"So," Trixie said, raising her eyebrows and prodding Jake in the side. "How are you?"

Jake glanced over at her; she was half-curled into Spud's side as they were all squished onto his small couch. She had poked him with the tip of her toes, and was looking at him expectantly.

Jake shrugged, trying to keep the satisfied smile from his face. Yes, Rose was a little bit different from what she had been, but that was too be expected, as he had always realized. It was true that he had struggled with it when she had first returned home (it was, after all, hard to believe that anything could so severely affect Rose; his strong, wonderful, stubborn Rose) but now Jake realized that under the surface of her trauma was the woman that she had always been. He just had to lead her back to that person.

"Good," he replied, knowing that Trixie was about to poke him again. She always wanted details, especially when it concerned his relationship, though Jake was lost as to why that was.

She rolled her dark eyes, slight annoyance written on her features. "Oh? Tell me more," she demanded.

"Really good," Jake replied, watching her go from slightly annoyed to completely frustrated.

"Jake Long! Tell me how you and Miss Rose are doing right now or I will do something drastic."

"Way to overreact," Jake joked, nudging her knee with elbow. "It's … good, Trix. It's kinda difficult but it's good."

Trixie glanced at him for less than a second before she sent a pillow flying at is head. It was so unexpected that Jake didn't even have time to react; the cushion collided with his cheek before he even realized that it was airborne.

"You two did it!" Trixie screeched.

Jake blushed. "Yeah but … that happened on the island."

Trixie said up, looking affronted. "The island? As in the mystical dragon island? As in the place that you were right before she was kidnapped? As in the place you were months ago? All of this meaning that you didn't tell us?" She hissed the ending part.

Jake shrugged, unable to think of anything better to do. "In my defence, I was thinking of something more important."

"Yeah, yeah, Rose was kidnapped and you were depressed," Trixie snapped, before her face changed. "I didn't mean that the way it sounded. I missed her too, and I hated seeing you in that place again. I didn't mean to make it sound like it was nothing; it wasn't nothing."

Jake smirked at her. "It's all right, Trix. She's back now and everything is good."

Trixie grinned. "So, how was the sex?"

"Good," Jake managed, his skin feeling hot and taunt from the blush covering his cheeks. No matter how long he remained friends with Trixie, he would always get caught off guard by her brash nature.

"Mhm," Trixie mused, assessing her best friend. "I bet sex between the Huntsmistress and the American Dragon would get into all kinds of hot, kinky shit."

Just as she was finishing her sentence, Spud clapped a hand over her mouth. "Trixie, there are boundaries."

Trixie shook her mouth free. "Aren't you curious?" She asked her boyfriend.

Spud shook his head instantly. "Not at all. Though Rose is pretty, I have no desire to picture her naked. And I really don't want to see Jake naked. And I especially don't want to picture the two of them naked together."

"I really don't want you picturing me naked either," Jake quipped.

"Fine, fine," Trixie sighed. "I'll drop the subject … For now anyway."

Jake rolled his eyes good naturedly. "Whatever you say, Trix."

(-.-)

Nicholas glanced at Kyle over the top his suitcase, trying to communicate silently with him. They had grown up with each other; they knew each other better than anyone else. One thing that they had always been good at was understanding one another, even without words. They had always been in sync. They had always been on the same wavelength when it came to what action should be taken next; had always been thinking the same thought at the same time. Physically, they were complete opposites, but otherwise, they were exactly the same.

So when Kyle raised his dark eyes and looked at Nicholas, both boys knew that they were thinking the same thing: they couldn't let this happen.

When they had first opened the door, bent on racing to Lao Shi's side for advice and help, and had instead discovered Rose standing there – the very person that they had just become so wary of – they had been absolutely terrified. Would Rose kill them? Not the Rose that they knew. Yet, when they had looked at her, they had suddenly realized that this was not the Rose that they knew. This was the Rose from years ago; the fearsome unfeeling warrior that had the entire Huntsclan and magical community shaking in their boots with just a mere mention of her name.

For a wild moment, both Nicholas and Kyle thought that they were about to die at the hands of their trusted friend.

But that's not what happened.

Rose was going to separate them. She had a logical explanation for it, of course. She wanted them to visit other branches around the world to make sure that their new policies were running smoothly and to make sure that the leaders knew how to operate. She said that she couldn't leave the Huntsclan in New York so soon after returning, and she wasn't willing to leave Jake so soon after regaining him, so she thought that it was best that they go. She wanted Nicholas to go to Europe first, and for Kyle to go to Australia. It all sounded logical; it all sounded like something that they old Rose may have said, but Nicholas and Kyle could see the truth.

She didn't want them to stay together, and to stay exposed to her, because she knew that they could figure out something was wrong. What Rose didn't know is that they already had.

In the moment when Nicholas and Kyle looked at each other, they had both agreed to run. They would have to seize a moment to escape from under Rose's gaze and get to Lao Shi. Getting to Lao Shi would be the important thing: they had to tell him that Rose was trying to regress the Clan. As much as they hated to think that Rose was going to do that, they knew it was her plan; they knew it without any doubt at all.

They closed their suitcases at the same time, zippers echoing one another.

"Are you ready?" Rose chimed from her place at the door.

"Yes, Huntsmistress Rose," they chorused, trying to look utterly respectful, though not to the point where she would become suspicious.

"I'll accompany you to the airport and see you onto your respective flights," Rose informed them, dashing their hopes that they could get into the car under her gaze and then escape from the vehicle, either while it was in motion or abandon the driver at the airport.

"Thank you," Nicholas murmured.

"But we don't want to inconvenience you," Kyle piped up.

"Oh, yes," Nicholas agreed, seeing where Kyle was going. "We want to make sure that you take care of the Clan the way it needs to. Are you sure you should be leaving it right now?"

"The Clan will be fine. It's not an infant that needs taking care of every minute. It can survive without me for the next few hours," Rose dismissed their words coolly.

Nicholas gulped. He hated the look in her eyes; the look that said she suspected them of something and one misstep could lead to a fate that neither he nor Kyle wanted to discover.

"Well," Kyle said after an awkward pause. "We should get going."

Rose opened the door for them. "The car is waiting downstairs."

Silently, Nicholas and Kyle filed into the elevator. Their stomachs swooped with nerves as the elevator descended onto the main level. They wanted to trust that Rose wouldn't hurt them; they wanted to be sure that they were, in fact, going to Europe and Mexico. However, they were still extraordinary worried that the suitcases and the explanations were just for looks, so that the rest of the Clan would not look around with suspicion when they disappeared completely. This car ride could be a one way trip, and they were both very aware of it.

Still, they loaded their luggage into the trunk of the town car before they slid in the back seat. Nicholas ended up trapped between Kyle and Rose, his leg pressed tightly against the Huntsmistress' leg. He tried not to fidget or move, not wanting that flat glare of hers – so different from how she used to look at them; with something akin to sibling affection – to turn onto him.

The town car began to slow as they approached a red light. Nicholas heard, as well as felt, Kyle's intake of breath. He knew, then, that Kyle was going to take this chance to escape the car and free himself into the city. Nicholas attempted to subtly prepare himself to follow his best friend out of the car and into the unknown.

When the car came to a halt behind a taxi, Kyle already had the door flung open and was racing for the sidewalk. He half-turned when he reached the side of a hot dog vendor, turning to look for Nicholas, who he realized, with a sinking heart, was not behind him. Nicholas was trapped in Rose's strong arms. The Huntsmistress looked at Kyle with eyes of ice, a knife held up to the throat of his best friend.

Kyle watched her lips as she said, "Look what you've done."

And she pressed the knife down.

(-.-)

"Dark Dragon," Theron bellowed as he hung up the phone with his Huntsgirl. He stood up from his desk and went in search for his companion, who was heading toward him.

"Yes, Huntsmaster?" The Dark Dragon asked, inclining his head with interest.

"I have a fear that those two boys are smarter than the Huntsgirl and I would like to admit. I feel as though they are going to try something."

"Something like what?" The Dark Dragon inquired.

"Escaping, likely. They are more likely to flee a scene than to stick around one and fight," Theron muttered condescendingly. He had no respect for people who would rather run than stay and fight; it was not what the Huntsclan was about and he could hardly believe that those two buffoons had the mark of the Clan – they did not deserve it. "I cannot allow them to get away. Would you mind tracking the car and stopping them if they tried anything? If they got on their planes, no harm, no foul – one of the planes is set to go down and the other one is set to be attacked on the street outside the airport in Mexico. But they have to get on the plane, understood?"

"Of course I understand," the Dark Dragon hissed. "I'll leave immediately."

He slithered from the hole in the ground that he and Theron dwelled in and took to the air, high enough that he wouldn't look like a dragon from the ground; rather, he would look like a large bird. He circled the Huntsclan for only a few minutes before Rose and her companions left the building and piled into a car. He followed that car for a few city blocks until it paused at a red light.

He saw one body jump from the car and then the car left. He knew that he must capture the person who had left. The person raced down an alley and the Dark Dragon began to dive. He swooped into the alley, capturing the screaming boy in his talons. With a quick pinch of one of his claws, the Dark Dragon knocked the boy unconscious. With that done, the Dark Dragon turned around so that he could deliver the boy to Theron.

I won't be updating next week due to the holidays, so this story will return January 1st 2014!

I don't own anything recognizable.

~TLL~