was threatened that if she didn't leave, the people she loved would be caught in the crossfire between KORPS and MI9. Everyone she loved would die and she would be made to watch their deaths."

"KORPS?" I asked quietly, glancing towards the door to make sure Dan wasn't listening.

Ains nodded. "She chose the lesser of two evils – she would much rather that Dan be in pain than for him to be dead because of her." He glanced towards the door. "That's why you can't tell him, Care – if he knows, he'll go after her. He'll be convinced that he can hold his own, when he can't, not against the forces that they have."

"How do you know that?" I asked. "He might just accept it."

Ains scoffed. "Accept it? Care, he's your twin brother. If you two are alike in any way, he'll do anything but merely accept it."

"Fair point." I said grudgingly, to which he smiled.

"I rest my case," Ains said, starting towards me and taking my arm to lead me out of the room.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"It's a surprise," he said.

"I hate surprises." I told him.

Ains sighed softly through his teeth. "Just wait, Care. There's something I want to show you."

I was tempted to argue with him, but I reluctantly allowed him to lead me out of the house and down the street.