Ivy's POV

This is sure to end well.

Once he made sure the door was closed, Fox turned to face me. All i saw in his expression was anger. There was fire in his eyes, fire I haven't seen in a long time. But what did I expect really, he's changed a lot. So much so that it's hard to process that this was the same man I fell in love with so many years ago. Whatever happened to us? We were so in love I thought I'd never spent a day apart from him. He was the yin to my yang, but I can see clearly now that that's not the case anymore. His red hair has grown out, but was hidden in his hoodie while being held in a loose bun. The freckles on his face have disappeared leaving only a few visible ones left along with a weird scar on his nose. After all these years, it's odd to see him again. It's odd to see everyone again. But what did I expect really? We both changed, and it was all because of what happened that night.

"Why are you here?" Fox asked in a threatening tone.

I narrowed my eyebrows towards him. "I came to help," I shot back, putting my hands on my hips and standing my ground, "Obviously. I wouldn't be here otherwise if all of us weren't in literal danger."

Fox rolled his eyes. "Cut the bullshit," he argued, putting his hand to his throat, "I know you too well to know that there's something you're not telling me." He paused a moment, adjusting his hoodie to show a little bit more of his features. There were dark circles under his eyes, but in them besides anger, I could see hurt and pain. It wasn't very visible and can be overlooked easily, but I could see them in the pupils of his eyes. "You can't stop lying to everyone, can you?"

I gulped, clenching my fists slightly. "I try my best to tell the truth, but sometimes there are situations where I have no choice but to lie. And when I do lie, I do or try to do it out of the goodness of my heart."

Fox snorted, crossing my arms and looking to his left. "Because that worked out so well last time."

I growled to myself and looked the other way as well, thinking back to the last time I ever saw him. When I told him the truth about what I did and we had that big fight where it even got physical. "I was afraid I'd hurt you, but when you found out for yourself, I knew I had to tell you the truth of the whole situation eventually." I sighed and looked down at my feet. "I just didn't expect you to be so angry about it."

"Well I was angry," Fox counteracted, making me raise my gaze up to him, "I was in so much rage I was seeing red. But it was because I felt betrayed by you. You betrayed me, Ivy. You abandoned our trust and most of all your commitment to our relationship." I felt myself become small at his statement, thinking back to what Dove shouted at me earlier. "So yeah, I was mad, I'll admit it, but it was because of you and because of your secret that it made me lose control. And when I came home to see that you ditched me, I lost hope in everything." He put his hands in his pockets, letting his shoulders shrink forward. "You really did leave me in the dust. And you caused a lot of pain I can't take back."

I felt myself become more angry than before. "What about me?" I asked, raising my voice slightly, "What about the pain I went through? Have you ever thought about that? I was the one who had to make that decision, I was the one who had to go through it, I was the one who was hurt in that fight. I was the one who felt abandoned because you left me hurt at our own house so that you could go get fucked up at a bar." I gulped, nearly shouting while putting my hands on my chest. "Why else do you think I ran away from everyone? What other explanation was there for my runaway?"

"Because you were a coward," Fox answered simply, "And you still are for coming back so many years later without telling anyone anything. If you can't even admit what you did to our friends and your sister, then you shouldn't have come here in the first place. You should've expected that to happen and you should've been prepared for it." He frowned more. "After all this time, I expected you to grow up, suck it up, and get over it so that you can take accountability for what you have done."

I was silent for a little bit, feeling my stomach go sick from the emotions building up inside of me over the years. How could he say something so hurtful? Doesn't he know the time I've spent with deciding on what to do? "It's not that easy," I told him, "All I think about is what could've happened if I never did that, and because of my choice I never fully got over it. Even after so long, I think back on what could've been. Where we would have been. How we would've acted."

Fox face scrunched up, clearly not having any of it. "We would've been happy, and most of all, we would've still been together," he said with malice in his words, "But you had to go off and make a dumb decision that ruined everything."

"It wasn't dumb!" I shouted at him, feeling my jaw tighten and my head throb, "It was right! You don't think I thought over it thoroughly?! You don't think I played out about every possible scenario in my head so that I would know it was for the best?!"

"Then why didn't you tell me?!" Fox demanded, his voice as loud as mine, "Why did you keep it a secret if you knew I had just as much involvement in that 'right' choice!"

"Because I was afraid I'd hurt you!"

Fox rolled his eyes and turned away from me, putting his hands on his neck. "Don't pull that shit again."

"It's true!" I confessed, "It's always been! I was afraid for your emotions! I was afraid for your well being!"

"You can never admit you're wrong. That's why it's so irritating and pointless to argue back with you. And no matter how many times you repeat that phrase, it still doesn't fix anything. So why are you even bothering trying to get your point across?"

I was stunned by his insight, knowing that it was true. No matter how many times I try to convince him I was trying to be genuine, it still doesn't change what happened that day. But I was trying to show him my side of the story. To show him I was doing it because it was better in the end. I tried to get my point across, but he wouldn't listen because he was blinded by his own opinions.

"You're right," I admitted, making him turn back to me, "I can't take back what I did, nor the time we spent away from each other." I sighed, preparing for his outburst. "But I will still stand by every decision I've made because my only intent was to make it good for not only me, but for the people around me. Every intention I choose to make, I try to do out of love or what I believe is right."

Fox turned around fully to show that there was a lit cigarette hanging out of his mouth. My eyes went wide when I saw it. He's a smoker now? But isn't that against the rules? Won't that get him suspended at least or fired at most? Is it because of me?

"Then how do you explain this?" Fox responded in a drowsy voice, "How do you explain our fight? How do you explain your runaway? How do you explain your sister's and friend's concern for you? How do you explain our relationship if you tried to do everything out of love and ultimate goodness?"

I opened my mouth to combat his argument, but no words came out.

Fox snorted. "I thought so."

My teeth gritted so much I though my jaw would snap. "I can't do everything perfectly!" I tried to make into a valid argument, "I can't predict the future like some sort of oracle, I can't make important decisions easily like a monk, and I can't slay all the bad decisions I've made because I'm not some sort of goddess! I'm only human after all, and so are you!" I took a moment to breathe and collect myself. "And I needed you, Fox! I needed my boyfriend! I needed you to be understanding and supportive, but instead you left me injured so you could go get drunk! The greatest moment I needed you, you left me! So I'd thought if you weren't going to be there for me at the most vulnerable moment in my life, why would you be there for me in the future? Why would you try to make it work? And it sucked because." I paused to take a nice deep breath. "I thought you cared about me. I thought you cared about us."

I expected Fox to calm down at my words and reasoning, but he only got more riled up. "You wanna see how much I cared about us?!" he demanded as he dug into his pocket. When he found what he was searching for, he chucked it right at my face, catching me completely off guard.

I rubbed my forehead where the object hit me. Whatever it was seemed to be really dense and hard as it made a significant thud when it made contact with my face. I looked down at the object to see that it was a small blue pouch. I kneeled down and picked it up from the ground, glancing at Fox while doing it. He had his arms crossed, facing slightly away from me while avoiding my eye contact. I was a bit nervous to see what was inside by the way he was acting. He made it seem like some sort of poison. What if it was something dangerous? Nevertheless, I opened the blue pouch and pulled out whatever it was. When I got a good look at it, I felt guilt glide straight to my stomach.

The object was small, but looked very expensive as well as one of a kind. Surrounding the edge were little diamonds that shined in the dimly lit room and sparkled like the stars in the night sky. But on the side, the pattern of diamonds stopped to instead make way for a larger gem. Encrusted in a silver lining was a light blue gem that I could only guess was Aquamarine because my birth month was in March.

In my hand was an engagement ring.

I looked up at Fox, completely stunned and speechless. "Fox-"

"I was planning on proposing to you that night," he recounted to me, his eyes looking down at the ground, "After we went out to dinner and when we were planning to go stargazing." He sighed and slouched his shoulders. "But we got sidetracked, obviously." Fox raised his eyes so that he was staring right at me, his green eyes sparkling. " And of course, our plans went to shit, along with everything else between us." For the first time since I've seen him, his eyebrows turned upwards. "And because of it, I never got the opportunity to ask you to marry me."

I looked back down at the ring, feeling my defenses finally lower. When I gazed back up at him, he appeared to be shaking ever so slightly. I gulped. "Fox I-"

"Don't bother," he interrupted as his eyebrows narrowed like before, "I don't want your sympathy, and I definitely don't want that ring. I'm not even sure why I kept it for so long when I knew you weren't going to come back to me." Fox took the cigarette out of his mouth and let out a puff of smoke before turning away from me and towards the door. But when he reached for the doorknob, he didn't turn it. Instead he stood there. "Before," he recalled, "You mentioned something about what we could've been if that fight never happened between us. Well," he sighed, "That ring might give you a hint."

With that final note, he opened the door and closed it behind him, leaving me all alone in the semi dark room.

I stood completely still, looking down at the shimmering ring. I thought about how it reflected the little light in the room perfectly. About how the Aquamarine gemstone matched my eye color perfectly. About how absolutely perfect it was.

We could've gotten married, I thought to myself with a saddened expression on my face, We could've started a family. We could've grown old together. We could've spent the rest of our lives side by side. But I had to make that choice and fuck everything up. All of our plans, dreams, and hopes have gone to waste.

Fox was right, the decision I made was nothing more than a foolish lapse of judgement.

I finally stopped staring at the ring in my hand and instead looked at the closed door in front of me. Without taking my eyes off of it, I slipped the ring into one of my camo pant's pockets and closed it, making sure it was secure so I didn't risk losing it. Every cell in my body was wanting to run out of that door and go up to hug Fox and beg him for his forgiveness. But I knew I could never do that. He was clearly already ashamed of me being here, so why should I even bother making the situation worse. I couldn't blame him in the slightest though. All of this was my fault. All of it was. The blood was on my hands, and now I could finally see why. I ruined both of our lives, all because of what I did.

What have I done, I thought to myself regretfully.

Jay's POV

I groaned as Alder walked out the door with Dew and Holly. I squeezed the bridge of my nose as my headache grew so much more worse. It felt like my head was a time bomb, taking its sweet time before it explodes. But I refused to turn off my glasses just in case Fern woke up. He'll probably need an explanation for what happened while he was unconscious. But god damn it I wished this stupid headache would go away. If only Half Moon was with me like she was before. To comfort me, to hug me, to kiss me, to tell me how much she loves me. She seemed to always be the remedy for every obstacle I've been through ever since she arrived at the school.

She was the cure for everything when it came me. She always has been.

"Ivy," Lion randomly said next to me, snapping me out of my daze.

I looked at him, confused. "Huh?"

"Ivy," he repeated before turning to face me, "That's who saved you and everyone else when you escaped."

I raised my eyebrow, setting my head on my hand while leaning forward on a nearby table. "I figured."

"What? How?"

"My glasses only give me the ability to see figures and nothing else," I explained briefly, "And I recognized Ivy's figure immediately, but thought my glasses were messing with me because she's been gone for so long." I sat in silence for a moment. "I don't think anyone expected her to come back really."

"Yeah," Lion agreed in almost a whisper. He looked down at his sleeping son, reaching for his hand and taking it in his. "But she refuses to answer what caused her to run away. And Fox isn't corroborating any better, if anything he's being more secretive than her." He looked up at Cinder, who was on Fern's other side, then looked down at him again pitifully. "I just want to know what happened to them. Is that too much to ask?"

I shrugged. "Depends on what it is. People have reasons to keep their secrets. I mean, think about it this way," I advised, "Leaf and Squirrel kept their secret for years about who were out real parents to protect themselves as well as us. If Leaf got caught, she would've been expelled and sent away without a second thought. If we knew about it when we were young, the three of us would've felt isolated and outcasted because we would know that we were never meant to exist. We probably would've been bullied, looked down upon, or judged. Ivy and Fox's secret is probably something similar to thst. They may be afraid they'll be judged or even punished."

Lion nodded slowly. "Right," he breathed. There was a long moment between us before Cinder popped in.

"I just missed them so much," she sighed, "After all this time, I wished we were able to see them and everyone would've act the same as we did 18 years ago. I wished we got the chance to see them for the birth of Holly and Fern, for Lion and I's wedding, for you and Half Moon's wedding, for so many other things. And we can never relive the moments they missed out on." Cinder gulped before continuing. "If only things turned out differently."

"If only," I mimicked, thinking about all the things they missed. All the important moments in our lives they weren't there for. "You might want to leave for the moment. Bramble's supposed to explain what's been happening and I think you should be informed on it."

Cinder nodded. She leaned over and kissed Fern's forehead gently. While she was doing that, Lion looked at me questionably. "What about you? Shouldn't you go out there as well?"

I shook my head as they started to walk away, Lion giving his son's hand one more grasp. "I can't. I have to be here in case Fern wakes up."

The husband and wife nodded at my understanding before walking out the door ever so slowly, still not sure if they should leave their son alone. Still, they pushed themselves out the room, closing the door behind them on the way out. Once I confirmed they were gone, I leaned back in my chair and groaned, shutting my eyes tightly.

How could all of this go so horribly wrong so quickly? Just this morning we flew on the plane to Skyclan and now we're all stuck in a bunker from some psycho who wants to do nothing but end our lives. We didn't even get the chance to explore the whole Skyclan school before the alarms rang out. And since then, some of us had to escape the school on foot and almost got killed in the process. Now we have no confirmed plan to fight this guy and their army of savages, who clearly outnumber all of us indefinitely. Even when we have all of our warriors present and ready for battle, we still don't stand a chance.

To put it in simpler terms, we're all fucked.

I relaxed my posture as I silently wished again that Half Moon was here with me. Whenever I get too stressed on things, she's always there for me. She would usually pull me into a gentle hug, give me a few kisses, or sit on my lap if I was sitting in a chair. She would just love me like no other person. And I would feel like the luckiest man in the world because of it. Because of her. God damn it, I really wish she was here with me.

But my thoughts were interrupted when Fern groaned beside me.

I was zoning out so much I didn't even notice the monitor for his brain waves accelerate dramatically. His brain was now very active as he was waking up and was coming into reality once again. His eyes flickered several times as he got used to the light and his fingers twitched from getting used to moving again. He let out another groan as I took off the mask he was wearing. Fern reached up to rub his eyes as he tilted his head towards me. "Uncle Jay?" he asked in a drowsy voice.

"Yeah, it's me," I replied, not saying much else so that he doesn't get too overwhelmed.

Fern tried to sit up on his elbows, but I had to push him back down on his back. I didn't want him to waste any energy or risk getting another injury. He took a big sigh and looked up with me. Even if I didn't have my glasses on, I could still tell that he was scared. Just a scared little boy. "What happened?" he asked, "Where are we?"

I looked down at Fern, already feeling guilty for what I was going to say. The devastating news I had to tell him. "We're in the bunker," I started, "You and I, along with a few others, had to escape the school on foot and almost didn't make it. Fortunately, we all made it out alive. But, unfortunately for you, you didn't make it back in one piece."

Fern gulped and lifted his head up to look right at his legs, probably remembering what happened in the bathroom before he passed out. Sure enough, when he looked down, he saw that he had no right leg. I witnessed Fern's poor heart sink as he looked back at me with devastating eyes. He tried to reach up and grab the little bit of his thigh that was left, but I had to have him lie down again. "My leg," he gasped as he still tried to reach for it again, "My leg is gone. Holy shit my leg is gone. Uncle Jay," his gasps turned into breathy cries as he tugged on my shirt, "Uncle Jay, please do something. Please, I beg you to fix me. Please Uncle Jay."

I grabbed onto Fern's arms and had him lie on his back once again. "I can't fix you completely," I broke to him, "But I can try along with the other doctors. We're going to try attaching a workable robotic leg so that you can still walk. Don't worry about anything. It'll be like your leg was always there."

Fern looked up at me, putting his hands over his eyes. He started to shake until he pulled his eyes away to reveal that he was crying. Tears were streaming down his face as his bottom lip began to tremble. At that moment, I knew I shouldn't have said that sort of thing. I cursed at myself, ashamed I haven't thought of this scenario earlier. Fern is a sensitive kid, so I should've seen it coming from a mile away. My headache must've been so bad it was blocking out my senses. I really should get some advil, should I?

"Hey," I told my nephew as I put a hand on his shoulder, "It's going to be okay. We're going to get through this."

Fern shook his head in remorse, "No we won't," he sobbed in almost a whisper, "Alder told me the same thing right before the alarms rang out, and look where I am now. Look at where we all are now. If this is only the beginning, then this could only end in disaster." He gulped and let out a soft sob, putting his hands over his face. "We're not going to make it," he mumbled, "At least not all of us are. The Skyclan students also told me that two students were already dead because of this mess. And that wasn't even when the enemy group decided to fully attack us." Fern let out a gasp of breath while now covering his eyes with his arm. "We're doomed. No matter what we do, someone has to cost their life for us, and I'm not even sure if there will be any warriors left after this. I've given up hope for there being a happy ending. And I don't want to lose anyone, but I feel like that won't be the case."

My shoulders sank as I looked around at the empty room we were in. I hated to admit it, but Fern did have a point. Not all of us are going to live through this struggle. I remember telling Half Moon right before we headed for our flight how this will probably be a repeat of the battle 22 years ago, considering Skyclan needed as much backup as this. Now that I look around at the place I'm in, I'm regretting my words. I feel like I jinx it in a sort of way, even if I knew I shouldn't believe in that type of shit. But I guess something inside of me always knew a battle like this was going to come eventually.

And now that it has finally arrived, I'm not sure what to do about it.

I knew we didn't live in paradise, far from that actually. I knew that whatever we chose to do, there's going to be some sort of effect for what we have caused long ago. Our mistakes catch up to us, and it was Bramble's mistake that led us to being here in this exact place, struggling to figure out what's going to happen next. And whoever Bramble pissed off in the passed is nothing short of a vindictive person. A person who'll stop at nothing to kill him, or even us. My heart sank lower than the Titanic at that thought. This really will be a repeat of the Warrior High battle, and I still remember the feeling I got when it was finally over. All I felt was grief. For my sister, for my friend, for my grandfather, and for so many others. And if this will be a repeat of that devastating event, I don't think we'll all make it back to Warrior High by the time this is over. I could never imagine going back as a doctor with not everyone with me, like my brother, my niece and nephew, my former apprentice, my adopted daughter.

My own wife.

I clenched my fists as I thought of that horrible image. What if they end up dying from this future battle? What will become of me then? Will I just give up on everything? Then the thought of Half Moon being gone crossed my mind. I felt myself start to shake as unshed tears started to burn in the back of my eyes. The mere thought of her being dead almost brought me to a breakdown. I never thought of her actually being gone until now. She almost died in the last battle, and the reason she did survive was because of me. But what will happen to her now? I won't be there to protect her like last time, so will she be able to make it? Will she be able to see another day?

I took off my glasses hastily as I heard Fern go silent next to me. "Uncle Jay?" he asked in a shaky voice.

Tears were running down my face as I started to think of the worst possible ending to all of this. Everyone I loved going away like a puff of smoke. Everyone I ever cared about dead on the ground. But out of all of them, the one that stood out the most to me was Half Moon's lifeless body. I blinked several times, not even bothering to wipe the tears rolling down my cheeks. I could never imagine a world where she's gone. And I'm not sure what I would do if that ever came to be. I think my world would fall apart, because in the center of it is only her. She's my world. The woman I fell in love with is the reason I'm still here.

I silently prayed for some sort of resolution to this madness, but I knew the resolution that will come to be won't necessarily be a happy one. Because there will be some sacrifices like last time. Like Fern said earlier.

Not everyone is going to make it out of this alive.

Lark's POV

"My mission was on a terrorist attack that occurred in a nearby mall area, where 40 people were killed and a hundred more were injured," Bramble explained to everyone, "In the beginning, I was accompanied on this mission with White, Birch, and Spider until all of them were called away and were sent to another more important mission later on. But while they were still collaborating with me, we found out these attacks have all been related to suicide bombers.

"Though we found these people were committing suicide by killing others, we couldn't find any clear connection to why they would do this. These people seemed to be the average next door neighbor that had no sign of terroristic activity in the past. When the other warriors left for the more important mission, I was left there with no lead in sight and no witnesses or help. I thought I had no hope in solving this mission, until a little boy came up to me asking for help."

Bramble quickly scanned the next page before continuing. He looked up at us with determined eyes. Determination to explain this whole backstory as best as possible. "His name was Frankie," he announced, "He was the son of one of the suicide bombers, and came for me to help. When he saw me at a local police station asking for information, he thought I was an investigator and asked why his mother would do such a thing. He ended up giving me valid information I needed and helped me with finding who was behind all of this. He was a smart kid, and his memory was stronger.

"The day his mother died, Frankie received a letter from her with a concerning message. At first, he didn't know what it could mean until he gave it to me and I examined it. It said this, 'My dearest Frankie, I'm afraid I can't meet you for dinner tonight. A man from my work has invited me for a cup of coffee, so know I'll see you later, but I don't know when quite yet. Take care of yourself when I'm gone. I love you more than life. Lots of Love, Mom'." Bramble cleared his throat quickly, not wanting to waste his voice so soon. "After a close analysis, I came to the conclusion that his mother was dealing with someone supposedly from her work who was also extremely dangerous. Not only that, but I also came to the conclusion she was taken against her will as later in the mission, I found that she tried to put up a struggle with the coworker and almost succeeded.

"With this new information, I finally found the pattern with all of these suicide bombers. Not only were they taken against their will, but all of them worked for the same company and were frequent employees at the same building. Unfortunately, I was too late when I found this out because the police also caught on to this pattern and infiltrated the building before I got the chance to. They arrested every staff member, janitor, and executive they could find so they could be questioned thoroughly. They also all went through a lie detector test, but from the beginning I knew something wasn't right. If this mysterious person was smart enough to force these people into these bombs and go out in a public setting, then they were smart enough to know that the pattern would be identified sooner or later.

"Not having much of a choice, I snuck into the filing room of the building to find some answers. Whoever this person was no longer worked at that company because everyone who took the lie detector test told the truth. That they were not the person behind this. I must've searched through that room for hours without finding anything because the next thing I knew, the sun was coming up and I knew I had to get out of there before anyone finds me.

"When I was walking back to my apartment, Frankie came to me to ask something. He asked me if he could help with my investigation. I was hesitant at first because he was only about seven or eight years old at the time, but he begged and begged until I complied. He was determined to find out who killed his mother and wanted the person to get what they deserved. And to my surprise he was more help than I thought he'd be and proved that he was tougher than he looked. I went back to the filing room again that night with Frankie accompanying me. He and I searched through all of the files until there was nothing new to look at. When we still couldn't find anything, I was about to give up until Frankie found one more file behind a cabinet. In the file described a man named Zachery Zerev, a former employee for the company who recently left right before the police investigation. The file gave me everything I needed to know, about his work ethic, his fines, and antics about how he acted before leaving. It was at that moment I knew I found him."

Bramble took a nice deep breath before continuing. "I couldn't waste any more time and immediately went to his address. I had to push Frankie away because I knew the interaction would get messy, so we went our separate ways. Finally, I arrived at the place and snuck in through a broken window to find all the evidence I needed. His wall was covered in blueprints for homemade bombs as well as pictures of different people with a red X crossed out on some of them. I have never seen a place like it, and probably never will.

"Zerev woke up when I accidentally knocked over a wrench. Before I could escape or hide, he walked into the room to find me. He instantly took out his shotgun, but it fell out of his hands when I threw the wrench at him. He then charged at me with a kitchen knife, but was still too slow as I took out my handgun and shot him in the eye. The shot didn't kill him immediately, but it made him stumble back on the ground and cry out in pain. I didn't try to shut him up because his house was in the middle of nowhere and I thought no one else was in the house. But as soon as I turned around, he got up with the wrench in hand and I had to shoot him one more time, killing him with a bullet through the skull. I thought I was in the clear. I thought it was all over until I saw a little boy looking at me with wide eyes."

Bramble gulped, clearly recounting the experience like it was yesterday. "The boy looked scared as he saw the dead Zerev on the ground as well as me with an armed weapon. I knew I needed to kill him because he saw too much. I knew that very well, but when I raised the gun right towards him, I just couldn't. I couldn't push myself to kill a child. No matter how hard I tried to pull the trigger, I couldn't kill him. So I gave up and just left, leaving Zerev dead, but the child still alive. Later on when my mission was coming to an end, I read a newspaper saying that the little boy was Zerev's child. Not only that," Bramble stuttered as he looked down at the journal below him, "But I found out who he was." He took a pause to look at all of us, regret visible in his irises.

"His name was Jacques Zerev."

Everything suddenly connected like a puzzle in my head. "JZ," I realized out loud, "That's who JZ is."

The room was silent as Bramble nodded at my understanding. It suddenly all made sense. This is why JZ wants to kill Bramble so badly. It's because Bramble killed his father. But despite a lot of things making sense, that story still didn't solve everything we had questions about. "But wait," I chimed in the silence, making everyone's attention turn towards me, "Why does he have this giant army then? How did he get all these people to follow him?"

No one answered my question. At that point I knew we still didn't know everything we needed. But we made one step in the right direction because we found out who JZ really is, so that's something.

"Wait," Cinder piped up, raising her hand to catch Bramble's attention, "How do you know that this Jacques person is the JZ we're looking for? It may be someone else we don't know yet."

Bramble looked her way, holding his old journal close to his chest. "I know it's him," he assured everyone, "When the security cameras came up with the alert, I got a good look at the person who was leading the break in and I knew it was him immediately. I knew it was him because he looked exactly like his father."

I took a quick glance at Spark next to me and gave her a worrying looked. She gave one back, clearly nervous for her father. I mean, I would be to if I was in her position.

Needle stepped forward next to me, catching everyone's attention like I've done. "So what now?" she asked, "What's the next step?"

"We need to start planning for an attack," someone answered from the staircase. We all looked towards the sound to see Leaf making her way down the staircase, holding one hand onto the railing as she did so. The room was silent as she made her sweet time over to us. She turned to Bramble and crossed her arms. "I'm willing to make a truce with you. Now that you found out who killed my students, I'm willing to work with you on what our next plan of action should be." She held out her hand for a handshake. "Deal?"

Bramble looked down at her hand and shook it firmly. "Deal."

"Good," Leaf nodded, "Now I propose an idea." She looked at everyone so that she was now in the center of the room. "It may be a bit of a stretch, but if it works, we might be able to win this battle. As you all know, we are outnumbered in this fight by a lot and we already have all the warriors that are available. But I have a plan," she announced as she raised her finger up to the sky, "We need more people, as many people as we can get. So I have a job for all of you. I need you to gather as many people as you know, whether they may be warriors or not. Whether they are fighters or not. I don't even care if they don't know that we exist, all I need is their assistance in this fight, because it may cost the world if we lose to Jacques Zerev and his army."

"You're asking us to bring people from the outside world so they could fight with us?" Half Moon asked, clearly as confused as all of us.

"I am saying that," Leaf confirmed, "I know all of you know at least one person from the outside world, and I'm asking you to bring them here. We need all the help we can get, and at this time, that statement is more true than ever. I wouldn't be asking you to do this for me if the threat wasn't serious, but as we saw what happened to Nectar and Fringe, it's safe to say we are in need of assistance."

No one moved or spoke for a good moment, but one by one, people brought out their phones or callers and began to dial for whoever they had in mind. Meanwhile I turned to my friends, completely flabbergasted.

"This is insane," Spark hissed as Alder found us and walked up to the little circle we were in, "This could backfire in so many ways. Imagine what might happen if someone contacted police officers or even international agents. It'll blow our cover entirely. Our secret would be unleashed into the world."

"I know," Needle sighed as her shoulder shrunk, "This is an absolutely ridiculous plan, but like Leaf said, we don't have much of a choice."

"Yeah," I agreed, "Do any of you have someone in mind?"

Spark and Alder shook their head, but Needle nodded. "I do, but I think Half Moon is going to contact them. So I'll just leave that to her."

We all nodded, not really knowing what to do now. I looked up to see Alder being very strange. I raised an eyebrow in his direction, confused on why he was acting that way. "Hey Alder," I called, making him jump at my voice, "Are you alright? You've been acting stranger than usual recently. Not that you've always acted strange," I rephrased quickly, "You don't, but you've just been acting differently. Is there anything wrong?"

I saw Alder flush as his cheeks glowed slightly. "Yeah," he stuttered, "I'm fine. I think I just need some rest."

Before we could ask or comment anything else, he walked away towards the stairs, where a room was waiting for him. I raised my eyebrow at my friends, but they seemed just as confused as me. I looked around to see warriors talking to people of phones and callers, most likely to those who may be of assistance. But even then, I still couldn't believe that it has come to this, where we are in need of so much more help that we're willing to risk our safety and secret for help. It seems absurd, but I knew deep down that Leaf made the right decision.

We need all the help we can get after all.