A little bit of a longer chapter because there was a lot to explain. I realize that while this was intended to mainly be about Luke, it has more Danny in it than him. Habits! So I may change the story description.

DISCLAIMER: I don't know why I bother with these, I still own nothing!

Danny's pov

When we arrived at the scene, all I could do was stare. A large panther was lazily smacking a shattered Adrian through the branches.

"I loved you, cared about you. But now...little bird, I've learned. Learned to hate, to not care, how to fight. I've learned to be. Just. Like. you," With every word he hit him harder.

"Is that him?" Ava asked. I sensed she was slightly impressed with his cat form. I would have grinned, but I couldn't. I nodded at everyone, and they got in position. Except for the Cages.

"Why do we have to help the one who lied about our Luke?" Mrs. Cage demanded.

"You don't have to do anything. If you help or not, is your choice, but it would be the right thing," I told them. They sighed, and followed the others. The plan was for Ava, Pete and Sam to lead Runt-or Shadow-away from Adrian so that the Cages could tranquilize him. While they did that, I would get to Adrian, with Luke as my backup.

"Here kitty kitty! Here kitty!" Sam taunted. Shadow snarled.

"Please Bucket-Head, cats wouldn't be attracted to you if you had a necklace made of fish!" Peter retorted.

"Well...they...um...would be less attracted to someone who leaps around in his pajamas!" Sam yelled.

"Do you know how long it took to make this costume?" Peter fumed.

"Yeah, like five minutes," Sam crossed his arms. I shook my head. Shadow was just watching them, amused and confused at the same time.

"Idiots..." Ava sighed. She walked calmly to the front of their group. She held her head high, back straight, and tensed her shoulders, then uttered some sort of guttural growl from the back of her throat. She was challenging him, appealing to his animal side. Peter and Sam watched in shock as Shadow growled even louder, and bounded down the tree branches to land gracefully at their feet.

"How did..." Sam started.

"No clue," Pete answered as they started fighting. Shadow was powerful, but my teammates were jut enough to hold him off. They were slowly heading in the direction of the Cages, who were hiding in some bushes.

"Lets go," I said to Luke. We began climbing. I jumped quickly from branch to branch, but Luke was having more trouble. He had to rip off some of the leaves and tree limbs before jumping each time.

"I'll catch up!" He yelled up to me, I hesitated, then continued climbing and leaping up the tree. I spotted Adrian just above me. I made a final jump and sat next to him.

"You came?" He inquired.

"Of course friend," His question threw me off.

"But...I...I nearly...I wanted to...but you came," His eyes rolled up in his head as I used my chi to heal him.

"I didn't want to refuse you, when you asked for your memories. You weren't ready for them," I whispered.

"Am I ready now?" He asked.

"Lets find out," I pressed a glowing hand on his head and closed my eyes.

Adrian's pov

I was floating. Suddenly I was falling, falling forever through blurs of color and abstract shapes and dizzying shadows. I hit the ground hard. The floor was covered in a lush carpet and stretched through a long corridor. The walls were dark wood and on them, each about a foot a part, were doors. Each door was a different pattern and color, with the nearest being yellow with orange stripes.

"Hello?" I asked out loud. Hearing no reply, I decided to enter the doorways. I went through the striped one and emerged in a bright field. There was a small, rundown playground and the only people in it were a mother and child. She appeared to be teaching a small boy how to swing.

"I'm scared!" He squealed as the hinges creaked and sagged.

"That's it! Keep swinging your legs Ryan!"

"Excuse me! I'm lost!" I tried to get their attention, but they couldn't hear me. I walked up to the woman and waved a hand in front of her. She continued to encourage the child obliviously. I ran back out of the field and into the hallway. I ran and ran until I came to a part of the carpet that was old and torn. The walls were molded and full of holes. Even the doors were mostly shades of gray. But I didn't care, I opened a random one and walked into a small, dirty house.

"Get out!" I heard a voice and saw a boy slightly younger than me, with dark hair and eyes, screaming at a small boy... with different colored eyes. The small boy walked outside and I followed just before the door closed. But it was blank, outside the door was a void of no color. If these were my memories, then I hadn't experienced this part. I could hear though, which meant that my other self was listening from the other side of the door.

"A good brother," The little boy kept saying. I caved in on the inside and my knees weakened. When I saw those eyes I had been confused, but I never thought...I never thought that we...and I was floating again. Images swirled around my head. A sick mother, a tortured brother, fighting and lashing out until I made sure people were hurt, bad. And with the images came thoughts.

"No! Stop it! Stop it!" I yelled at the thoughts. Protect Mother. Keep them safe. Idiot brothers always getting themselves hurt. I don't have time for this, for him.

"Stop it! Go away!" Mother says to call her mommy, but a mommy cares for her kids. I shouldn't have to be her nurse. She should deal with it. She should be saving me. From myself. Who even am I?

"NO! Go away! GO AWAY!" Tobias is a selfish fool. Making me defend him because he refuses to fight. But how else is the little runt going to survive. We don't have money to feed ourselves, certainly none to waste on his injuries! He should be gone! I can't do this! I hate Tobias, that runt, I hate Runt! For making me worry, I need him to be safe.

"Relax Adrian, or should I say Ryan," A calm voice that wasn't my own, rang out.

"You! Make it stop, please!" I begged Iron Fist.

"I can't stop them without taking away your memories," He said.

"But, no! These aren't my memories! They can't be! How can Runt-Tobias- and I be...brothers," The idea was weird. Of all the fantasies I'd had of having family, I'd always pictured myself as an only child.

"Besides," I added desperately, "I would never do that, to anyone!"

"Do what?" He asked knowingly.

"You know! Those...things! I'm the reason he was tortured by Doc Ock! I'm the reason he was out in the streets! I'm the reason he was being hurt in school! It's my fault! But it-it can't be! That's not the person I am!" I was sobbing. I needed him to believe me. I needed confirmation that I wasn't a monster.

"And yet you continued to cause him pain, in your recent memory. You locked him away and starved him. You isolated him and let the others insult him, just like a few years ago. And besides, I was under the impression that you didn't know what type of person you were. Is that not why I gave you your memories?" He pointed out. I hated him because he was right.

"No..." I had known all along who I was. People don't change just because they don't remember. Habits and personalities don't change. I was someone cruel and scared. A coward so afraid of himself, that I had to hurt others so they would keep their distance, harden myself so that I could protect the ones I loved. But that wasn't the way it worked. To protect someone you have to defend them, love them, be there for them.

"Well Adrian, what do you say?" Iron Fist asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you think that Tobias is right to be mad at you?" I started sobbing even harder and nodded.

"Yes, yes he is right. I'm mad at myself too, but I can only imagine how mad he is! But he shouldn't fight either!" I declared, suddenly determined.

"I trust you know what to do, yes? Iron Fist's voice began to fade.

"Yeah, I think I do," And the void blurred and ran together until I was lying on the familiar tree branch, fully healed. Iron Fist was there, smiling at me weakly, and someone else too. It was the son of my helpers.

"Sorry. I just wanted a family. Someone to talk to. But I don't have the best of luck when it comes to family affairs, and it's my fault," I lowered my head and waited for him to punch me, scream at me, anything.

"Not a lot of us heroes do, dude. I forgive you, I know how it is, wanting a family. Although you can't just steal someone else's," He chuckled. I looked at him, at both of them. And I decided that my past didn't influence who I was. My decisions did. I had made many bad ones, which led to me becoming this, monster. But looking at these two heroes, my friends, I knew exactly what kind of person I had decided to be from now on.

And all is revealed! I really hope everyone likes my attempt at a plot twist! Also, thanks to my ever-faithful reviewer, TheImmortalWeapon for supporting the story and I hope you liked this chapter. Anyway...

Wolf out...