Hey guys! Thanks again for the amazing support. This chapter was honestly much harder to write than I thought. Hopefully you guys enjoy.

VI: Elias

Sybil is in the tent when I enter.

She's perched on the arrangement of blankets that she calls her bed. A book is settled in her lap, its pages worn and water damaged. Her long hair falls in front of her face casting shadows along the pages. I don't understand how I know her name but it feels like home when her name rings in my head.

"What are you reading?"

She looks up, startled, and then smiles when she sees me. One corner of her mouth tips upward before the other in a way that looks lazy and elegant.

"IIyaas, I thought you were out playing with the other boys."My name sounds strange rolling off her tongue, like there is something off about it, but I can't place a finger on it. I shake my head and glance down at the bandage wrapped around my leg from where Donita had tripped me and I had skinned my knee. "Oh IIyaas."

There it is again, the feeling that something isn't right. I refused to look up at her. I knew what she would say anyway. "Why didn't you fight back?" I mumbled a reply without looking up. I knew, without knowing why, that I shouldn't mumble. I did anyway. "Don't mumble."

"It would have been the wrong thing to do."

I still refused to look up, but I knew that Sybil had placed the book down and had stood up. "IIyaas." I shivered.

I slowly glance up through my hair. Why was my hair long? Sybil towered over me. Her hair fell just passed her waist. I was nearly as tall as her hair was long. Her stern features were sent in a grimace. For some reason I couldn't explain, I felt fear.

She grabbed at the cloth covering my torso. Was that my shirt? Sybil yanked me closer. "You know better than that." Her voice cut knifes through my skin. I was thrown back into a mess of blankets. She was approaching me again when the tent flap opened again.

Another woman stepped through the entryway. Like Sybil, her hair is down to her waist, but her hair was twisted in elegant princess curls. Her features were soft and when she smiles I immediately wanted to smile back. Estelle.

"IIyaas, I thought you were playing outside." My name still feels wrong. She sauntered towards me, her blonde hair, lightened from the sun, sways gently behind her. It's the same colour as Helene's.

"I got hurt," I mumbled. She didn't call me out on it. Instead she reached down to smooth my hair.

"I see that, IIyaas."

I speak without meaning to but the word tumbles out. "Elias."

Estelle tilts her head. I still don't know how I know her or who she is to be, but I know that whatever name they have been using is not my name. "Excuse me," she declares.

"That's my name, Elias."

Sybil spins around and stares at me in horror, but she's no longer Sybil. Laia is staring at me. Her gentle smile forms on her face, that smile I have grown so used to. She tucks a piece of hair, brown hair falling to the middle of her back, and nods. A very un-Laia gesture I realize.

"Elias?" Despite her calm features her voice comes out shaky and scared. She glances at Estelle. Only it's no longer Estelle. Her long blonde hair I unchanged, but everything else is different. Her clothes, a warrior outfit, are equipped with blades. Her stance is that of a trained fighter and her eyes stare me down like a prey ready to be eaten. There is no mistaking that that is Helene.

"Elias." Her voice is softer, gentler, and much calmer than Laia. "Go back Elias. Go back." I don't understand what see means. Go back? Go back where?

Laia is yelling at me now, my own name ringing in my ears until the tent falls away and Helene goes with it. Laia starts to wobble and her face draws closer until it's all I can see.

"Elias? Elias?" She's staring at me intently. Her eyebrows are drawn together creating a crease above her nose. "Elias!"

It takes me too long to realize that she's real and that I was previously dreaming. The words sting as I utter them, "Hey Laia."

A small squeal escapes from between her lips, a very un-Laia thing to do, I notice. But then again the only contact I have had with her was the moments we shared at Blackcliff. Before I have time to figure out what is happening, or rather what had happened after the Smith's, she's kissing me. Not actually kissing, more or less, just pressing her lips to mine. Was she waiting for me to respond? I decide I should and press back against her. A smile forms are she leans closer so our noses are squished awkwardly, but it feels anything but awkward. In fact it feels calm, but I don't want calm. I wanted passion. I wanted her, all of her. I moved on to by elbow from lying down and Laia pulled away. Better that way anyway I figured due to the burn my muscles suffered from only moving a tiny bit.

"How are you feeling," she asks continue to stare me down. I swallow and try to look around her to see where we are but she only leans in closer.

"Okay," I decide on a generic answer.

"Good." Once again she leans in and I assume she's going to kiss me again except she does the exact opposite. Her hand connects with the side of my face.

"Christ," I yell. She's had some muscle behind that slap. "What was that for?" Laia leans backward looking very satisfied.

"You scared me!" My eyebrows have drawn together again I have to focus very intently as to do stare at that crease because all I want to do it is kiss that worry line away. Since when do I think like this, I wonder? Sure I've always had 'feelings' for some girls before, hell even for Helene, but never like this. I've had feelings or wanting to kiss a girl but never in this way.

"You don't have to be scared for me." As soon as the words leave my mouth I realize it sounded like flirting. Did I mean for it to sound like that? Laia frowns.

"It doesn't matter if I shouldn't be, I was. Elias, it thought you were going to die!" Her voice wavers and I can't think of anything to say back. Was I really that bad off? Laia falls back onto her knees and stands. She moves away and I can see where we are. Grey stone surrounds the room and stretches farther out in front of me. A gently steam of water drips from the ceiling. A cave.

My attention turns back to Laia. She's attending to a fire in the centre, and largest portion of the cave. The rock stretches so far back that I can't see the entrance. "Are we… Are we outside the city walls?"

Laia swivels back to look at me from kneeling next to the flames. Her face is lit up and long shadows extend across her face. She smiles, reluctantly. "Yeah, we're outside the walls."

I jerk up from the mess of blankets around me and instantly regret it. "Shit," I mutter as I attempt to brace myself against the rock wall. Laia jumps up and runs to my aid, helping me to gently lie back down against the blankets.

"I figured you weren't stupid enough to try that," Laia mutters. Her arms are around my shoulders, lowering me down to the floor. I can't help but notice she smells lovely.

"How long have I been," I pause looking for the right word, "out."

Laia takes a long time to answer. "About a day." I sputter. "We left the city around this time yesterday." When she deems that I have been properly settled she moves back to the fire.

I have to talk louder for her to hear me over the crackling fire. "And what time is it now?"

She glances in the direction of where the cave entrance would be. "The sun set a few minutes ago."

Laia's attempts to shove food down my throat end horribly. Not only is the food long past stale, but I simply couldn't stomach anything. That we figured out the hard way. Laia promised to go out tomorrow and see what she could rummage up for food, despite my objections.

"There's a village nearby. Besides I've been there already." I was less worried about her leaving me on my own while unconscious and more worried about her safety.

"Why would you do that? You don't know what's out there. You could have gotten badly hurt." Laia jerks up and eyebrow looks like she's trying not to scoff.

"I could have got badly hurt? Really, you want to say that to me."

I clamp my mouth shut and start staring at a wall.

"The locals didn't suspect anything; one even said random people come by all the time. So relax," Laia mutters adding some new twigs to the fire. The temperature had dramatically dropped since I had woken up earlier. Laia had layered on some more clothes and gone as far as to wrap a blanket around her shoulders.

Silence drags on between us. I'm content to lay and watch the fire despite the aching feeling of being useless. But Laia starts talking again.

"How are you feeling?"

My grumble tiredly, "Fine."

Laia is sitting next to the fire huddled in a blanket. She doesn't turn to look at me when I speak. It takes her a long time to answer. "That's good. Is your fever gone?"

I shake my head then realize she can't see it. "I'm still a little hot."

This time she turns her head. Her eyes are wide set; the fire cast shadows along the hollows of her cheeks. She looks startlingly like the girl from my dream; Sybil. "I think I can find some wet clothes or something here," she starts to climb to her feet, the blanket dragging on the cave floor. "There's some cold water left -."

"Laia."

"I could soak an extra shirt or something maybe that will help. I could see what's left in that med kit, but I don't -."

"Laia."

Her head tilts up and she stares at me in the middle of rummaging through the med kit. Her eyes were even wider and she was shaking. I could tell it wasn't because she was cold. "Yea," she mumbled in answer.

"Can you take my shirt off?"

She was stunned. "Wh – What?"

"Can you help me take my shirt off, it will help. I don't want to risk hypothermia with a wet cloth," I said. Her still stunned face nodded and started walking towards me. Laia kneeled down and tenderly laid a gentle hand on my clothed chest. Without another word she started lifting the hem of my shirt. The last time she had seen me shirtless was in the Smith's basement cellar. Was she remembering that time too? Softly, the shirt is peeled from my torso. Blood still sticks to the fabric and little bit remains on my chest, but the wound has since been cleaned and properly bandaged, no doubt thanks to Laia.

"Is that better," she asks tenderly consciously avoiding looking at my chest.

"Much," I paused as if I was going to continue but I couldn't find anything else to say.

"You should rest," She said starting to stand but I reached out a held her wrist to prevent her from leaving. Now that she said it I was tired, but she looked worse. I couldn't see before but the dark creases under her eyes weren't caused by the fire light.

"When was the last time you slept?"

Laia glanced down at my hand on her wrist but didn't make an effort to tug away. "I'm fine. Besides you need to rest so we can get moving again." She looks up waiting for a response. She was staring at my torso.

I repeat my question again. "When was the last time you slept?"

"Stop asking, Elias." Laia tugged away, but I wouldn't let her go. "You need to sleep."

Laia looked up again and smiled at me. She leaned close enough that we were sharing breath space. "And you need to rest more," she whispered. It occurred to me that I could kiss her right now. I could feel her lips on mine again and I could wrap my arms around her. I had thought that same thing about Helene once…

"Elias?" I realize she had been talking but I wasn't listening.

"Yeah?"

She blinks her impossibly long eyelashes. Her smile tips up just has it had at the festival and I have the sudden urge to want to dance with her. "If I rest, only for a few minutes," She said. "Will you stop nagging?"

I smiled, genially smiled. "Yes," I answer confidently.

Laia tilts down to look at me and once again I think she might kiss me but she only starts gather up some blankets. I don't object when she moves to the fire and positions herself so the fire is between us. I want her closer, but I don't say anything lest I scare her away. She settles down in the heap of blankets, her hair sprawled on the blanket being used as a pillow. She's so beautiful. She lets out a gentle sigh that makes me chuckle. Her face is calm and soon all I can hear is her gentle breathing and the crackling of the dying fire. I'm left on my own to contemplate my earlier dream. I don't have to think about it for too long before I remember it all; not just the dream, but everything.

"Sister," I whispered careful not to wake up Laia. When I was living with the Tribesman she was my sister. And Estelle was my mom. I understand with a jolt that she still is. The Commandant is never, nor will she ever be, my mother. I had a family, a family I had forgotten about.