No P.O.V.
As the sun rose, Amelia silently crept into the weapons room. Approaching the grinding wheel she began sharpening her knives carefully. Checking the first, Amelia set it down and began on the other.
The door began to open and she shoved her knives into a compartment of her boots. Nya came in looking at Amelia. "Hey. What are you doing here?"
"J-just checking out t-the inventory. I-impressive." Amelia stammered.
Nya walked over, smiling. "If you want, you can choose one."
"I'm fine." Amelia replied.
"Alright. Come on, it's breakfast." Nya said, leaving the room. Amelia sighed and followed.
The others were already in the dining room, where Zane and Diane were putting food on the table. "Is Sensei back?" Emera asked.
"Not yet." Cole answered.
"Since we wasted our day off yesterday, anyone for taking today off?" Annabella said. Everyone raised their hands.
"So, where do we go?" Jay said.
"Can we go to the amusement park? Please?" Lloyd said. Diane smiled softly.
"Why not?" She responded.
Two hours later...
"Wow. Big place." Annabella marveled. The ninja had changed into regular clothing, and now stood at the entrance.
"Best place ever!" Lloyd yelled, running off. Amelia sighed.
"I'll get him." She told the others, going after Lloyd. The rest split up, going in pairs.
Emera and Cole headed to a rollercoaster. "Bet you can't finish it without barfing." Cole dared.
"You're so on." Emera chuckled.
Afterward, Emera stepped off, smiling. "Did I tell you in the facility we went through motion sickness tests?" She asked.
"No, you forgot to." Cole muttered, his face slightly green.
Patting his back, Emera looked over at a bench. "I think you need to sit down."
Nodding, Cole rested on the bench, and his face gradually returned to the correct color. "I've been meaning to ask. Why did you and Annabella fire off at Jay about his parents that day?"
Emera sighed. "I won't say for Annabella, but... well, neither of us have parents who are trying to be a part of our lives and have always supported us."
"I know what it feels like." Cole said, but Emera shook her head.
"I did have nice parents. But when I was young, my father became a drunker. He's out of prison now, but I haven't seen him in years, even before the facility. My mother remarried, but she died, leaving me with my stepfather and Amelia. Jim was nice, but completely oblivious to Amelia's troublemaking. That's the main reason I don't like her. One day when I was eleven, men came out and kidnapped me while I was walking home. Since Amelia's not with Jim, I'm guessing he's dead." Emera massaged her temple. "I guess I was jealous of Jay, and angry he was being so mean."
"I can't blame you. The other guys and I were thinking of doing the same thing to Jay." Cole admitted.
Meanwhile, Jay and Nya were touring the booths. One of them was a simple water gun booth, and a young kid was waiting to play. "I wanna play!" He whined.
"Sorry kid, you need two people." The vender said apologetically.
"I'll play." Jay offered, sitting down. He allowed the younger boy to win, but made sure it was close.
"I won!" The boy yelled happily, taking one of the stuffed animals.
"That was nice. Want one?" The vender asked Jay, who shook his head.
Walking away, Nya smiled. "Jay, that was so sweet." She said, and Jay found himself blushing intensely.
"It was really nothing." Jay mumbled, but Nya just smiled wider. She leaned over, kissing Jay's cheek.
"It was something." Nya insisted, walking ahead. Jay looked shocked for a moment, blushing harder before continuing after her.
"Should've gotten her one." He murmured, but a small smile was on his face.
Diane and Zane had gone to a 'haunted house'. "What are the purposes of these?" Diane asked, confused.
"I believe they were created in order to scare people." Zane replied. "Would you like to try going inside?"
Nodding, Diane found herself giggling rather than screaming at the 'horrors'. "This is not very scary." She remarked, laying her head on Zane's shoulder. He chuckled.
"Perhaps." Zane agreed.
Annabella had followed Kai to a laser tag arena. "Ever played?" He asked.
"Nope. What are the rules?" Annabella replied.
Grinning, Kai paid for entry. "Just shoot everyone not your color."
As it turned out, Annabella was a natural. Within the first minute of play, she'd disappeared and Kai found her on the top floor, sharpshooting the other players. Smiling to himself and shaking his head, Kai snuck behind her.
"Having fun?" He asked. Annabella nearly fell over and landed onto the first floor, but Kai caught her waist.
"Don't scare me like that!" She scolded, but her amused tone cut into the words.
The game ended, and the two walked out, laughing. "Dude, you suck at laser tag!" Annabella said.
"I don't, you're just really good at it." Kai pointed out.
"Bella?" Annabella froze. Kai looked at her, worried, and Annabella gritted her teeth before she turned around. "Bella! You're-"
The woman who had been speaking to Annabella had a sword blade at her throat. "Never call me Bella." Annabella hissed angry. "Not Bella, not Annie, not anything. NEVER. SPEAK. TO. ME. AGAIN."
"Annabella-" The man next to the woman began but Annabella's sword was soon at his throat instead.
"The same goes for you." She growled before turning and running. Kai ran after her and found her behind one of the rides, crying in her hands.
"Annabella?" Kai asked. Sniffing, she looked up.
"A-are they gone?" Annabella squeaked. Kai was surprised; he'd never seen her fragile.
"Yeah. What happened?" Kai said. Annabella began to cry again, and he pulled her into his arms comfortingly. She pressed her hands on his chest, trying to disappear.
"T-that was my mother." Annabella whispered. Kai, shocked, didn't speak. "I-I don't k-know who t-the man was. M-maybe a driver or s-something." Annabella hiccupped, burying her face into Kai's chest.
"You don't like her." Kai guessed, and Annabella nodded slightly.
"W-when I was r-really little, my p-parents were a-ashamed of me. M-maybe it was s-since I was d-different from other girls, b-but one day, a m-man came to our house." Annabella broke into a fresh set of tears. "H-he said for a p-price, I w-would get a s-special education. T-the only catch was m-minimal c-contact. M-my parents jumped at the chance."
Kai didn't speak, just held Annabella tightly. And I thought not having parents was bad... "That was the facility, right?"
"Y-yeah. The n-next day they started the t-tests. I w-was just s-seven years old. F-for nine years I w-was there. The o-only thing that k-kept me going w-was the thought I w-would never s-see my parents again." Annabella stopped crying, wiping her face. "I-I'm sorry y-you had to s-see that."
"No." Kai said firmly. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. Being in a facility where they lock you up is bad enough, but you parents sending you there is even worse." Annabella looked up, and Kai's expression was gentle.
"Thank you." Annabella mumbled. Leaning downward, their lips connected briefly. Annabella swung her arms around Kai's neck, and he slipped his hands into her hair, running his fingers through the strands.
When their lips departed, Annabella put her head back on Kai's chest, closing her eyes, and he rocked her. "I think we should start trying to find the others." Annabella murmured pulling away. "A-and, can we not talk about what happened with my parents to them?" Kai took Annabella's hand, squeezing it tight.
"I'll wait until you're ready." He whispered.
During this time, Lloyd had managed to run through the entire park, trailed by Amelia. But all of a sudden, Lloyd stopped dead. Amelia caught up, panting. "What's wrong?" She said, breathing heavily.
Lloyd pointed. "Look." Pythor was coming out of the ground, holding a silver curved blade
"That must be a fang blade!" Amelia whispered.
"I'm getting the others." Lloyd said, running off. Once he was out of sight, Amelia grabbed her cloak from her bag and tied it around her neck. Out of her boots she pulled her sharpened knives. Promptly Amelia threw the first. It swung in the air before slashing at Pythor's arm. He yelled in pain, dropping the fang blade. Amelia grabbed it along with her knife and began running.
"Get her!" Pythor commanded.
By then, Lloyd had found the others. "Serpentine!" He gasped.
"Great! We don't have our weapons!" Jay complained, only to be surprised when the girls drew theirs out.
"With our luck, we figured something was going to happen." Nya said, handing the guys their weapons. "Let's go."
When they got there, Amelia was cornered by several of the Serpentine. She barely lasted ten seconds before a Venomari caught her by the throat, holding her up off the ground as Amelia struggled.
"Lemme go!" Amelia tried to shout, but her air flow was completely cut off.
"Time to ssssee who daressss defy the Sssserpentine!" Skales hissed, grabbing Amelia's hood and taking it off.
The ninja gasped as Amelia was exposed as the 'mysterious warrior'. Emera felt betrayed, but kept it down. She's so getting yelled at later.
"A child? Destroy her!" Pythor commanded.
"Not so fast!" Cole shouted, getting the Serpentine's attention. "Let her go!" The Serpentine and ninja began battling. In the confusion Lloyd helped Amelia escape but she dropped the fang blade, picked up by a lone Serpentine.
After the battle, everyone was nursing their injuries on Destiny's Bounty while Amelia was in her room, waiting. The first person to come in was Emera, whose lips were pressed into a tight line. "Why." She demanded.
Amelia looked away. "I was only trying to help."
"Really. Amelia, you're not as good of a liar as you think. You happen to show up in the middle of nowhere, found by us, have two knives and know how to use them. Is this some trick?" Emera said, angry.
"I swear, it's not!" Amelia cried.
"When you're ready to tell me the truth I'm waiting." Emera growled, slamming the door behind her.
Staring at the door for a few moments, Amelia sighed and stretched out on her bed. "It's all her fault." Amelia whispered. "She was the one who had to disappear. She had to blame me. And she isn't even thankful I saved her fucking butt!"
There was another knock on the door. "What?!" Amelia shouted. Quietly, Diane came in. "Oh, Diane. I didn't mean-"
"It's fine." Diane replied. "I take it things didn't go well?"
Amelia sighed. "Not at all."
"Whatever Emera thinks, the rest of us are grateful. At least, Annabella, Nya, and I. The boys are just happy you're okay." Diane said, sitting on Amelia's bed. "And if you need to talk, the others girls and I are willing to listen."
"Thanks." Amelia said quietly.
Back in the girls' room, Annabella tried talking to Emera. "What's up with you?" She asked.
"My stepsister is being a dick, that's what." Emera barked.
"Really? Last I checked, she saved our lives. Back then, you seemed pretty grateful." Annabella pointed out. "Amelia's your family right now, and you're pushing her away, just like Jay did to his parents. If we yelled at him, you should look at yourself. I won't say you're wrong about her before, since I honestly have no idea. But it doesn't change the fact she saved your life."
Emera didn't say anything, but later that night, at dinner, under her breath to Amelia as they walked by each other Emera muttered, "I'm sorry."
Amelia didn't react, but her heart swelled. Finally.