Hey you guys...

It's been a while, my apologies.
So, a little late perhaps, but not less sincere; thanks for the reviews. :)

So, here's the next chapter, finally!
Took me long enough, dammit.
I hope you guys enjoy! ^^

Chapter 14

After a small hesitation, the silver-furred mouse laid his hand on the doorknob.
His heart was racing in his chest, he was still having a hard time to believe that she was really here, waiting for him in the room behind this door.
Alive.
Taking a deep breath, he opened the door. With his eyes lowered, he closed it behind him.
The click when it locked sounded like a gunshot so loud, breaking the almost suffocating silence that hung in the room.
It was followed by the sound of rattling chains, but he still didn't look up.
As he closed his eyes, an image of his childhood flashed by and the sound of a child laughing echoed in his head.
A young girl who ran towards him with her arms spread, a big smile on her cute little face, her green eyes twinkling of pure happiness.
Rose.
His eyes flew open and looked straight into the same green eyes as the ones he had seen in his memory just now.
It were the same eyes, that he knew, and yet, they were unfamiliar to him.
Glassy.
Empty.
Dead.

"Jax…"
Her voice was toneless, the sound of it matched with the eyes.
His gaze wandered over her face, her body...
Everything about her was so different.
She was the picture perfect image of a broken mouse.
Scarred by life.
He hardly recognized her and it broke his heart.
Who was this creature sitting there, with her hands tied to the table, with those cold and empty eyes?
From what Carbine told him, it was his sister.
He knew it was.
Was she?
After yesterday's events?
Yes.
Even after what she did yesterday, she was still his sister.
His little sister.
They were bound by blood and nothing was able to change that.

"Rose…"
Slowly, he walked to the table, his eyes now fixed on her tied hands.
Even more slowly, he pulled back the chair and sat down across her.
Then, he laid his hands flat on the table and after bracing himself, he looked up into her eyes again.
"My god, Rose… I never thought I would see you again… I thought you were dead, that you… Well… I… To say it's a shock to sit here and look you in the eye again does not even begin to cover it."
Her face remained blank, she didn't even blink and his heart broke a little more.
What happened to her?
"Is she dead?"
Jax flinched by hearing that toneless voice again, feeling slightly disgusted to hear his little sister, who was always so full of love, ask him if she did or did not kill somebody yesterday.
"Who? Kiwi, who you tried to kill or Harley, who took the bullet instead?", he asked in return, his voice sharp.
Sharper than he intended to.
But she didn't respond.
She was just sitting there, looking at him with those scary empty eyes from which he knew where gonna haunt him in his sleep from this day on.
"But no, she's not dead. In fact, I heard that she's gonna be okay, in the end", he sighed.
"Pity."
His right hand clenched into a fist, but he didn't break eye contact.
He needed to get through to her.
This female mouse, this… thing wasn't his sister.
At least, not how he remembered her.
She was always so warm and full of joy.
Loving.
Caring.
She had to be in there.

"Do you even hear yourself? This isn't who you are, Rose…", he started, but she cut him off immediately.
"It is."
His left hand clenched into a fist too.
"No, it's not. Look, I don't know what happened that made you this lost, but I know you. I was there when you were born, I watched you grow up and…"
"Spare me the mushy 'good old days' speech, I don't wanna hear it", she spit out, her eyes now fuming all of a sudden.
Ah.
So she was still in there.
She always had a little temper.
Jax leaned forward, his hands still clenched, now knowing how to get through to her.
"Once there was a little girl, with curly hair and pleasant eye…"
She froze, her right eyelid twitched and she shook her head, giving him a pleading look, but she didn't stop him.
So, he continued.
"A girl who always told the truth, and never, never told a lie."
Her lower lip started to tremble now and she was still shaking her head a little, although a lot less convincing now.
"And when she trotted off to school, the children all about would cry."
Her eyes filled with tears, her ears drooped.
"There goes the curly-headed girl…"
"The girl that never tells a lie", she whispered the last sentence of the poem that had run like a thread through their childhood.
Jax nodded and laid a hand over hers.
"That's right. Remember who you are, Rose…", he whispered back.

Her eyes were now filled with pain and agony and his heart broke a little more, but this was by far less hard than looking into those dead and empty eyes.
"God, Jax… I missed you so much…", she breathed as she grabbed his hands in a tight grip.
"Same goes for me, sis. I thought I had lost you forever… and yet, here you are. If I wasn't so happy to see you, I would be mad at you for leaving me behind like that…"
"I'm sorry, but there was no other way… I had no choice…"
"There's always a choice. You could've come to me and I would've helped you. But you decided to go without saying goodbye, leaving a letter behind that gave us all the impression that you went out to commit suicide. How could you do that to me? To Carbine?"
Jax was surprised his voice didn't break.
But even if he said he wasn't angry just seconds ago, he noticed that he was.
Angry.
He was angry at her for leaving like that.
They were family.
And she just left him.
So, the anger gave him the strength he needed.
Rose lowered her eyes, tears still streaming down her face.
"I'm… I'm so sorry that I did that to you. But I had to get away. Away from…here. Here, with all the memories of… him."
Him.
"Vinnie?"
She nodded, her eyes still avoiding his, it was clear that she felt ashamed.
With good reason.
She was acting like a spoiled brat in love, goddammit.
But by seeing her vulnerability, his anger vanished like smoke in the wind.
He gave a little squeeze in her hand.
"What happened between you two? What did he do to you to turn you into this person I hardly recognize, this person that came back to kill someone?"
For a moment, she only stared down, but then, her tormented facial expression softened and she even smiled as her eyes started to twinkle.
"From the moment I laid eyes on him, everything made sense all of a sudden. My whole life, there was this emptiness that nothing could fill… But he could. I just knew he could. And he did. For one night, he did… And I don't think that I've ever felt so happy in my entire life as I was that night..."
Jax said nothing, thereby giving her the time she needed to continue.
"It's hard to explain what feeling he gave me that night, but I do know that I felt... complete and I knew, I just knew, I'd found my soulmate…"
Her smile slowly faded, the rest of her face darkened as tears filled her eyes again.
"He told me there was nothing to it, that night. That he wasn't looking for a relationship. I told him I was okay with that because all that mattered at that moment was him giving me that amazing feeling. But the next morning when I woke up, he was gone. And that horrible emptiness was back again and I… I couldn't take it. Not anymore. Not after feeling complete for the first time in my life, even if it was for such a short matter of time."
"Oh, Rose…", Jax sighed sadly, lowering his eyes to hide his shock.
He never knew.
He never knew that she was feeling like that when she was young.
He did know why.
He also knew that she didn't.

"I went looking for him, and when I found him… God, I just don't know what it was that he did to me, but I was attracted to him like a moth to a flame… But he… He was as cold as ice, he was acting so different than the night before... "
Her voice broke, but she didn't stop.
"He told me that I was nothing more but a one night stand, that I meant nothing to him… ", she sobbed and Jax couldn't stop himself from getting a bit misty too.
His poor little sister.
If she had only come to him...
"He broke my heart, he used me and betrayed me, and yet… even after all that, I couldn't stay away from him. I followed him everywhere, tried to talk to him, tried to reason with him. I tried to tell him that I couldn't live without him, I just simply couldn't. But he kept turning me down, over and over again, but I… I just… God, Jax, what is wrong with me?"
Her body shook of crying and Jax couldn't hold himself back anymore.
He knew he'd promised to Throttle and Carbine to not touch 'the prisoner', but fuck it.
'The prisoner' was his sister after all, and he needed to hold her.
So, he jumped up and walked around the table, dragging his chair with him.
After taking place next to her, he took her in his arms as far as that was possible with her being chained up.
"Easy now… hush, love, hush... ", he whispered in her ear, just like their mother always did when they were being sad.
That worked.
Well, it worked enough to make her able to speak again.
"I even... I even asked him to marry me, gave him granny's ring just like they do on Earth, so desperate I was for wanting him to be mine. But he still refused, he even got mad at me, yelled at me, called me names, even almost hit me...He broke my broken heart even more and still...still, all I could think of was how to get through to him, to make him understand that I needed him more than anything. But he left. For good. I didn't know back then that it was for good, but shortly after that he and Throttle and Modo disappeared and everyone here on the base assumed they were dead. I didn't believe it, but I went crazy staying here on the base. I needed to get the hell out of here, so I did. I wrote that letter and left because all I could think about was that I needed to go look for him…"
"You left because you went looking for him?", Jax mumbled surprised, still holding her in his arms.
"I just knew he was still alive. I searched for months. Years. I found nothing. Not until a few days back. I met a rat, the leader of the Outsiders, Tallie is her name. She told me she knew Vinnie, that he was back on Mars after being stuck on Earth, that he was gonna marry… her."

The transformation was shocking.
Jax felt how her whole body froze in his arms, he could almost smell the anger, no hatred, that oozed out of every pore all of a sudden and he quickly let her go as if she was on fire.
She straightened her back and when he looked her in the eye, his fur bristled.
Gone were the tears.
Gone was the sadness.
Her eyes were as cold as ice, and her whole face was twisted in pure anger.
"Rose…"
"No one can have him, you hear me, Jax? He's mine! Mine, mine, mine!"
Jax could only stare at her.
She was… crazy.
Then, without any warning, she grabbed his hands in a tight grip and leaned forward, as far as that was possible with her hands still chained to the table.
The look in her eyes made him lean back, almost forced him to create some distance between them, but she didn't let him go.
"I need to see him… Please, let me see him", she now begged, the anger turned to despair in just a split second.
"Jax, please, I'm your sister… your little sister… Do this for me… I'm begging you…"
Scratch crazy.
Insane came closer.
"Go get him, please… please!"
No.
Scratch everything.
Jax just knew there was more to it and the first pieces of the puzzle already fell in place.
There were still some pieces missing, but he knew just where to find them.
He needed to talk to Throttle.

…

Modo dropped on his bed and closed his eye.
He was exhausted.
It was only yesterday that Harley got shot, but taking care of Shaylon was already taking its toll.
The boy was worried sick about his mother and it cost Modo a lot of effort to distract him a little.
It just wasn't normal for a boy of his age to feel this responsibility for his mother.
Of course he cared and he should, but this… this was different.
But now, Shaylon was finally asleep and Modo decided to use the time to get some sleep himself.
After the wedding and what followed, he hadn't been able to sleep, simply because Shaylon couldn't either, not even after a long drive through the desert.
Modo's eye closed and he slowly drifted off, but then…
"Modo…"
His eye flew open again and he looked straight into the smiling face of Amira.
"Amira ma'am, what..", he started, but she laid a finger on his lips to shush him.
"Ssssh… We don't want to wake Shaylon", she whispered and Modo quickly looked at the small boy who was lying in Vinnie's bed, since the white-furred mouse was MIA since he'd left the cells after fighting with Stoker.
But the kid was still sleeping like a baby, thank the Mothers of Mars.
Modo looked back at his fiance and held up the blanket.
"Wanna join me?", he asked softly.
"I thought you'd never ask", and she crawled under the blanket.
As she snuggled against the grey-furred mouse, she let out a satisfied sigh.
"Even if the world outside is falling apart, everything is okay as long as I'm with you…", she whispered.
Modo's heart warmed up by these words and he pulled her even closer.
"Same goes for me, darling."
They both grew silent again and Modo closed his eye, tired as he was, but again, Amira stopped him from falling asleep.
"Modo?"
"Hmmm?"
"I'm pregnant."

...

With a loud bang, the door from Carbine's room flew open.
Throttle and Carbine looked up surprised, only to see Jax standing in the doorway who was clearly upset.
"Jax, you okay?", Carbine asked, even though it was obvious that he wasn't.
"Did she give you some answers?", Throttle asked before Jax could answer the first question.
The silver-furred mouse said nothing, but closed the door behind him and took place next to Carbine.
He folded his hands and laid them on the table and for a moment, he just stared at his hands.
Carbine shared a worried look with Throttle, but before they could ask more questions, Jax opened his mouth.
"Rose is part of a twin."
Carbine's eyes grew big.
"Say what? What are you talking about? You never…"
"She was born first and shortly thereafter, her brother followed", Jax cut her off, still staring at his hands.
Carbine opened her mouth again, but Throttle stopped her by laying a hand on hers.
"Let him talk", he whispered.
Jax didn't hear them, or he pretended that he didn't.
Either way, he continued with toneless voice.
"My mom couldn't be happier, she had no idea she was carrying a twin. I still see her sitting in that bed with a baby on each arm, her face shining like never before. But just right after she spoke his name, his breathing stopped. My dad did everything within his power to save him, but he still died. Like he said; it just wasn't meant to be,"
Jax now looked up, his black eyes filled with sheer sadness.
"My mom made us swear never to tell, I don't know why, I mean, it wasn't something to be ashamed of, but she remained adamant; nobody could know. My dad buried him in our garden that night and with that, he buried his entire existence. I was just a kid, I had no idea why we needed to erase him out of our life, but I did understand that I wasn't allowed to tell anyone. So I didn't. No one did…There were even moments that I forgot about him."

Carbine covered her mouth as tears filled her eyes by hearing this sad story.
Her sister, her own sister, had kept this from her.
And why?
Probably because she had no idea how to handle the sudden death of her own child, a thing Carbine couldn't blame her for.
She herself couldn't tell how to deal with such a terrible loss, but she did know that completely erasing him as if he never existed wasn't the way.
Throttle was still having his hand on hers, holding it tightly, quiet as a mouse.
There had to be a reason why Jax was telling all this and his instinct told him this was only the beginning.
The usual cheerful silver furred mouse looked small, the way he sat on that chair with his shoulders slumped.
Jax swallowed with difficulty before he continued.
"I spoke to Rose. And she told me…"
For the first time, his toneless voice broke.
Throttle gave him a friendly nod, to let him know it was okay to take the time he needed to grab himself together and Jax gave him a sad smile in return.
"She… she told me that her whole life, she felt an emptiness inside of her that nothing could fill and I… God, I never knew. She never told me…"
"I assume she doesn't know about her brother?", Throttle opened his mouth for the first time.
Jax shook his head.
"No, she doesn't. If only she told me… Shit, if I knew she was feeling this way, I would've told her and then all of this never would've happened and…"
"Don't blame yourself for this. Blame your mother. She should never have asked you to keep this a secret, that's just wrong on so many levels", Carbine cut him off, wiping off her face angrily.
"What I think is that we can't change the past and blaming someone for something that happened in the past will only turn you into an embittered mouse", Throttle said calmly as he squeezed Carbine's hand.
When she didn't respond, he focussed his attention back on Jax.
"I'm curious why you're telling us all this. What did you find out?"

The silver-furred mouse took a deep breath and then cracked.
"Really, she seems as if she has lost her mind, everybody must think that she's a total wacko, me included, at first, that is. She has mood swings that aren't familiar to me, it's almost scary how quick she switches between different moods, as if she's having multiple personalities, I hardly recognize her…", he babbled, now on a roll and almost tripping over his words.
"But this is my sister we're talking about, my little sister… I was there when she was born, I was there when she grew up and this isn't her. She ain't the type to go completely insane because of a guy, to let herself being this obsessed…"
"But she is, Jax. Obsessed. We can't ignore the facts here", Carbine interrupted his waterfall of words, but Jax hardly heard her.
"She told me what happened, she told me everything… She told… She told me that… that Vinnie gave her the feeling of being whole again... ", the silver mouse now stuttered, it was clear to Throttle that the poor guy was feeling more than confused.
He himself wasn't so sure about all this either, mainly because Jax was right; Rose wasn't the type for this kind of drama.
Why he hadn't thought about that earlier he didn't know.
Perhaps because it wasn't his business, but then again, he was close to Vinnie and Carbine, so didn't that fact make it his business?
He stopped himself, he should know better than to dig up old skeletons.
Besides, he had no idea that Rose just about stalked Vinnie back then, not until the white furred mouse told the story, back on Earth.
I mean, the guy had been surrounded by girls ever since he'd joined the Freedom Fighters, so one more or less didn't exactly stand out.
Either way…
What mattered was the present and how he was gonna handle this situation here and now.
Today, this whole thing was his business.
And his instinct told him something fishy was going on here.

"I can't stop thinking that there's more to it, but I'm having a hard time connecting the dots… I wondered, wasn't Vinnie part of a twin too?", Jax asked in the same breath.
"Yeah, he was… or is…", Throttle mused, rubbing his chin as he let his mind wander back to the time that his younger bro and Rose met.
It was after Harley disappeared, that he knew.
Hmmm…
He replayed Jax his words in his mind, over and over again.
What was he not seeing that he needed to see?
"Throttle", Carbine started, but he held up his hand to stop her.
"Give me a moment, babe", he mumbled as he closed his eyes, his brain making overtime now.
So again; Rose and Vinnie met in that awful period after Harley's disappearing.
Vinnie...
His youngest bro was completely lost back then, wandering around to find someone who could heal him after his connection with Harley was brutally broken.
An exposed mind left behind...
Rose…
A young girl, wandering around to find someone who could make her feel whole after her connection with her twin brother was brutally broken, although without her knowing.
An exposed mind left behind…
Connecting the dots…
Connecting the dots…
Connect…
Throttle's eyes flew open.
"I think Stoker might be able to help her."

…

Kiwi slowly opened her eyes and the first thing that hit her were her sore muscles.
A moan escaped her mouth as she moved her head and with a little effort, she eventually succeeded to get upright.
Looking around her, she noticed that she was sitting on the floor, still wearing her wedding dress.
"Man, how much did I drink last night?", she groaned as she rubbed her stinging eyes.
Her throat was sore and felt a little swollen.
When she did an attempt to get on her feet, something stopped her.
Her gaze lowered and she now saw that her legs were entwined with legs in black biker jeans.
A white-furred tail was lying on the ground as a lifeless snake.
A naked, muscular white furred torso, big ears…
A smile curled her lips when her heart warmed up with love for this sleeping creature.
Her soulmate.
Her home.
Her… husband.
It was gonna need some time to get used to that.

But why on Mars did they lay on the floor and for how long?
The sun was already standing high in the sky, warming up the room to almost unbearable temperatures, the cold of the night long gone.
She lifted her hand and her fingers slid along the most precious earring she ever had.
They were married.
They were really married!
A dream coming tr…
Wait.
It suddenly hit her.
The shot.
Harley.
The skinny and dirty female mouse, a gun in her small hand…
"No…", Kiwi whispered as the sorrow that was driven away by sleep now once again overwhelmed her.
Her outburst.
She looked at Vinnie again, who was still out like a light, and her heart made a little jump.
She had yelled at him.
She had blamed him for this life they were living, even if he was the last one to blame.
Jesus, she had totally lost it.
Shame made her cheeks burn.
This was by far the worst wedding night in this entire galaxy, that she knew for sure.
No one could conquer this.
No one.

Seeing Vinnie's relaxed face, his anger and worries gone for now, it was guilt that tied her stomach in a knot.
With clenched teeth, she untangled her sore body, kneeled down next to him and reached out her hand.
"Vinnie", she whispered as she touched his cheek tenderly.
He frowned and made a little sound, but he didn't wake up.
"Vinnie, please, wake up… I'm so sorry…"
His frown got deeper and the tip of his tail twitched.
"Vinnie…"
Too late she realized that she shouldn't wake him up, not when he's this deep asleep.

'Waking a soldier with trauma can be dangerous.'

It was Throttle's husky voice that echoed in her head.
And, as usual, the tan-furred mouse was right.
A loud click.
Cold steel against her forehead.
Vinnie was already sitting upright and he looked at her with a wild look in his eyes as he held his gun against her head.
"Jesus, Vin, put that away. You're almost giving me a heart attack here", she breathed while grabbing her chest.
The wild look faded and his ruby red eyes grew big as he quickly threw the gun over his shoulder.
"I'm giving you a heart attack? I almost died just now, sweetheart", he panted, wiping off his forehead.
"Dammit, the next time you wake me, do it with a little more subtlety, alright?"
"But I…", Kiwi started, but she stopped herself.
Time was too precious to have this discussion right now.
A useless discussion.
"Never mind. I just… Look, I'm sorry for everything I said last night, it wasn't fair to let it all out on you…"
Vinnie bit his lower lip while having a thoughtful frown between his brows, but then shrugged.
"I get it. I really do. Life ain't easy, especially here... "
"It isn't, but I chose to be here. I could've stayed on Earth, but I didn't and not only because Chaz told the government about you guys. But it all got a little too much yesterday, I guess…"
Vinnie gently took her hand and entwined his fingers with hers.
"Babe, it's okay, it really is… We all lose our shit sometimes, you ain't the first and sure as hell ain't the last…"
Kiwi's heartbeat slowed down, feeling how his calmness embraced her. Letting out her breath, she stared at their entwined fingers.
And she suddenly remembered what he'd said yesterday before she fell asleep in his arms.

'There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do for ya… I would shift heaven and Earth if that was possible… I wish I could. I wish I could take away your pain, I wish I could ease your sorrow… But I can't. All I can is give me to you. All the way. I'll be always here for ya. And for better or for worse… I'm standing by your side. That's all I can give. That's all I can do... I can only hope it's enough...'

"It's enough", she whispered as she looked up, straight into his beautiful eyes and she saw he understood.
"It's more than enough…"

...

"I have reason to believe that she's connected with Vinnie", Stoker said to Jax.
They were sitting in the room next to Rose, who was sitting at the exact same spot where Jax had left her.
There was a small window between the two rooms and the silver-furred mouse was staring at his sister, his arms folded.
Rose was holding herself tightly, rocking back and forth and her lips moved constantly, probably because she was talking to herself.
After Throttle had told Stoker everything, the brown-furred leader of the resistance had summoned Carbine and Jax to meet him and Throttle in this room and here they were.
Jax now turned to Stoker.
"Connected?", he asked, a questionable look on his face.
"But Vinnie is connected with Kiwi, a mouse can only connect with one at a time, right?"
Stoker nodded.
"That's correct."
"But how…"
"She is connected with him, he, however, is not connected with her."
Jax and Carbine stared at Stoker with their mouth open.
"Can you please explain yourself? ", Carbine eventually asked tiredly, rubbing her eyes.

Stoker made himself as comfortable as possible on the chair made of Martian Stone and cleared his throat.
"Okay, lemme start at the beginning. As you probably know by now, twins have a special connection, already formed when the babies are still safe in their mommy's belly. Once the twins are separated, for whatever reason, the connection breaks. Usually, that ain't that much of a problem, the mind will heal the mental wound within a short matter of time. A twins mind, however, doesn't. That's because the connection is made in the growing process. The twins grow together, let's say, mentally hand in hand, binding them for life. Meaning; the connection ain't meant to be broken, it supposed to be there for a lifetime, but hey, what can I say? Life's a bitch", Stoker shrugged with an apologetic look on his face.
"Can't argue with that", Carbine mumbled.
"Okay, so what happens when the connection does break, apart from the fact that it's not meant to be broken?", Jax asked impatiently.
"As I said, usually the mind will heal itself, but not in this case. There's a gap left behind that doesn't go away, like a wound that never heals. We Mind Walkers call that an exposed brain, or, to borrow from the vernacular; an open mind."
Jax now took place across Stoker without breaking eye contact, clearly intrigued and the latter continued.
"So, both Rose and Vinnie are part of a broken twin, right? They both have this huge mental wound in their head, always feeling as if there's something missing, although they have no idea what it is. Only one thing can fill that emptiness and that is love. True love. So, let's take the punk as an example; he loses his sister right after the war started and the connection breaks. He joins the Fighters, clearly searching for a way to walk alone after having his sister by his side for sixteen years. Shortly thereafter, Harley walks into his life..."
"I was there when he saw her", Throttle took over when he heard the pain in Stoker's voice.
"He fell head over heels in love with her, as if he by only seeing her already knew that she was the one who could heal him. It all makes sense now."
"Okay, so he connected with Harley, right?", Jax asked.
"After a few months, he did. But she got kidnapped and again, the connection is brutally broken. Again, the twin is alone, alone as no other individual will ever be, with the so-called open mind", Stoker continued after giving Throttle a small but grateful smile, his way of telling him that he had himself back under control.
"The months after that he desperately searches for someone who can make him whole again, and it is then when he meets Rose. She's having the same feeling as Vinnie had when he saw Harley, and therefore, she feels attracted to him. Perhaps her subconscious noticed something, telling her that he was also lost, just like her, I dunno, it's just a guess since this is a kind of a grey area. What I do know is that mice with an open mind are vulnerable. They sometimes connect with someone out of despair and if that happens, the connection is always just one way, no exceptions. It's a rare thing, but it happens."
"But he did give her the feeling of being whole again, how is that even possible if the connection was only one way?", Jax asked confused.
"Because they had sex", Stoker simply answered.

A big blush appeared under Jax his silver fur and he covered his ears.
"I don't wanna hear it, she's my sister, and sisters don't have sex, remember?"
"Jax, for the love of god, grow up", Carbine snapped at him before she turned her attention back to Stoker.
"Go on."
Stoker glanced at Jax with a small smile around his lips, but then grew serious again.
"When Martian Mice have sex, they connect, but it's different. I guess the easiest way to describe it is that they connect only halfway, ya know, only in the heat of the moment. That explains why Rose felt as if she was whole again, but only for that short matter of time."
Jax lowered his hands and his ears flapped back to their usual position.
"Okay, so lemme get this straight; They were both desperately searching for a way to fill the emptiness inside of them and because they both were walking around with a so-called open mind, they find each other. Rose then connects with Vinnie out of despair, and in return, Vinnie connects with her halfway when they have uh… ya know. But why didn't Vinnie completely connect with her? I mean, if I got this right, they were both in the same boat."
"Honestly? I don't know. The mind is the most complicated thing in this entire universe and therefore very hard to understand. Like… Why do people fall in love with each other? Out of all the people, two find each other and match. It's remarkable, really."
Jax gave him a look, making clear that this whole fucked up situation was everything but remarkable if he had something to say about it.
"She said she'd found her soulmate. What sick universe, or whatever it is that's deciding this, let her meet her soulmate when it's clear that she ain't his?", he asked instead.
Stoker shrugged.
"Who knows? Like I said; life's a bitch. Why do children die? Why did the Plutarkians invade our planet? There's a lot of misery in life from which we'll never know the reason why it's there in the first place."
"Is this why she's acting like this? Is this why she tried to kill someone?"
Stoker nodded and then sighed as he folded his arms, leaning back in his chair.
"Unrequited love is hard to accept, that I know from personal experience... but from what I've heard, an unrequited connection can make a person go completely crazy."

Jax his gaze wandered to the small window.
"Can you help her?"
"I can break the connection. That's it. That's all I can do for her."
"But then she'll turn back to her old self, right?"
"Theoretically speaking; yes."
Alarmed by the choice of words, Jax looked back at Stoker, a frown between his eyes.
"What do you mean, theoretically speaking?"
"That's my way of telling you that this will be the first time that I'm doing this."
"But you do know how to do it, right?"
"I do."
"Then do it."
Stoker nodded and got up.
But instead of walking to the door, he just stood there for a moment, his brows thoughtfully frowned and rubbing his chin.
Then, he bent forward, leaning on the table, and looked Jax straight in the eye.
"One question. What was his name? Ya know, from her twin brother?"
Jax glanced at the small window again.
"Why do you wanna know?"
"Just answer the question."
The silver-furred mouse looked back at Stoker.
"Finn. His name was Finn."

Oh man, that's quite a story Rose got there.
Will Stoker be able to free her from this curse?
And why did he need to know the name of Rose's deceased little brother?
Again, more questions than answers, hehe.

Ooohhh, and Modo's gonna be a dad!
So cool!

Anyways, hope you guys liked this chapter.
Feel free to leave a review, always very much appreciated.
Till next update and hopefully, that will be quicker than this one.

Later!