I think I've neglected this story long enough haven't I? Not to mention torture you guys uselessly :P
Especially since you consider that I left it off right at that moment that everyone was waiting for! Well, hmm, I don't know what you guys will think about this chapter...I felt like I rambled a teensy bit, I mean 1,800 words? I haven't done that in a while! So, yeah, I do hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and thanks for the amazing responses everyone left! I know that for some people, 9 reviews is what you guys get on a bad chapter, but for me, it's a lot :D
Oh, and I've decided to reveal the whole truth along with the characters, or else this is going to get very confusing. At the end of every chapter, I'll recap what the facts, in order to keep everyone on the same page, sound good?
Ergo, I'll only be able to reply to some of your questions, but everything that was covered will be explained at the end of the chapter!
Anyway, I'm going to stop my non-sensical ramblings off to a side, I have my serious doubts anyone reads fanfics to hear the problems the author's having, so I'll spare you guys the drama.
Hmm, not much more here, except please review and I hope you guys are enjoying the fic! And thanks so much to everyone that has faved/ put this on your alerts and reviewed, I truly, in every sense of the word! Thanks!
ada69: Well, it's good to know that I managed to keep the suspense for you! Thanks! And you'll find out the truth soon! Well, I have updated, so I hope you enjoy! :D
TrickedPast: Yay! So it seems that I've kept you guessing! Well, don't worry, I tried my best to keep it ambiguous, so don't feel bad! Thanks so much, and I hope you keep enjoying this!
Wolvmbm: Yep, Cassie was Bridgette this whole time! haha, good to know I've gotten that effect! As to how it happened, you'll have to find out with the characters! No one knew that Cassie was Bridge, not even Bridge herself. Thanks a bunch, and I hope this chapter helps to explain it a bit more!
BlueserDragon: haha, it's nice to see that some people really were kept guessing! Cassie's hair was a dark brown, so it could be confused for black, if not looked at in detail. I described it at the end of Dragons, I don't remember if I redescribed it in this story, but yeah, it's dark brown. Don't worry, I don't mind answering them, but there are some things that I can't yet reveal ;) Hmm, Bridge hasn't necessarily forgotten who Rose is...Well, it'll be what happens, so hang on for the ride! Thanks so much, and I hope you enjoy!
Luiz4200: Hmm, it could happen, but yeah, I have my reason, but we'll see. Ah yes, anger, not really prominent yet, right now it's more of an emotional and heart-wrenching scene than anything else :P Thanks so much for your input! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Onej6: Yeah, haha, you're a natural Sherlock Holmes :P ah, but can you figure out the rest of it? Good luck to you, Poirot, trying to figure the rest of it out! Yeah, what I meant was, because Bridge doesn't really know the whole truth, so it could take a couple of chapters until the whole truth is figured out, would people have prefered for the rest of the mystery to run it's course, or have an all-knowing view of the mystery...but running it's course won out, ergo that's what shall happen :P Thanks a bunch for your input, and I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Rik: haha, well, the unlikely became the reality! Yep, now everyone can rest at night knowing that :P Hmm, you'll find out. and yeah, the mystery is what it shall be! haha, no, she hasn't had a shower in 3 years! Kidding, you'll have to find out! Here it is, so I hope you enjoy!
S.S. Pie: A:yep she is!Ah well, at least I kept you in suspense about it! B:Well, we'll see about that, won't we? C: yep, your theory does have a truth to it! D: Will do! And it's ok, I really don't mind :D Thanks so much, and we'll see what theory's true sometime soon! Hope you enjoy!
G.G: Yep, she is! Yep, it was what I was hinting at...this isn't an easy puzzle! :D I hope you enjoy!
==Huntress' Room
Cassie, well, Bridge now, was shocked. How did this woman know her name? Her memories had been flooding back to her the moment she saw herself in the mirror, and she remembered the familiarity with which her enemy dealt while fighting her dad and herself, and wondered who the woman could be. She was then brought back to reality once her mask was removed and her face revealed.
"My goodness you've grown!" Huntress' voice was filled with awe, and seemed completely alien to Bridge.
"How- what?" It was all the awestruck girl could manage as she was hugged for all her life's worth.
"Bridge, I want you to tell me everything, everything that you remember. Take your time, but tell me what happened." Huntress got a bit more serious now, but Bridge could sense that there was a worried look in her eyes.
Bridge didn't know what possessed her to talk to her supposed enemy, but she supposed that the fact that the woman wasn't trying to slay her, and that she had been saved by her from those monsters helped in that decision. "I- I had had an argument with my parents, and I left to clear my head. So I was flying around Central Park and this creature flagged me, asking for help. I didn't think much at the time, and went to go see what the creature wanted. They told me their forest was under attack, and we went to go help them. The creature climbed on my back, because it couldn't fly, and as we approached, I got knocked on the head. I then crashed and someone said 'success.' That's the last thing I remember as Bridge. Next thing I remember was that I was in a terrible accident, and my-" Here Bridge stopped, unsure of how to continue. "The people that I had thought were my parents were killed. I was told I had amnesia, and didn't remember anything about them. Probably because they never existed." Bridge smiled a bit, and Huntress hugged her a bit closer to herself.
"And then you lived as Cassie?" Rose asked.
"Then I lived a bitter and angry life as Cassie." Bridge nodded.
Before they could say anything else, Rose's phone started to ring. "I'm going to answer this, please don't leave." Huntress pleaded.
Bridge just smiled. "I won't" This was a completely different side to Huntress, and Bridge wasn't minding the comfort. It reminded her of someone, but Bridge couldn't quite place her finger on who it could be.
==Outside Huntress' Room
Huntress closed the door and answered her cell phone. "Temple of miracles. Where the impossible becomes just another achievement."
Haley, who was on the other side of the line, did a double take once she heard Rose answer with that. She hadn't done that ever since Bridge was gone. Maybe she was feeling happy...though about what Haley couldn't fathom. "Anyway, I can see you're happy. Which is good, because I haven't found Violet yet. She's scouring everywhere, and I haven't been able to catch up and contact her-"
"Haley." Rose cut her off. "It's ok, look, just, get Jake here ok? Then go looking for Violet."
Haley was now dumbstruck. Rose wanted Jake? But Cassie needed her mother! "Uh Rose, look, I know you love my brother, though the reason why still eludes me, but isn't it better if Cassie saw her mother?"
"Trust me on this Haley, just get Jake here ok?" Rose insisted.
Haley caved. She couldn't say no to Rose, whether she was her boss or not. "Alright, whatever you say."
"Thanks a bunch." Rose hung up and went back in the room, and she relaxed seeing that Bridge was still there.
"So, what now?" Bridge asked, still not fully trusting her enemy.
"Well, first we need to figure out what happened to you. Then we need to explain to certain people what happened to you. However, we should keep that list to a minimum, family only, because Avezon wanted to kill you, and he seemed prepared to use any means necessary." And he just deepened his own grave, Rose added in her mind. She would make the man pay for what he tried and nearly accomplished in doing, that much was for sure.
==Long Residence
Jake was tired. He had searched for Cassie, until Haley had come and told him to stop searching and that Rose had her some time ago. Apparently, she was searching for Violet, so Jake couldn't understand why Haley just appeared once .
"What do you want?" Jake growled as a greeting.
"And I love you too." Haley rolled her eyes. "Anyway, your precious and potentially mad wife has requested that I take you to her, apparently needing you more than she needs Vi, so get your butt here so I can teleport you."
"And she's mad because?" Jake asked, bored, not making any move to get near Haley.
"She was happy, and she answered the phone in that annoying and vague way she did before it all. Plus, I have yet to see how you can help with Cassie, but I guess you're the closest thing Rose has to Cassie's ally who isn't either trying to soothe someone, trying to be soothed, or running amok in New York City. Now get your ass here, so I can continue doing the sane and right thing."
"Fine." Jake sighed, getting up from where he was leaning and made his way to his sister.
==Huntsclan
"What was that?" Bridge asked, having seen the light that peeked from underneath the door.
"Be back." Rose said, knowing who it was, and wanting to meet Jake before he saw Bridge. She went out into the living room.
"Dammit, do you want to tell me what the heck is going through your mind right now?" Haley hissed.
"Listen, I just have to take care of something, and this is working by priority. Just trust me alright? Once you get Violet, just come back here, you don't need to call me, but please, don't let her in my room." Rose replied, a pleading look in her eyes.
"You're mad if you think she'll agree to that." Haley sighed, disappearing.
"So, what's going on?" Jake asked, curious.
Rose just grabbed his hands and led him to her bedroom. "I think it'll make you happy."
"I seriously doubt it." Jake muttered.
"I would wait before passing judgment." Rose smirked from underneath her mask as she opened her the door to her room and stepped outside.
==In the bedroom
Bridge couldn't hear what was being said outside the room, but saw that whoever it was, had left. But as she heard a conversation still being held, she figured that someone dropped someone else off. She suddenly heard the door open, and saw Huntress back into the room saying "..before passing judgment."
Suddenly she saw someone who made her heart leap. "DAD!" Bridge tried to get up, but flinched at her failed effort. Rose had rushed to the bedside and pushed her back down.
Jake blinked, and looked towards Rose, who discretely nodded. Jake grinned wider than he had ever grinned and rushed up to meet his daughter's embrace, and if you were looking at the face of each of the Longs in the room, you'd see that they were all crying, crying with happiness.
"How- how did you?" Jake got out, perplexed as he let Bridge go. He then chuckled. "You're alive!"
"Long story short, I was Cassie this whole time." Bridge smiled sheepishly.
"Wait, you were the cranky and homicidal teen that Violet adopted?" Jake asked, chuckling.
"Take out the teen and you yourself weren't far from it." Bridge smirked.
Rose snorted. "I do agree with that description."
"Very funny. But why?" Jake had questions pouring out.
"I don't know. I just had my memory erased, and apparently, brainwashed into believing I was Cassie, an orphaned kid who lost her parents in a car crash, and became amnesiac due to it." Bridge replied.
"But how did you remember?" Jake was shocked. Before, he was mad at Avezon for apparently having killed his daughter, but to think that she had been alive for these three years, and forced to live the life of an orphan without anyone to take care of her just made him want to scour New York until he found that bastard and murdered him.
"I was wondering that too." Huntress nodded.
"I don't really know. I was knocked out by some Huntspunks, and they tried to torture me, but got stopped by her." Bridge pointed to Huntress. "And after I took a bath, I looked at myself in the mirror, and seeing who I was brought it all back. I don't know much more than that."
"So, something happened while you were knocked out and when you came up here, because I didn't do anything, so one of those goons did. Are you missing anything?" Huntress asked.
"Yeah, the bracelet my-" Bridge faltered here. She then turned to Jake. "Dad, I know she's still with you. I have seen her while I was Cassie. So why didn't she come?"
Jake didn't have to ask as to whom Cassie was referring to. She looked at Huntress, who once again nodded. "Bridge, are you still mad at her?"
"I don't know. I know I should be, since this was all caused because of this, but while I was Cassie, the only thing I could think of was that I wanted my parents back. Even though those weren't my real parents, I still missed the feeling of having parents. Both of them. I'm sorry dad, I know I messed up, and I know you guys must be pissed at me for-" Bridge was apologizing but was cut off by Huntress hugging the life out of her.
Rose couldn't take it anymore. Bridge was so sad, and she didn't think that Bridge should feel so guilty. After all, the true person to blame was that idiot, not Bridge.. "Sweetheart no one's mad at you! We're just glad you're back."
The familiarity overwhelmed Bridge, and she gasped in recognition. "You! You're- you're, the Huntress? What? How!"
Rose removed her hood and mask and smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, well, since secrets don't seem to work in this family, I might as well do it."
Bridge just buried herself further in her mother's embrace. 3 years ago she wouldn't be caught doing this, but 3 years without parents can change a person immensely, and the longing was too much for her. Neither Jake nor Rose complained, and just hugged as one family, something which truly hadn't been done for a long time.
Suddenly, the door burst open. "ROSE! Why in the world are you denying my right to see my-" Violet stormed in, with Haley behind her, but they both froze in confusion at seeing the two adults hugging someone that they couldn't see. "-daughter?"
Rose smiled sheepishly and revealed who it was they were hugging.
"Bridge! ? ! ?" Both women chorused surprise and confusion in their voices.
yeah, so that was this chapter!
Timeline to keep everyone understanding [only what has been revealed is shown!]:
-Bridge has fight with parents, runs away, meets mysterious creature, and is kidnapped.
-Sometime later, somehow, Bridge winds up in the hospital, with the belief that she's Cassie, an amnesiac teen who has just survived a terrible crash which has claimed her 'parents'' lives.
-She only has her bracelet, which seems to have, potentially, some sort of connection to how Bridge became Cassie.
-Cassie lives out 3 years, unhappy, unaware that she had caused a lot of drama to her real family.
-Somehow, Cassie's cover [we'll call it that for lack of better word] was destroyed as she was unconscious with the Huntsgoons.
-Bridge, still thinking she's Cassie, goes a takes a shower. Once she looks in the mirror, her memories flood back to her, piece by overwhelming piece.
-Her birthmark has appeared once again, and Rose recognizes her because of that. [Told you there was a reason for that appearing! There is a method to my madness!]
So yeah! Everyone understanding this? Anyone kind of getting it, but not really? Or is everyone going: what the hey is going through this crazy chick's mind?
Feel free to ask me any questions! And I hope I haven't disappointed anyone with this chapter!
Thanks so much for your feedback and support!
Hezpeller