~Snowcrystal of Thunderclan~

I am! Cynthia will be with Leon at some point in that story! I just need time to write the two other pieces :D

The language is a blending of Japanese written in English (similar vowel sounds) and my own creativity ^_^

Better is a term that I probably won't get for a while -_- but thanks for your support!

~Silver-Rose Writes~

thanks! It was sad, wasn't it?

~Featherflight123~

thank you :D

the language is a blend of Japanese English characters (similar vowel sounds to the Japanese language) and whatever else my mind comes up with :P

Oh no :( (although I have to admit that that is a little funny sounding :P )

~Blue Tulips 1995~

I'm glad you liked it!

I have to admit, I'm not super happy with this chapter... while it's good, I feel like it doesn't give the story that follows it much justice which is terribly disappointing on my part :( but who knows, maybe I'll rewrite it one day and make it better! Anyway, this chapter isn't one of my best work (in my opinion) but I hope you all enjoy it!

My life Didn't Start Out How I wanted… But I WILL Change The World

Cynthia and Ashton's Background For Boring Office Work

"No!" Cynthia snapped at her mother, blue eyes gleaming furiously, "I'm not dropping all of my sports just because you want me too! I'm handling all of the expenses on my own and you don't have to do anything!"

"It's distracting you from your schoolwork!" Sarah replied cooly, irritated at her daughter's stubborn refusal to drop a few things and free up her schedule.

Cynthia rolled her eyes, "one 'b' out of eight a's isn't going to kill my GPA or anything for StarClan's sake! And I'm sorry about it but it's not at all sports related! Hello, are you blind?!" She exclaimed gesturing frustratedly, "I'm sometimes busy with my college classes too mom! And I don't know about you, but I think they are more important seeing how I can get a degree with them!"

Miles glanced at his sister and then at his mother, it wasn't uncommon for his mother to get into an argument with his favorite sister who was the middle child and hated being told what to do, usually he would just wait it out, but the preteen had a soccer practice starting in ten minutes and he knew Cynthia needed to go to the library to finish an essay she had to write. "Hey, mom?"

"If you flunk high school then you can't go to college, Cynthia!"

Cynthia spluttered indignantly, usually, she had a near perfect GPA, but she was still adjusting to having both high school and college classes, a part-time job, and a chemistry degree course she had just started last month.

Miles got to his feet and grabbed his bag, "Mom! Cindy's taking me to my soccer practice! Come on Cindy!" He grabbed his sister's hand and pulled her out the front door toward her car.

"We will finish this when you get back Cynthia!" Sarah called to her youngest daughter

"I have other things to do!" Cynthia snapped back before she got into her car with a short roll of her blue eyes and buckled in before starting the vehicle. She then started reversing out of the driveway, her temper quietly simmering beneath the surface.

"I'm sorry, she wants you to drop all of your sports." Miles said quietly from his position buckled in the backseat on the passenger side, "you don't deserve it."

"Well with a pair of twin sisters older than me that got full ride scholarships to their colleges she's decided she has to have a daughter who has a perfect high school GPA and all that other bullocks." Cynthia shrugged, driving towards Miles' practice and hiding how upset she really was.

"You going to the library?"

"Yeah, Holly's meeting me at the library across from the soccer field," Cynthia told her younger brother easily, "So when you're finished with practice can you walk over to the library? Or do you have your phone with you?"

"I'll walk over, Mom has my phone," Miles replied disappointedly, "I didn't score last game and she's had it since."

"You should've told me." Cynthia sighed, glancing at her brother through the rearview mirror, "I'll give you my spare. If your team goes somewhere after practice let me know and I'll pick you up afterward." She said as they slowed to a stop next to the field, she pressed a small button on the roof near her rearview mirror and a compartment for sunglasses popped open, revealing her spare phone.

"I'll never understand how mom hasn't found out that you have that." Miles shook his head slightly and caught the small smartphone when she tossed it to him.

"Oh she knows I have it," Cynthia shrugged, "but she can't take it away seeing how I bought it and I'm the one paying for its usage."

"Genius." Miles grinned, "total genius."

"Eh, Holly gave me the idea." Cynthia smirked and watched her brother climb out of the small car, "have fun at soccer practice, kick a few goals for me will you?"

"Of course!" Miles smiled before he slung his bag over his shoulder, shut the door, and jogged into the field while his sister headed towards the library.

:) :) :) :) :) :) :)

Cynthia dropped her bookbag on top of the library table with a small thump, the book bag was crammed with all of her textbooks, notebooks, and other supplies that made she feel like she was constantly carrying a fifty-pound weight on her back.

Holly jumped at the noise and jerked her head up to look up at the source before she relaxed at the sight of her best friend. "Jeez, Cindy, trying to give me a heart attack?" She joked before she turned serious after Cynthia just directed a half-hearted glare towards her. "What happened now?" She asked, watching her unpack some of her supplies.

Cynthia snorted and rolled her eyes as she pulled a few books, notebooks, a pencil, dark blue clickable pen, her light blue laptop, and a thick binder from her bag. "You mean besides the fact that she wants me to quit every sports team I'm on? Nothing really."

Holly knew who the 'she' was referring to, she knew about Sarah's perfectionist behavior that clashed with her stubborn and scatterbrained daughter. "What? What happened now?" Their relationship really hadn't changed much from when they were kids and before Cynthia moved to England for ten years when Holly was six, and it was apparent that they still trusted each other a whole lot.

"I got a b plus in my health class(It's required where I live ^-^) because I wasn't there that one day due to a college class conflict and she completely freaked out." Cynthia snorted, sitting down across from Holly and opening both the binder and one of the textbooks, "seriously, she got the report card and looked at for barely a second, before she yelled for me to come see her despite the fact that I was the one who handed it to her and literally two feet away from her."

"Ouch," Holly winced, while she was extremely intelligent and was in nearly every AP and honors class available at their school, nobody was taking more classes than her friend, what they were doing right now was extremely rare, usually Cynthia was at work, at afternoon college classes, or busy with her chemistry course, leaving her with barely any free time, something she didn't particularly seem to mind. "Well she can't go any more extreme can she?"

"Nope," Cynthia replied distractedly as she started to work on her massive pile of homework and other things to do, "unless she decides to emancipate me, which wouldn't be so much of a bad thing."

"You could always come live with me and Jay if she does," Holly smiled, getting back to work on her math.

"True, so there's nothing else she can do to make it worse than she already has." Cynthia decided before going silent, buckling down on her school work and focusing on it. Little did she know that something more extreme was coming soon, something that would change her life forever and leave many scars, both visible and not visible to the human eye.

:) :) :) :) :) :) :)

"Cynthia, meet Ashton," Sarah smiled at her daughter as she introduced the boy who was three years older than her daughter, "he's new in town."

Cynthia studied the boy for a moment before she smiled kindly and extended her hand for him to shake, "hi, I'm Cynthia."

"I'm Ashton," the boy smiled back and shook her hand. He was taller than her, the top of her head barely reached his nose, he had messy light brown hair with random darker areas, icy blue eyes, a tall stature, broad shoulders, and a strong build like a football player. He was dressed in black jeans, a gray t-shirt, a red plaid long sleeve rolled up to the elbows, and black converse. "You're very pretty," he complimented and Cynthia blinked in surprise.

"Oh, uh... Thanks?" Cynthia blinked, unsure how she was as he said pretty, she wasn't wearing anything special, just denim skinny jeans, a navy tank top under an azure half sleeve shirt, converse of many blue shades, and a midnight blue active jacket tied around her waist with a black backpack slung over one shoulder, she had just gotten back from finishing yet another essay at the library.

Ashton smiled at her, "just speaking the truth."

"Right…" Cynthia said and released the handshake, his grip had been too firm and she wasn't so sure about this guy.

:) :) :) :) :) :) :)

Cynthia tucked her phone into her pocket, having just told Holly that she couldn't meet her at the library because she was busy and couldn't come. Lying to her friend stunk, but she didn't want to tell Holly about the boy her parents had arranged for her to meet.

"What's wrong?" Ashton asked her, looking over at her through curious and concerned blue eyes, loosely grasping one of her wrists as an attempt to get her attention focused on him.

Cynthia shrugged, using her free hand to tuck her bangs behind one ear and kept walking, "Nothing, just telling a friend I'm busy at the current moment." She replied as they continued to walk through the park, an activity suggested by Ashton himself.

"Thanks for coming with me," Ashton smiled a lopsided grin at her, "Isn't this nice?"

"Yeah," Cynthia replied with an attempt at being nice to him. 'This is ridiculous, I like having friends and all, but I don't have enough time to split it between all of my friends, Bree, Jay, Holly, and now Ashton. I have too much stuff to do...' She mentally groaned, 'Why do my parents have to set me up with a guy I don't even know? How come I have to deal with this while my sisters don't?'

"How's your brother? He's a pretty funny guy." Ashton inquired, curious about her younger sibling while looking at her, a funny feeling in his gut making him a little nervous.

"He's okay," Cynthia replied with a small laugh, "missed kicking the soccer ball yesterday and landed in a faceful of mud, but he recovered afterward, although he complains that he can't smell anything besides the mud." Ashton laughed at her words, completely amused by her brother's actions.

:) :) :) :) :) :) :)

'Oh no,' Cynthia groaned as Ashton got closer to her, 'why didn't I see it earlier? He's got a crush on me!' "Um, Ashton, I don't like people getting that close to my face," she said weakly, "I'm a little claustrophobic." Which was true, she did happen to be claustrophobic at close quarters and really didn't like people close to her face.

"Oh, sorry," Ashton said with a little disappointment, stepping out of her personal space, blue eyes a little sad.

"It's okay," Cynthia smiled, 'I don't want him to have a crush on me! I really don't! Oh StarClan, this sucks!'

:) :) :) :) :) :) :)

'I'm late for the course! Crap!' Cynthia panicked and missed what Ashton had said. She started when Ashton grabbed her wrists, forcing her to look at him.

"You didn't answer my question," Ashton said, his blue eyes curious, "how come?"

"Because I'm running late for something and you aren't letting me go to it," Cynthia replied coolly before flinching in pain as he flicked her in the nose. "Ow! What the heck was that for?!" She snapped at him and got flicked again. They struggled for a while, Cynthia snapping at him and Ashton replying by flicking her, finally, after ten minutes Cynthia was silent and didn't dare say anything, looking down at her feet, the tip of her nose red like she had a cold, the color from the repetitive physical replies.

"Why didn't you answer my question?" Ashton repeated his earlier question, blue eyes glinting with violence but still curious.

"I'm sorry," Cynthia replied quietly, not daring to say anything else, the pain still tingling through her nose was a good reminder of not to bother him.

"It's okay," Ashton smiled and let her go, "Come on, let's get you home." He slung one arm around her shoulders, gripping the opposite shoulder with a grip tight enough to make her arm briefly tingle with pain, a reminder of not to rebel against him.

'I hate you, Sarah.' Cynthia thought, tears pricking the corners of her sapphire blue eyes, 'It's your fault for making me meet him.'

:) :) :) :) :) :) :)

Cynthia let her attention stray as she was forced to walk through the park with Ashton once again, an event that happened at least once a week. She ignored the pain in her left wrist, the one that Ashton had a firm grip on. She hated Ashton, he repeatedly hurt her and she loathed him, but she hated her mother even more, enough that she didn't talk to her, either she gave her the cold shoulder or they were arguing about something or other. Despite all of the time she spent with Ashton, she still kept her perfect GPA in school and was still passing the chemistry course with flying colors, but it was a severe struggle, one that she knew eventually she was going to lose. She barely got any sleep, studying all night, plus she forced herself to choke down some kind of caffeine to keep her brain working well enough that she wasn't going to pass out in the middle of class, and she hated caffeine with a passion.

"Cynthia?" Cynthia jumped and quickly reigned in her straying attention to Ashton as he squeezed her upper arms to get her attention, "were you listening?"

Biting her tongue, Cynthia bit back a retort that would no doubt get her in massive amounts of trouble before replying, "Yeah, I'm listening," she forced a smile, as fear flashed across her blue eyes, don't think I'm lying, please don't think I'm lying! She flinched slightly when Ashton tightened his grip in response to her not so timid tone and waited for his reaction, stiffening her body and preparing for the worst. She really didn't want to be hiding another bruise from her brother, which was why she was wearing a long sleeve shirt, to hide the faint bruising around her wrists that made typing an absolute pain in the wrist. Literally.

Ashton studied her for a few heart-stopping moments before he loosened his grip and smiled, his icy blue eyes softening a little as he brushed his fingers over one of her cheeks, "you look tired."

Cynthia forced herself to nod bleakly and lean into his touch despite how much she wanted to flee and get back to her drowning workload of school, work, and the chemistry course. Can this get any worse? She wondered, and oh how much worse it was going to get.

:( :( :(

Anger flashed across Cynthia's senses, the anger had been building up for months now, and finally, she snapped. "I don't have feelings for you Ashton! Leave me alone!" She spat and yanked her wrists from his grip, blue eyes flashing with vivid anger and frustration.

Ashton's blue eyes flashed and he quickly put Cynthia in a stranglehold, "what did you say?!"

Cynthia struggled against his hold, her blue eyes furious and angry, it was her choice who she had feelings for, he couldn't force her to love him! "I don't have feelings for you!" she gasped out, her anger fueling the words.

Ashton glared at her and tightened his grip, "what Cynthia?"

Cynthia just narrowed her eyes and struggled, flailing her legs in hope of kicking something to alert her family of what was going on as her vision slightly blurred. A few minutes later as black spots swam across her vision and her hearing became impaired, she felt her foot connect with the small table in her bedroom, knocking it over with a vicious crash. She felt relief flood her body as she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Thank StarClan!

"Cindy?" Paige popped her head into the room wondering what the crash had been.

"Help...me…" Cynthia croaked, her blue eyes glazed and scared.

"Oh, my StarClan!" Paige gasped and Ashton dropped Cynthia like she burned him, his eyes were wide with surprise, clearly, he hadn't expected to see Cynthia's older sister. "Mom! Dad!"

Cynthia barely heard Paige screaming her parents' names through her loud and wracking coughs, her nose nearly touching the ground with how hard she was coughing. Her vision also blurred and how the room spun around her and caused her arms to wobble unsteadily.

"Cindy, can you hear me? Are you alright?!"

Cynthia could vaguely feel her Paige's hand on her chin as she tilted her head up to try and see if Cynthia was focused on her, but Paige's voice sounded like it was under water. When Cynthia felt Ashton put one hand comfortingly on her back her dazed blue eyes rolled back and she collapsed to the floor.

:( :( :(

Cynthia trembled, the only sounds in the darkroom were her and Ashton's breathing, Ashton's was much softer and deeper when compared to her own half horrified, half frightened, loud and heaving breaths. Her body hurt like it was on fire. She could taste blood from her bleeding lip which was from when she bit her lip earlier, and her chest felt like it was constricting even more with each breath. I want to fall asleep and hope this entire day was just a nightmare, she thought as she squeezed her blue eyes shut. But I know it's not, I don't even have to pinch myself to know this isn't a nightmare, dreams don't hurt that much. Tears pricked at her closed blue eyes. StarClan, I'm a horrible person. She wanted to vomit but didn't dare get up or move in case it set off Ashton, she didn't want a repeat of earlier, even though she knew it was going to happen again… eventually.

:( :( :(

Cynthia jerked awake at someone calling her name, she stared wide-eyed at the person who had called her name in the first place, her mind was groggy and that prevented her from really recognizing the person in front of her at first.
"Cindy, are okay? You look like you've seen a ghost," Holly said quietly, "your skin's all pale and your eyes are pretty wide."

Cynthia took a few seconds to regain her bearings and relax. She was at the library with Holly, not anywhere near Ashton, Holly wouldn't do anything to hurt her on purpose. "Sorry, I must've dozed off," she mumbled and ran one hand through her black hair, noticing that she didn't have it up in a ponytail at the moment, "you startled me, I thought you were someone else."

Holly put down her pencil and looked at her friend, worry in her green eyes, "someone else who makes you white as a sheet?"

Cynthia rolled her eyes, attempting to blow the whole thing off as just being startled, "no, I was asleep and you scared me half to death."

Holly gave her an unconvinced look, "who in the world scares you that badly?"

Cynthia gave a snort and racked her brain, trying to come up with someone who scared her and that Holly knew about. "My mom at the moment," she snorted, "she's beginning to scare me with her ramblings about successful kids and what other crap she says all the time."

Holly seemed to have bought it as her eyes filled with amusement, "that seems about right, your mom is kinda crazy."

"You don't know the half of it," Cynthia snorted, trying to keep the bitterness from her voice, "she's going insane."

"Well I have to get going to the office," Holly said and she swung her bag up over her shoulder, "you should go home and get some sleep, I'll let Clark know that you can't come in for work today-"

"I can work," Cynthia hastily scooped up her supplies and threw it into her backpack. She had been studying for an exam, the last exam before she could graduate from intern to chemist in the special law firm that Holly had gotten her an internship at partway through her senior year. "I'll just get something caffeinated, I'll stay awake I swear." She promised and zipped up the bag. Caffeine had become something that she grudgingly had to live with having way more often than she'd like to have. She'd gotten used to drinking caffeinated soda and the occasional coffee, which she still thought was disgusting, not to mention how she had gotten used to the constant lack of sleep she suffered under. It just happened that today was a Friday and that she hadn't gotten any extra sleep over the weekend since she had been forced to stay at Ashton's place throughout the many days of the weekend. So she hadn't caught up on her sleep like she did when she crashed at Ivory's house on most weekends while the blonde played movies constantly in her living room and acted like a normal and not scared person while Atol fixed up one of the bedrooms in the back and Braxton studied for his tests.

Holly looked at her for a moment, studying her friend's attitude before she nodded. "Alright, let's go then, together."

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Cynthia leaned heavily on the bathroom counter, her blue eyes dulled from exhaustion and glittering with pain. She felt light-headed, her ears were buzzing and her vision was blurring. What's happening to me? She wondered and took a few deep breaths, trying to orientate herself and not pass out. It's not like anything was different tonight… maybe I'm just tired. She mulled over the possibility that perhaps she was just exhausted, which was highly likely. Or it could be from the gash on my leg. She glanced down at the tile floor beneath her where she had a worrisome trail of blood wherever she had gone into the house after Ashton had cut the back of her leg open that evening. I hope I'm just tired.

:(

"Hey Sarah, is Cindy available?" Holly asked as she tucked the phone into the crook of her neck and continued packing up her laptop and other work supplies.

"She's not here at the moment, she should be at Ashton's apartment if you want to visit her or something.

"Okay, thanks!" Holly hung up, tossed the phone into her bag, and left her office, green eyes rather cheerful.

:(

Holly knocked on the apartment's door, hoping that Cynthia was there and that she was at the right one.

"Coming!"

Cynthia's voice made Holly breathe out a sigh of relief, she was in the right place.

Cynthia opened the door and Holly's green eyes widened as she took in her friend's appearance, Cynthia looked muddled, exhausted, and out of it. "Are you okay?" She asked with wide eyes.

"Eh," Cynthia shrugged lopsidedly as she partially propped herself up against the doorway, her injured leg hiding out of Holly's view.

Holly tentatively asked a question she never thought she'd ask Cynthia. "Are you… drunk?" as far as Holly knew, Cynthia didn't drink, the blue-eyed girl hated anything that had alcohol in it.

Cynthia looked at Holly, her blue gaze still confused, but now faint amusement filled the blue depths. "Really? Do I sound drunk to you?" She struggled to roll her eyes and managed to succeed. "I'm not drunk, although I would rather that than my current situation."

Holly looked relieved, "that's a relief, for a moment there I thought you were lying about hating alcohol."

Cynthia screwed up her face in disgust, "ew, that stuff is just gross. No way in the world would I drink that gunk again."

Holly opened her mouth to continue their banter when she froze, noticing flecks of red staining her friend's denim capris, lower leg, and white socks. "Cindy, is that blood?"

Cynthia looked down at her shorts and for the first time, she noticed that blood was also on her clothing. "That? It's just kool-aid." She shrugged, pulling an easy excuse, "I was helping a friend earlier and she knocked the pitcher to the floor which is why my clothes are flecked with red."

"Don't lie to me, I know that's blood, Cynthia!" Holly retorted, "that's definitely blood!"

Cynthia flinched, "fine, it's blood, happy now?" She grunted, still not moving to let Holly in, she was getting paler by the minute and Holly was starting to worry.

"Are you alright? Why're you bleeding?" Holly asked her friend worriedly.

"I'm fine, it's not fresh blood," Cynthia grumbled and shifted her position a small amount.

Holly blanched as she caught sight of Cynthia's injured leg and the blood coating her skin and clothes. "That is!" She pointed to her friend's injured leg before she gasped, catching sight of the blood trail that Cynthia had leading toward the door. "Of my StarClan! Cynthia, you're not okay!"

Cynthia grimaced before she moved and let Holly into the apartment, "I'm fine, you're overreacting."

Holly's green eyes widened and she stared at the blood all over the floor, luckily all of the flooring was hardwood and tile. "You call losing that much blood okay?!"

"Yes, I call it okay!" Cynthia snapped back her friend, narrowing her eyes in an attempt to focus better on her friend as her vision distorted for a few moments. "I'm fine…" she lurched forward and crashed to the ground, lying sprawled on her stomach, finally passing out from blood loss.

"Cindy!"

:(

Cynthia opened her eyes feeling rather lethargic and exhausted. When her eyes slid open she scrambled backward with a shout of surprise which was muffled as Ashton slapped a hand over her mouth. She stared at him, fear glittering in her blue eyes as she realized where they were, a hospital, a place Ashton had told her specifically to not go to. She whimpered in fear and squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for him to hit her or vow to hurt her later.

"You let yourself get taken to a hospital," Ashton said coolly, his voice irritated and annoyed.

Cynthia didn't speak, she remained quiet and she braced herself for Ashton's attack, in case he may attack her.

Ashton looked at her, his blue eyes highly annoyed, "tell me why."

Cynthia flinched and spoke quietly, "I passed out, I… I couldn't stop her."

Ashton nodded slowly, "We will talk about this later."

Cynthia flinched, she knew that tone by now, if meant he was going to hit her or something along those lines later. "I understand," she whispered as the door creaked open.

Ashton nodded and stood up as Holly slipped into the room, "g'night sweetheart," he said as he pressed a kiss to Cynthia's forehead.

"G'night," Cynthia mumbled and forced a small smile at him before he left and she relaxed. "Hey Holly," She said quietly, "don't you have to go to work?"

Holly shook her head, "No, I got the day off," she sat down in the visitor's chair, "we need to talk," she said grimly.

"I know," Cynthia said as she hauled her body into a sitting up position and pulled the IV from her arm with a small flinch, she needed to get out of the hospital fast, before Ashton had a fit," but I need to get out of here."

"Cynthia, you just passed out from blood loss!" Holly retorted, "you can't just get up and leave."

Cynthia narrowed her eyes at her, "if it's a question about my safety you better believe I can." She sluggishly swung her legs over the edge of the bed, wincing slightly as her injured leg protested at the movement.

"Your safety?" Holly echoed, "a hospital is a pretty safe environment Cindy, what in the world are you talking about?"

"Not while he's here," Cynthia replied as she tentatively put her feet on the floor, flinching at the tile's freezing temperature, before she carefully tested her weight to make sure she wasn't going to face plant into the tile. "The faster I leave the hospital the safer I will be."

"Okay," Holly agreed with her, "where do you want to go?" She asked, her green eyes flashing with worry and determination.

The door slid open and a familiar blonde poked her head into the room, "come on, we'll go to my house, well it's Atol's, but whatever."

Cynthia looked a little nervous, unsure if she wanted to risk it.

"You owe me an explanation," Ivory pointed out, the sixteen-year-old slipped into the room the rest of the way. She was in sweatpants and one of her boyfriend's hoodies. Her service dog, for the paranoia and mental issues that stemmed from her childhood, Duke was trotting at her heels. "And I had to drag Braxton out of his bed to get over here."

"Ivory, Ashton is not someone I want to trifle with, he's already royally ticked off that I'm here in a hospital…" Cynthia trailed off at the look in her friends' eyes.

"Cynthia," Ivory sighed, "I've been through some of it myself, remember? Plus at my house we have two teens who are trained in different fighting styles, Atol's a freaking martial arts instructor, and we have Duke." She patted the top of her German Shepherd's head, "he'll attack too if I tell him to."

"Fine," Cynthia deflated, "but we have to hide me if Ashton sees me I'm in huge trouble."

Ivory cracked a grin, "I'll go get Braxton's other hoodie."

"I have jeans in my bag too," Holly added, "I was supposed to be picking you up remember?"

Cynthia nodded, her blue eyes glimmered with how thankful she was for her two best friends. "Okay, let's go."

:) :( :) :( :) :(

Cynthia's jaw dropped and the eighteen-year-old stared blankly at the man in front of her who had just proposed to her and was now waiting for her answer. Her mind felt numb, she couldn't say no, not with her parents here. They would have a fit if she didn't agree to the wedding, well, her mother would at least, her dad wouldn't mind but her mother would.

Holly nudged her slightly from her position standing next to her, having walked in the door with her before Ashton had proposed to the young adult. "Come on Cindy," she urged her gently, trying to break her friend's number status for her to give Ashton an answer. "What's the answer?" Her green eyes glinted with worry, apprehension, and fear for her friend's situation.

Cynthia gave a slightly choked noise as she tried to answer, but no audible words came out.

Ashton looked confused like he didn't understand what she was saying and what the answer was going to be. "What?"

Cynthia felt her parents' gaze on her, her mother's gaze making her skin tingle under her sharp and expecting gaze.

Holly nudged her again, pushing her to try and say no. "Come on Cindy," she murmured, "he's waiting."

Cynthia's blue eyes glazed slightly with what her friend could see as tears and she gave up trying to fight against her parents' wishes, even if it eventually killed her. "Yes," she said in as much of a stunned and shocked tone that she could muster and managed to pull off a decent smile. "I'd be happy to." She had never been lying more.

:(

Cynthia's breathing was soft, and surprisingly even as she gazed upward at the ceiling, her blue eyes making patterns in the dimpled ceiling above her. She felt rather numb at the moment, but it didn't hurt anymore, the situation didn't hurt her anymore, she had learned to live with it now. While sometimes it still twinged here and there, the barriers she had begun to build protected her from the brunt of the pain her situation gave her. At this point in time she could only try and live with what she was already going through, she couldn't do anything else. She couldn't really get anyone's help besides Holly and Ivory and even then they couldn't really do anything against her situation anyway.

Cynthia took a deeper breath, listening to it as she did so. She would have to push through everything Ashton did to her to eventually live her life how she actually wanted it one day. And that hope was the one thing keeping her going through everything she was currently going through. I will survive, she vowed silently as she rolled over onto her side and let her tired eyes close, and one day I will make a difference in this messed up world.

:( :( :( :( :(

"You three better tell me what's going on," Jay said as he took a seat at the table in a private doctor's room and dropped a manila folder onto the table. His blue eyes flashed and he spun the file around toward Cynthia before opening it to the first page, his blue eyes fixed on her with a slightly narrowed status. "And why in the wide world my childhood friend who I know has very high moral standards, is four months pregnant at less than nineteen-years-old."

Cynthia's jaw slackened and she stared at the open folder in front of her, her blue eyes widening as she took in the information on the page.

"Ask us later Jay," Ivory told her cousin briskly from her spot near the door, "now is not a good time." Her point was emphasized by Cynthia leaning forward on her arms and burying her head in her hands.

Cynthia trembled softly, fighting the urge to break down again. Although the earlier ones she could chalk up to her apparently heightened hormones. Now she just wanted to sob and cry. She wanted to believe that what was currently happening was a dream...

"What? What's the result?" Holly asked from her position pacing near one of the walls with Ivory standing next to her.

"It's positive," Jay sighed and spun around on the spinny chair to face her while running one hand through his black hair, "I had her take multiple standard tests and a blood test and all five came up as positive."

Holly's green eyes widened and her voice dropped to a tone hushed from surprise, "I was right? StarClan! I wanted to be wrong!"

"You and me both," Cynthia murmured, blinking semi-rapidly to keep from crying again in front of her best friends and Jay.

Jay sighed and leaned back in his chair, "I haven't seen a more positive result since Leah started making me study this…" Abruptly he stood up and scooped up the folder before he pointed a finger at Cynthia who had lifted her head from her hands. "Don't go anywhere." He then vanished outside of the room.

The three girls stared at each other in confusion, Cynthia's tears fading from the force of her curiosity.

"...since that first case, Leah," Jay came back with Leah, pushing a portable machine that Cynthia vaguely recognized as some kind of ultrasound machine

"Alright well let's test your theory," Leah said with a slight smile before she turned to Cynthia, "Cynthia please lay on your back on the examination bed please."

Cynthia did as she was told, highly confused and not completely understanding what they were going to do. The freezing temperature of the clear gel against the skin of her stomach made her gasp and sent a shiver up her spine before Leah turned on the machine.

After a few minutes Leah chuckled softly looking at the readout, "Jay's right, you've got twins Cynthia, two very healthy looking twins at the current moment."

Cynthia's face abruptly drained of color and she felt faint twins? Oh boy...

:'( :'( :'( :'( :'(

Cynthia's blue eyes briefly flashed before she shoved all of the stuff off of the table, crumpling up the guest list, and menu and chucking it across the room in the process. Right away everyone started complaining and getting upset at her, but shut up when she slammed her hands down onto the table and stood up, blue eyes flashing with anger, "Shut up!" She snarled in fury, "Shut up and listen to me!" Everyone was silent, Holly and Bree were here to make sure she didn't hurt herself trying to get them all to listen. "Would a happy bride," She spat out the last word, "Do this?! Would she ignore everything you're doing and let you do what you want?! Even let you choose who the bridesmaid and everything is?!" She snarled, her expression full of fury, "No! She wouldn't! So why am I?!" She caught everyone's gazes and took in the encouraging looks from her friends, "because I never wanted this!" She snarled and a lot of people gasped in shock, staring at her, "I never wanted to be married to Ashton! I hate him!"

"Darling," Her mother spoke, "Of course you don't hate him, you're just upset-"

"Shut up! You have no idea what he's done to me!" Cynthia snarled at her mother, tears gathering in her furious blue eyes, "You told me yourself I was lying! I wouldn't lie about being abused mother!" She snarled and ignored everyone's gasps, "I'm no liar!" She looked at everyone sitting at the table, her body shaking with fury, "Ashton had abused me for three years! Is that not enough?! Is it not enough that he's forced himself onto me from when I was sixteen?! Yeah," She snarled at everyone's shocked and horrified faces, "Ashton's been forcing himself onto me since that night when he claimed I had passed out! Where did I go afterward?! I woke up screaming to Ashton taking advantage of me!" She looked angrily at her mother, "Yet you don't believe me! You don't believe your own daughter!" She looked at everyone, the tears in her eyes threatening to break free, "I'm not marrying Ashton, not when he got me pregnant."

"How are we going to call it off without Ashton saying it was you who's lying?"

"We bring it to court." Cynthia said and looked over at Holly, "Holly's a lawyer."

Holly grinned a little sheepishly as everyone stared at her. Holly then went serious, "We can put a heavy fine on him along with a year or so in jail because Cindy was a minor. Anyway, she was just a minor so some of the charges aren't as strong, but we can get a heavy fine for both the abuse and... the other stuff." She avoided using the real word, knowing that her friend really didn't want to hear the official term for the reason she was now moody and gaining weight.

:( :( :( :( :(

"The jury has found Ashton Ligira guilty!"

The last word echoed in Cynthia's mind, the worry and fear that had been plaguing her since she had stepped into the courtroom vanished replaced with something close to giddiness, 'he's guilty… he's guilty!' She locked eyes with Holly who gave a short nod as a way of confirming that she wasn't hearing things and that Ashton was indeed guilty. 'I'm free…' Cynthia thought, watching Ashton get escorted out of the room, 'I'm free! I can have my life back, I'm finally free!' Cynthia felt so happy and relieved she didn't pay attention to Ashton's last words that he shouted as he was taken away.

"I'll be back Cynthia!" He shouted, blue eyes furious and hurt. "I'll be back for my children!"

Holly, Bree, and Jay all exchanged glances, Cynthia was safe while Ashton was behind bars and while her unborn children needed her to survive, but their shield was bound to break, and when it did, everything was going to go to chaos.

:) :) :) :) :)

"No!" Cynthia didn't hear a cry from the second twin, the smaller one of the two and the girl.

She dimly heard the voice of the doctor beneath the exhaustion and dread weighing down on her, but it was crystal clear. Words she had never wanted to hear no matter what. "She's not going to make it through the night."

"No!" Her vision was blurred by tears and the young adult lunged into a sitting upright position, causing pain to ripple along her back and abdomen but she didn't care. Even though the twins were Ashton's she loved them as much as she would if their father was someone was different. It wrenched Cynthia's heart hearing that one of them wasn't going to make it. One of the two lives she had learned to love wasn't going to survive. The medical staff cared though apparently and Cynthia felt someone pin down one of her wrists before her arms buckled and she fell sideways landing on her side on the bed. She felt oddly drowsy and sedated a few moments later. Her now partially glazed blue gaze focused on her friend who had stayed with her throughout the entire thing, tears swimming in her half-closed blue eyes. "Do something," she slightly slurred, begging her friend to save her baby. "Do something!"

She felt Ivory's hand gently tuck the hair getting in her face behind her ear before the blonde gently ran one hand up and down her back in a soothing fashion and spoke. "I can't Cynthia," her voice was hushed, "I can't save her, I'm sorry…" Cynthia started to cry, blubbering and squeezing her eyes shut, feeling a mother's grief.

:(

Ivory heard the doctor's words and her stomach dropped before she quickly swung her head toward Cynthia, leaf green eyes wide and round with shock and horror. The next few minutes were a blur as she comforted Cynthia who had a sedative running through her system to keep her calm while the doctors set up a few things so that she could hold her weakest twin before the baby passed on, too small and ill to survive.

She watched with an aching heart roughly ten minutes later as Cynthia was gently lifted into a sitting position before one of the doctors handed her the small infant who was hardly four pounds. A size not too bad for twins but the baby wasn't a healthy pink color, she was very pale, and she hadn't moved more than a few twitches since Ivory has first seen her.

Cynthia held the infant cuddled to her chest, hunched over slightly in something close to a ball as if she could protect the sick newborn from the world and keep her alive and healthy. She was still crying, that hadn't changed much other than she was making less noise and was now trembling like a leaf. She was gently touching the twin's face a few times and gently holding one of her small hands with her eyes currently squeezed shut, unable to stop the tears sliding quickly down her face.

:(

Cynthia watched as slowly the girl cuddled in her arms lost her remaining color and grew still, struggling to breathe properly as the minutes flew by. She cradled her baby even as the doctors milled around her, marking the baby's death time and other things, not wanting them to take her away from her.

But it still happened, they gently pulled her arms apart and took the still form in her arms from her, leaving the new mother feeling numbed by grief and unable to think anymore. "Lixa," she croaked a few moments after the baby had passed on and had been taken from her, "her name's Lixa…"

Tears were in Holly's eyes, she had arrived only ten minutes before the infant had moved on. "That's a beautiful name Cynthia," she said in a slight whisper, her voice thick with sympathy for her best friend.

Cynthia looked over at them, her red-rimmed blue eyes making her seem extremely vulnerable and lonely, "her eyes were green," she croaked, "emerald green, like yours Holly."

Holly's face softened into a look of worry and concern and she walked over to her friend before sitting on the bed next to her, the newborn boy nestled in her arms sleeping peacefully. "She will always be remembered," she said quietly before offering the baby boy to the new mother, "do you want to hold him Cindy? He's your son."

Cynthia looked over at the other baby and sniffled before she pulled him into her arms, cuddling him close to her chest and looking at the baby himself. He looked nothing like his father, with faint freckles, a small nose, chubby cheeks and blonde hair like fuzz on the top of his head, he looked more like her than anyone else. The freckles were hers, so was the nose shape and the chubby cheeks -apparently she had had the same problem as a baby- but nothing really stated his father was Ashton, he didn't remind her of him at all. He looked so different from his sister, and Cynthia was silently grateful, she didn't want a forever reminder of the baby she had already lost. Cynthia blew out a shuddery breath and hesitantly smiled at the baby boy as he sneezed and opened his eyes to look at her. "Hi little one," the nineteen-year-old cooed softly and gently held one of his small fists, "you're perfect…" The baby giggled, multicolored eyes drooping closed. "You'll always know your sister," Cynthia murmured softly as she pressed a feather-light kiss to the baby's forehed, "and I love both of you so much…"

Sneak peek for the sequel to the actual story

Leon blinked and straightened up, looking at the album in fixed interest. The picture wasn't weird, it looked like some of the other light hearted ones that Cynthia had kept from back before she had given birth to Flynx back when she was hardly nineteen. "What?" He wondered and narrowed his eyes, focusing hard on the picture and trying to wrap his head around the idea. The picture itself was kind of funny, Holly had obviously taken it and his sister had been giggling while taking it, partially covering Cynthia's face with ultrasound results. The odd thing was that she was holding two, and Flynx was Cynthia's only child. So had what happened? He flipped through another page or two and studied them as well, noticing the reoccuring pattern and feeling a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that Cynthia hadn't told him everything about Flynx. He froze when he reached another page and promptly just stared at it. The picture was taken probably by some medical personel, but that's not what he had frozen up at. He could see his sister holding Flynx, the blonde hair and particular freckle placement was identical, but he could also see Cynthia hunched over another infant in her arms, she had her forehead resting with a feather light touch on the baby's head, tears were dripping off of the beautiful young adult's face, and she looked like she was making some kind of heart-wrenching cry. He looked down at the caption, noticing how that particular page was well thumbed through. The caption said, 'The Worst Moment Of Her Life' with his sister's name scribbled under the caption. He jumped slightly when he felt Cynthia's arms slid around his shoulders so that her hands rested against his chest and heard her settle on the floor behind him, leaning against him and breathing deeply, clearly relaxed.

"You've been sitting here for hours," Cynthia murmured into his shoulder, her black hair tickling the back of his neck, "what compels you to sit here and look through all of my boring pictures?"

Leon smiled at her words but didn't respond, brushing his thumb over the picture he had been looking at moments earlier.

Cynthia didn't seem to mind and settled more comfortably behind him, leaning a little more on him and snuggling with him, something that she had just recently taken a liking to. After six months of being together, he had finally attempted to snuggle with her and just about gave her a heart attack. Yet she enjoyed it a lot more than he thought she would after that moment, and apparently, she found his smell sometimes intoxicating.

Leon hated to ruin the moment but he had to ask, he wouldn't be able to focus if he didn't ask it now. And it seemed that Cynthia picked up on that.

Cynthia lifted her head away from his shoulders and removed her arms before kneeling and looking over his shoulder, "what're you wondering about?" She asked, her gaze wandering around the pages of the album with a slight smile.

"I… I don't want to pry," Leon said slowly, trying to phrase it so that it wouldn't hurt her that he was asking. He still wasn't completely sure where he could tread on questions about her past. She assured him she didn't mind him asking her questions, but he was always really nervous about upsetting her from talking about her past. "But I'm really curious about something I've noticed…"

Cynthia moved to be sitting beside him, leaning against his side, "I have nothing to hide," she assured him with a smile, "what's on your mind, Leo?" She said as she leaned forward and upon one of her arms to give him a soft and short kiss, something she was much more comfortable with now.

Leon returned the kiss with a tense smile before he blew out a deep breath and asked her the question. "Flynx isn't a single isn't he?" He said, looking over at her with worry in his amber eyes, worried that it would make her shut down and annoyed at him. "He had a twin?"

Cynthia's eyes turned distraught and she nodded a miserable nod, leaning away from him and pushing her fingers through her black hair. "Yes…" she swallowed hard and continued, feeling a lump growing in her throat. "Flynx had a twin named Lixa, she was a blonde with hair that could've matched yours," she swallowed again, her voice going softer and slightly clogged with emotion, "and green eyes that I only got to see open once." She closed her eyes, trying to keep herself together and not start crying at something that had happened such a long time ago yet still felt raw and like an open wound. "Lixa was born after Flynx at just under four pounds at nine-forty-two pm. She was born with her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck a few times and was incredibly sick." She breathed a shuddery breath, the event forever preserved in her mind.

"I was sedated for half an hour, unable to handle the idea of watching her die in my arms snuggled againt my chest until it really sunk in and I got to hold her. I held Lixa for hardly an hour and a half before she d… passed away," she changed the phrase aburptly, trying to save herself the pain. "She was sick from a defect that caused internal bleeding that nobody could do anything about. She was so ill and weak that she couldn't move by herself other than the small twitches as she tried and could hardly open her eyes. She only managed to open them once and that was after they had given her something to help with her draining energy and I was coaxing her to open them so I could see what color my beautiful daughter's eyes were." Cynthia bit her lip and turned her head away from him before she continued speaking. "Not very many people know that I had twins," she said quietly, "almost everyone thinks I only had Flynx, Lixa's a name honored by me, Jay, Holly, and Ivory. We're the only four who know about there being two and not just Flynx."

Leon looked at her, amber eyes gentle and displaying that his belief in her being stronger than anyone in the world. "Thank you for telling me," he said in a hushed tone and gently tugged her to his chest, embracing her lovingly, "I know I say this a lot, but you really are the strongest person in the world."

Cynthia laughed, her blue eyes were watery, however, emotional from recounting the story that still made her heart ache from losing a child so young. "I know that you think so."

"Mama?" Flynx came into the room, the three and a half-year-old held a small group of lilies in one hand and was dragging a photo album with his other hand, "I tought we ere doing fowers," his dirty blonde eyebrows furrowed together, "is somefing wong?"

Cynthia smiled at her son and pulled away from Leon slightly, "we are, but we're going to have Leon join us this year."

Flynx smiled brightly, "yay! Daddy helping!" He hurried over to his mother and dropped the album, from which spilled a few pencils and pieces of paper, before gently laying the lilies on the ground and flopping down in his mother's lap. "I wanna see Lixi!"

Cynthia smiled and opened the photo album, letting Flynx and Leon look at the precious pictures of Lixa, her lost daughter.

Flynx's expression softened at the sight of his sister and he pressed his hands to the pages before practically giving the album a hug, "I wove you Lixi!" He exclaimed and giggled, "and mama woves you too!"

Cynthia smiled gently at her son, "tell her what happened this year Flynx," she encouraged him.

Flynx sat back up and nodded, after giving his mother the lilies, "Mama found us a daddy!" He exclaimed happily, "he's really coowl and woves all of us!..."

Leon watched as Cynthia carefully braided the lily stems together before gently weaving the lily flowers into the pages of the book itself...

Yeah... I wish I had done more with this chapter, it didn't turn out how I wanted it to :( Granted i've been writing this since I finished Boring Office Work (about 50 chapters ago) so some of the scenes are really old... oh well! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! :D