A/N: Here's Chapter 10! Enjoy! :)

"Umm..." I mumble, searching for an explanation while the nurse taps her pen against her clipboard impatiently. "She fell from the second floor of our house and scraped her arm on a branch." That isn't too out of the ordinary, right?

The nurse raises her eyebrows, nodding for me to continue. "She...she was painting the window ledge when she lost her footing and fell off the ladder," I add, hoping it sounded realistic. Sarah covers her face with one hand, probably out of exasperation.

The nurse nods unbelievingly, jotting down a few notes on her clipboard. "The doctor will be here in a minute." She turns and walks out of the small hospital room.

As soon as the door shuts, Adam speaks up from his corner.

"That was real smooth, Sam."

"Shut up," I reply half-heartedly.

After Sarah is bandaged and we bluff our way through the rest of the doctor's questions, my thoughts return to the other Garde. Suddenly, a distant howl sounds. I cast a sidelong glance at Adam, and immediately know something is wrong. He freezes, his hands gripping the wall, his skin a slate gray.

"Adam?"

He blinks upon hearing his name and whispers urgently, "Quick, wake Sarah up. We need to lea-"

A piercing howl travels through the air, cutting him off.

I shake Sarah awake and scramble to open the door when Adam waves at me. "Use the window. It'll raise suspicion if we go out the door."

As he's speaking, he undoes the window latch, lifting it upward. To my surprise, it opens. Thoughts swarm through my head in a panic. Where are we going to do? Will Sarah be ok? We're not ready to fight again yet, and we dropped most of our weapons before coming inside.

Another agonizing howl sounds, as if emitted from the throat of a hoarse, mangled wolf, and its closeness chills me. I run towards the window and peer out, trying to locate its source. I only see a dense mass of trees behind a road until something behind a tree moves. A flash of silver streaks forward and I barely have time to shout before claws are raking up the wall in front of me.

I quickly slam down the window, locking it. I whirl around to see Adam, his face grim, already grabbing our trunks. Sarah pushes off her covers and goes to help him.

A shrill, grating noise reaches my ears, and to my horror, I see glinting claws scratching at the window, carving thin lines into the glass. The creature that I saw earlier ducks down for a second and lunges forward, only to slam against the window again. Sarah shrieks as the light from the room illuminates the creature for a few seconds. It looks like a cross between a lion and a wolf, its silvery-brown fur matted and thin. Its teeth glint as it growls, trying to peer at us out of its left eye, the right one swollen shut. Its claws scrabble for purchase as it falls, flaking paint off the wall.

Again and again, it leaps, only to thump against the window and claw its way down. Adam and my father exchange frantic glances as I try to think of a believable lie to pull Sarah out of the hospital past the staff, even though I have no idea where we can escape to. My fingers are on the doorknob when I hear a blast, and a brief cracking noise. The now cracked, bottom half of the window is heaved out of its frame by gloved hands. Mog hands, probably. The creature, suddenly noticing the empty space, leaps through and lands on the pristine white bed, smearing it with dirt and debris.

Adam picks up the chair next to the bed and hurls it forward. Though it smacks into the monster's head, it only seems to agitate it. We get our first glimpse of its companion as the Mog peers into the room, sneering as he realizes we are absolutely defenseless. The Mog nimbly hops into the room and commands, "Kill them all except for that traitor." Somehow, the creature understands, its sickly yellow eyes clamping onto me. Its legs tense up, and it lunges, claws reaching for my face before it freezes, inches away. Confused, it waves its paws in midair, unable to scratch me as my brain whirls in realization. Within seconds, its neck is immediately pierced with gleaming shards of ice.

Stunned, I look towards the window again, and my heart leaps as Six smiles from among the darkness. Her stormy eyes sparkle as she hops in, her hair flying around her face, almost like another dream.

Dazed, I see Marina scrambling in after her, and the room suddenly plunges a few degrees as her eyes narrow at the Mog. Right when Nine enters, the Mog is yanked up like a limp doll and brought back, crashing onto the floor.

I'm filled with relief and exhaustion and so much happiness that I can barely process what's happening, but I still feel like something's wrong...

It hits me. It's the missing space Eight used to fill between us. Numbly, I notice that the Mog's neck is already bent at an awkward angle, and that the lion-wolf creature is now slumped against the floor, dripping a dark black liquid from its neck. I look back at Six, and she runs forward, throwing her arms around me, and my face finally breaks into a small smile.

While she hugs me tightly, resting her head on my shoulder, I give her soft squeeze just to let her know I'm here. Six loosens her grip for a few seconds to look up at my face, and I see a faint smile tugging at her lips as she searches deep into my eyes. I savor the moment, refusing to drop the smile from off my face.

My heart thumps crazily as she tilts her head up, leaning closer, her breath brushing against my cheek, and I don't know how it happens, but suddenly her lips are on mine. My eyes flutter shut, and each of my thoughts seem to fall through quicksand. I don't know what time it is anymore, or where I am; all I know is that Six is here, and that Six is alive, and that right now, I'm kissing her, Six.

All the sounds in the room are muted, and I don't hear any of them until a quiet whisper of a howl reaches my ears and Six breaks away, still tantalizingly leaving her face inches from my own.

I know our moment is almost over when her eyes dart away for a second, towards the window to check for Mogs. Soon Six will back to being a warrior, just an unfeeling soldier in another war. When we make eye contact again, I see a last glimpse of Six from seconds before, a faint smile revealing a last mischievous sparkle. She leans forward, quickly whispering into my ear.

"Glad you didn't die on me, Sam."

A sad smile lingers as she pushes me away. Six bites her lip while staring out the window as the mood suddenly plunges. I can tell we're all thinking of Eight.

"Six-," I start, but she jerks her head slightly, telling me to stop, so I clamp my mouth shut.

My brain is still swimming in micro-gravity when the second creature leaps inside, clawing off bits of the window ledge in a horrible, scraping sound. It gives a wild cry, as if to beckon others. Startled, I take a step towards the fallen chair.

Right when I manage to regain some of my orientation, another howl sounds in answer, dangerously close.

Unfortunately, peace during these times don't last very long.

A/N: Thank you guys so much for reading! I'm sure you're tired of hearing this by now but yes, I am so sorry for updating so late! I hope the romance was good enough-I have barely any experience in writing that! And of course, I hope you guys approve of Samix! It's summer but I was assigned so much homework...I should probably get back to that now!

Special thanks to:

Meerkat78 for your support and your sense of humor!

TheThoughtsofKarasu for sticking with me and for your enthusiasm!

And thanks to everyone for giving me a chance even though my updates are so irregular! I love each and every one of you and I hope you have an amazing day!