Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks or any of its characters. I do, however, own my own character and plots.

Chapter 30

They just dropped, the both of them. In only a split second, Farida and Nakoto disappeared down the shoot. The cable trailed after them like an erratic tail of flashes, spitting bright sparks until it disappeared altogether as well. Luchas had lurched in the given direction, his arm stretched out uselessly when they fell. Their descent had been loud in the beginning, then sank in diminuendo... until they came to collision. A thunderous sound like steel girders bending and screeching echoed up, and the ground trembled. From Sector B, Sector E still had to be a significant drop.

But they weren't dead. No. A human wouldn't be able to survive the crash, but Repton knew they would survive. Maybe a bit beat-up, a broken bone here and there, but alive. And they were living crystals, so who knew what they could withstand before they bit the dust? He could see plenty enough from that battle that just ensued... he didn't know what happened before it to have caused it, but it was incredible regardless. If Cyclonis really got her hands on them, then all hell would break loose in the Atmos.

Nakoto... from the moment Repton met her, she never really showed any intention of fighting, ever. The one time where she said she'd resist him if he tried to capture her seemed like the only exception. But she was definitely capable of battle, no matter what excuses she came up with to deny it. She was a Raptor indeed, a being able to deal heavy damage and wounds. She was finally using her abilities to good use. Repton was impressed... but at the same time, he thought it didn't suit her. Was this a side of her that she locked away? Or was she pretending to be something she's not? The latter seemed harder to support, since he saw genuine anger on her face. And that was a whole other thing altogether... who'd ever think a gentle heart like hers could house such rage?

The Dark Ace finally returned with Cyclonis in his wake. Repton briefly shot a glance at them, but the commotion in the Eye brought his attention back.

"Attention, all facility personnel," said Seth. He had gone up to a PA system, and his voice echoed through the intercom. By his choice of words, his voice must have carried all over the building. "The building is required to exhibit total lock-down. All patients and doctors must remain in their rooms and out of the hallways. I repeat, the building is required to exhibit total lock-down."

The dark-skinned doctor removed his finger from the switch and turned to Brett. "Go and make sure the halls through all the Sectors are clear," he ordered. "From A to D. But do not go to Sector E. Leave that to Derik and I. Take Lilym with you, and take care of the children."

Brett looked like he was about to argue, but the look in Seth's eyes seemed to banish the words before they even took flight. He turned to Derik, who was holding onto the Blizzarian child. She was curled up, trembling slightly. Brett took her delicately into his own arms and nodded at last. He began speed-walking in the opposite direction, monitoring each room with a glance. The space echoed with the shutting of metallic doors. The doctors who had retreated in the staircase before either climbed back up, down, or flooded into this floor. They needed little words, and followed Seth's broadcasted order. Derik approached Seth, who had crossed his arms and pressed the knuckles of one hand at his temples.

" 'Leave it to us'?" Derik inquired. Panic laced his voice. "What do you expect us to do against two, fully-grown, rage-ridden Raptors?"

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking! Just give me a moment." Seth started pacing the width of the hallway, pressing his hand against the walls briefly when he got to them. He walked back to the electrical box, which managed to stop flaring as much as it had before. Now it was only smoke and some lone sparks.

The Eye suddenly swung around, leaving Repton a little disoriented. Without saying anything, Luchas burst into the nearest room and advanced toward the cabinet with urgency. He opened the doors, shuffled through the boxes, then moved on to the contents of the drawers. After some hastened searching, he finally found what he was looking for. When he opened the plastic ebony-black case, there were narrow cubicles filled with capsules of clear liquid. He took one out, and after some hunting, he brought it all together; a plunger, a barrel —the capsule from before—, and the needle head were assembled before him. When he was finished, he checked the function of the syringe. The tip of it spurted some of the contents.

He returned back to the two younger men, who were still standing at a loss of what to do. Seth caught sight of the needle in Luchas' hand and turned to him abruptly.

"What are you planning to do with that?"

"We can sedate Alpha— the one Nakoto is fighting. Farida..." Luchas held up the syringe with both hands, careful with it. Seth's eyes lingered on it distrustfully. "This is enough to lull a Wallop to slumber. What happens to Farida is a mystery, but the main idea is to suppress her."

"And how do you suppose you're going to get close enough to her?" Seth questioned. Luchas was about to say something but Derik interjected first.

"Are you sure Farida is the only one who needs to be sedated?"

Both doctors turned toward him. An even graver look took place on Seth's face. Derik, whose steely gaze was on Luchas, noticed Seth's demeanour and threw up his hands in response.

"You saw Nakoto. I've never seen her like that, not once. How do you think we're going to calm her without a little help? We can't do this on our own. She's out of control—"

"I refuse to believe that!" Seth barked. His silent anger flared for only a second, and he immediately retracted it back into himself. Derik still looked bewildered, perhaps stung. "Nakoto won't be the problem. Now, Luchas' plan is better than what I can come up with..." Seth took a deep breath, then cast his eyes on the Cyclonian. "Let's just hope it works."

"This will be interesting indeed!" Cyclonis crowed. She got to Repton's side with her hands behind her back. Repton leaned back from the Eye and stepped away. Distancing himself from it distanced him from Cyclonis, and despite his anxiety in finding out what happened next, he didn't want the Empress next to him. The Dark Ace took his place instead. The human sent him a self-satisfied smirk, and the Raptor responded with a roll of his eyes. Cyclonis continued.

"So it's true; Alpha and Beta are at full throttle at last. Who will be the strongest? The most cunning? The one most worthy to serve me?"

"Aren't you worried that one of them will kill the other?" Repton mentioned. The weight of the predicament felt much heavier with that thought. "You'll regain only half of what you wanted."

"I believe Beta has no intention of killing Alpha; her heart's too weak for that." Cyclonis reached out, as if she wanted to touch the Eye. Instead, she let her hand hover just a little bit from the surface. "It brings it down to a fifty-fifty chance, and I'm willing to take the risk."

Meaning, she was rooting for Farida, and if neither killed the other, then that would only put more icing on the cake. Nakoto was disposable. Repton was angered by this... but he misunderstood the main reason as to why. Objectively, it would have meant that he was watching the least important specimen, that he wasted so much time away from a rioting Bogaton to observe the expendable one. What was the purpose of the Eye then? What was his purpose now?

Nakoto... disposable?

"You may leave, Repton," Cyclonis droned. "I'm sure the next few events won't concern you."

Well, they actually would. Repton would have protested against her order, if not for the piece of the Eye in his vest pocket. Its presence seemed to be burning against his chest. He bowed his head reluctantly and held his forearm at his abdomen.

"May I leave for Bogaton, then?"

"No, not yet. I'll call for you when I need you."

He grunted an understanding. He picked up his armour, and with one last glance at the Eye, he turned and left the room.

He didn't see a problem with her response, because after all, he wasn't surprised. He figured that he would be dismissed when there was little use for him. Last time, it was because Nakoto left Atmosia. What would be the reason this time? Would he be dismissed when Nakoto gets killed?

And when did Cyclonis plan to act, anyway? If she wanted to, she could send an army of Night Crawlers to attack and claim Nakoto, maybe even Farida. Measly Cyclonians didn't have a chance. Why waste the time to just watch the Raptors? Unless Cyclonis had some other motive, this observation seemed like squandering business. Then, planting Repton in the middle of it all... he could be doing something more productive than waiting around to mate with another Raptor.

But all of that didn't matter at the moment. Repton retraced his steps back to the washroom he had used before, and when he saw that no one was around, he slipped inside. He locked the door, set down his armour gently, then slipped his hand into his pocket. He had enshrouded the piece of the Eye in some spare cloth to prevent any sound he made from being recorded, and he unwrapped it slightly, making sure to avoid direct contact with its surface. The sound from Luchas' end projected more clearly but quietly, as Repton preferred. He sat down on the ground, cross-legged, and he recollected where he left off. Luchas, Seth and Derik were still waiting for something... did they want to make sure that the halls were clear before they proceeded? The last door closed; after that, there was no sound besides their collected breathing.

"Alright," Seth finally said. He turned to the staircase next to the sabotaged elevator. "Be prepared for anything."

He stepped forward, and Derik and Luchas followed suit. He opened the door to the staircase, the glass shattered from Nakoto's crystal emission, but Seth suddenly stopped. He looked up at the top of the steps leading down toward him.

"See? I knew you would be needing me soon enough."

I managed to gain consciousness faster than Farida.

I drowsily came to when my senses starting picking up things around me. The scent of scortched metal and melting rubber filled my nostrils. There were no strong lights to tease my closed eyes. I heard loud, brief pops and snaps, and I felt the hard floor beneath me, slightly demented in shape. I could still taste my blood, which was also irritating my throat.

I finally chose to open my eyes when I remembered where I was and what I was doing. The elevator seemed unrecognizable to me now. No lights still shone except for the blue ones circling each floor switch. I could hear electric charges somewhere, but they had to be outside of the closed space I was in. The floor was dented upward in the middle; if I had landed there, I would have been in a world of more hurt than I already was.

I sat up and searched my sides thoroughly. No broken ribs...? No bones misplaced? I guessed being a living crystal had its perks. It still hurt to move and to breathe though; I was definitely beaten over. My right hand felt even worse... I struggled to my feet and searched out Farida. There she was, at the opposite side of the elevator, an arm's length from me. She was still unconscious. Had I won? I was the one left standing. Yes, I had won.

Since I personally dubbed the battle over, I looked for a way to get out of the elevator. The doors wouldn't have been able to open, and even if I did pry them aside, I would most definitely have met with a wall. The only way was up... I looked above me and found a hatch.

Feeling winded and pain-ridden, I used the railing that Farida previously pinned me against and climbed my way up. I reached out and grabbed the handle of the hatch with my right hand. The pain shot up my nerve system, but I could not let that hinder me. With clenched teeth, I managed to ease the handle, and I pushed up roughly. The little door flew open and clanged noisily at a stop, allowing me a view up the elevator. Light from Sector E illuminated the space before me, and I the further I looked up the more Sectors I could see.

Fingers wrapped around my ankle and pulled down harshly, ripping me from the wall and onto the ground. The uneven plane made it even more painful. Farida seized my throat with both hands and applied pressure, towering over me. No, I hadn't won.

"Where do you think you're going?" Farida snarled. Blood dripped down her face from a wound above her forehead. "We're not finished here!"

I reached up and tried forcing the fingers of my left hand between hers and my throat. I gagged, trying to breathe in as much air as I could.

"Don't you find it ironic?" she whispered to me. She leaned down closer, her teeth baring. "Your childhood was dark and morbid because of the likes of these people, and now you're siding with them. Are you insane?"

My nostrils flared indignantly. "Am I insane?" I choked. "Look at you! Cyclonis won't accept you as a Talon. All you are is property to her and her empire. She'll be the one to drain you dry!"

Farida gnashed her teeth and pressed harder against me. I gasped instinctively. My air was thinning exponentially, and my vision started to shift.

"Weakling. It shames me that we're related! You should be killing these humans, not saving or helping them. And you call yourself a Raptor—"

"And you call yourself a Sky Knight!"

I curled up, slipped my feet under Farida and, with all my might, kicked out as hard as I could. Farida flew back against the wall of the elevator, hard, and she crumpled. I only had a few moments.

I got to my feet, heaving, and I jumped up through the hatch. If I were human, I would never had a chance to reach that height in a jump. My hands grasped the edges of the opening and boosted my ascent. I landed on my feet on the roof of the elevator and looked down immediately. Farida came back to her senses, and she looked up. Her eyes were absolutely horrific. She bent her knees, about to follow me, but before she left the ground, I shut the hatch. I put my whole weight on it and searched for something to jam it shut. Farida crashed against the other side, making my body lurch, but she couldn't throw me off. She roared furiously.

The elevator's apparatus, the one through which the cable would pass through, had a slab of metal that I thought would work. It was already heavily damaged from my previous attack with Farida's sword, so it would be easier to separate than it would've been if brand-new. I grabbed it, and with some extended effort, I ripped it free. I looped it through the hatch's edge like the hook of a lock, and when I thought it was stable enough, I stepped back. The hatch was repeatedly rammed, but it did not open. It would hold, for now.

The jump into Sector E took me even more energy, and I needed the wall to support me as I walked on. I could still hear Farida raging. I passed by the wide pipes and electrical cables, trying to keep my vision steady. When I believed I was at a safe distance momentarily, I leaned against the wall. Some rest at last... I looked down at my hand, now in a more viewable light, and it was in even worse condition than it had been the week before. It felt just as bad as well... would it ever heal from this? Would I eventually have to cut it off?

A coughing fit overtook me then, making me double over. I could hardly breathe as it was, so by the time I had finished, my gasps for air were frightfully loud. I was hacking into my left hand, but when I took it away, I noticed that blood speckled the ground in front of me. The blood in my mouth felt stronger in taste, too... I was coughing blood. I was bleeding on the inside...?

"Nakoto!"

I turned immediately to the sound of my name, and I saw four people approach me quickly from the staircase beside Farida's prison. Seth, Derik, Luchas, and... my lip curled. The fire of my anger just couldn't be dowsed, could it? Nothing gave it a chance to.

"What do you think you're doing?" I barked. "Get out of here!"

Derik faltered at my coarse command, falling back, but Seth didn't even flinch. He came to my side and touched my arm. "Are you alright?"

"What is he doing here?" I seethed, glaring at the Enforcer. Corvid smiled at me, a smile I took no comfort in. "And all of you shouldn't be here to begin with. Can't you see I'm in the middle of something that could get you all killed?"

"And you killed, too," mentioned Derik. He reached me as well, overlooking my previous outburst. Seth started searching my limb for anything broken. Farida roared once more, and the whole group of humans turned around to the sound with a hardened guard. It was only now that they probably realized how close they passed her.

"I've only confined Farida in the elevator for a few moments. She'll get out soon enough." I didn't need the wall for support anymore, so I stepped away from it. I passed the group, nearing the elevator. "Leave me. I'll take care of this."

"Nakoto, please be reasonable; you can't do this alone." Luchas was becoming much more bold with me, and at that moment, I didn't like it. I turned to him with fury on the mind, but he held something up that I recoiled from. A needle. He steered the head of it away from me to show he had no intention of using it on me. He continued.

"If I use this on Farida, she'll lose consciousness almost instantaneously. Living crystal or not, she has a brain that functions like that of any other organism. Cutting off the control centre from the rest of the body will guarantee us a resolution—"

I shook me head aggressively. "I don't want to kill her, and by the sound of it, your proposal sounds like you want to poison her."

"This is only a temporary effect. How long, it's undetermined..." Luchas held the needle close to him. "It's the only thing we can do—"

I held my hand up abruptly, and he stopped speaking. I turned my attention to the empty elevator shaft. Farida's angry screams had suddenly stopped, and I didn't like the silence that followed. I hoped that Farida had tired herself out, and now she simply accepted defeat. However, as usual, life thought that my requests were too much to ask. I could hear the hum rising... and suddenly, a beam of Farida's energy shot up, carrying the hatch with it. Small sections of cement rained down, but no doubt she would come out when everything stilled again... I looked around myself, my mind racing, until my eyes rested on the ceiling. They consisted of drywall panels, and I believed they were easy to remove.

"We have no choice then," I stated. A plan formulated quickly in my mind as I turned to Luchas and pointed a Claw at him. "I'll tell you when it's time to act. For now, don't show fear, and definitely don't give her any hints."

Before Luchas could question me about why I was telling him this, I climbed up the wall and grasped the ceiling. I hardly crept along like this, but it helped to be a Raptor sometimes. Once I knocked one of the panels down, I caught it before it hit the ground and tossed it over the humans' heads. Farida wouldn't be able to see it so soon.

I looked back up. Yes, as I thought; a world of vents and fluorescent light anatomy waited me up there. I hauled my body into the tight space and started to crawl, out of sight. I had to go delicately, along the support rather than the panels themselves. I continued until I thought I was good distance from the others, but still far from the elevator. I turned around completely —which was slightly difficult— and removed the panel before me, so that I could see what was happening below me. My muscles tensed completely when Farida made her entrance into Sector E.

"Where the hell is Beta?" she shrilled. "I can still smell her. Tell me where she went!"

"Alpha," Luchas started. His voice slightly trembled at first, but he then succeeded in calming it. "You're... you're wasting your time."

"What are you talking about?" I pulled back into the shadows when I saw Farida appear below me. If she looked up and behind, she would've seen me. From what I could see from the back of her, she looked far worse in the light of the hallway. She breathed in heavily and let out a trembling cough. She spat what was in her mouth to the side, a bullet of scarlet, and she wiped her mouth across her forearm. "Idiot human. What do you know?"

"You were trained to look for the greater prize. That's how Cyclonis wanted to form you. She wanted the perfect soldier, or have you forgotten?"

Ah. Clever Luchas. If there was any card he could pull out to best distract Farida, that was the one. I saw her tilt her head and lean forward a little. Luchas kept it on.

"I suppose it's been a long time, so I shouldn't have expected you to remember. And the Oasium Project focussed more on Beta than on you."

"How do you know about the Oasium Project? Beta told you?"

"No. I was there." I leaned down closer to the panel I was over, and from what I could make out, Luchas bowed his head. His hand was in his coat, hiding the syringe. I wondered how Luchas could speak so calmly. Did he have that much faith in me, that I would stop my sister from assaulting him if she lost patience? "I served in the Oasium Project."

Farida let out a disbelieving laugh. "What? You?" She laughed some more, then ceased when Luchas didn't break. "You?"

"Yes, I was there." I moved slowly and hovered over the opening, preparing myself. "I was there when you hatched... I was there when you kept asking about Nakoto."

I stopped.

"I was there when you tried to set her free."

What... what was he talking about?

"I did no such thing!" Farida denied, enraged.

"You weren't happy in Cyclonia, were you? You wanted to—"

"You don't know anything!" Farida threw her arms out dismissively. "I had everything! What more could I ask for? But then those damn Boreas Wolves... those Sky Knights had to ruin everything! And Beta... she..."

I was trying to listen so closely that I forgot to breathe. When I slowly sucked in air, my body protested, maddened by the lacking amount I gave it.

I retched.

Farida looked over her shoulder and spotted me.

No time. I plunged down on her immediately, landing on her back. She cursed, stumbling forward, but she didn't fall to the ground. She started bucking, trying to get me off. I reached over and grabbed her snout, keeping her jaws shut; I couldn't afford her using her Dragon's Breath again.

"Come on, Luchas!" I called. Farida smashed me into the wall, but I merely kicked off of it and forced her into the opposite one. Our struggle continued, but no one came to my side. "Now! What are you waiting for?"

He wasn't waiting. When I looked over, he had been knocked to the ground. The syringe was out of his hands... and Corvid slammed his foot onto it, crushing it and its contents. Seth and Derik were shouting in dismay. The Enforcer reached to his side and pulled out his blaster... the Leacher.

"Let me show you how it should be done!" He yelled. I screeched back at him, but he was already pulling the trigger. The nozzle of his gun collected a violet charge that rivalled my own, but darker.

How was I able to act so fast? I had no idea. And I don't know why I chose to do what I did, since it wasn't at all smart, but there was already no time as it was. I kicked Farida in the back of the knee, making it collapse forward. When she crumpled, I used her momentum and tossed her behind me. She landed harshly on the floor, and I turned back to the charge. The blast exploded, propelled toward me, and caught me in the chest, practically in the heart. That was it.

I wouldn't be able to tell you if it hurt or not, because I felt like my mind left my body for a few moments. It was as if I went to sleep, and I had just woken up... darkness had shrouded me, and now the curtain was being soothed away again. I just wanted to rest, but my body knew I couldn't.

When things around me started taking form, I was still on my feet. It was a lot easier this time around to remember what I was doing previously. Corvid was swearing, glaring at his blaster. Luchas was still on the ground, looking at me in shock. Seth and Derik were rigid. The sides of my vision were shaking, and I couldn't feel my limbs, or anything for that matter. The pain only started returning, and it felt ten-times worse. I took a couple steps forward when I felt my balance sway.

I was alive?

"Corvid... you..." I muttered dangerously. "When I get my hands on you..."

"She shouldn't be able to stand..." Luchas whispered. I don't know how I heard him. "She shouldn't even be able to move...!"

"This is a family matter!" I shook my head, trying to dispel the nausea that started to set in. "You are unbelievably stupid! I've never met a human more idiotic! I'll make sure t—"

There was a new pain.

My spine craned in response, and Farida simply grasped my shoulder to keep me in place. Her tail... the spade of it... she had run me through with it. She stabbed me... My teeth clenched when I felt it in the back, near my right hip. Had she pierced a kidney? I couldn't decide. My teeth gritted tighter when she twisted the spade inside me. She had taken advantage of my fruitless sacrifice and stabbed me...

She shoved me forward and I fell, crashing to the ground on my left side. Everything was spinning... my body curled up naturally like a dying leaf. My head was against the ground and almost tucked into my chest. Mindlessly, I reached for my side... my fingers brushed something glassy, and I looked down at it to see that Farida's spade was still inside me. It was the length a knife should be. Her tail flicked aside, and I saw some blood spurt from the tip. She deserted her weapon like the sting of a bee, only she wasn't going to die from it. Taking it slow, I tried to pull the blade-like object out, but what would happen then, anyway? I would bleed to death. And the pain...

My sister placed her foot above the wound, and I tensed up. She applied more pressure, but I didn't utter a sound. Unsatisfied, she sharply kicked it in, and I cried out unintentionally.

"You are such a fool, Beta," she said lowly. Her upper lip curled back in scorn. "A naïve, witless fool..."

"Farida..." I wheezed. "Please..."

She stomped down on my wound harder, and I screamed again. She was leering at me, but her attention suddenly shifted to where the humans stood. I forced my eyes there as well, and found Corvid to be fumbling with his blaster.

"Damn you, piece of junk!" he shouted. "Reload faster!"

Derik was holding Seth back. I don't know what the dark-skinned doctor was planning to do, but his face was twisted in anger and anxiety. Did he want to attack Corvid for his blunder? Or Farida? Luchas had risen to his knees, but not to his feet. He was watching in terror and helplessness.

"Puny scum!" Farida bellowed. I turned my gaze to her again, and as I feared... the star appeared in her teeth once more. The thrum of her power rose, the light of her teeth looking more crimson than violet, and the tiny sun detonated. The stream of energy that followed seemed poorly aimed... it skinned the top and side of the hallway near the humans. However, I learned it was something intentional; the pipes along the walls exploded with steam, and debris and cables rained down from the ceiling. Dust enveloped everything.

Farida hands hooked under my underarms, and with an angry grunt, she threw me against a nearby door. It burst open under the force with ease, and I staggered within. A wide, bare room of concrete, with a few hanging wires and boxes collected in the corner. I crashed back to the ground again, and my limbs didn't understand what my mind tried to tell it. My body was so unresponsive... the Leacher took everything from me. Farida benefited from my weakness and continued throwing me around like a ragdoll. I landed on the spade multiple times, and I would cry out in agony each time. Was that all that was left for me now? To feel unspeakable pain before my inevitable death, by the hands of my own flesh and blood?

I collided with the wall, sliding down to the ground. By this time, the spade was almost entirely submerged into me, like a splinter that refused to come out. I could feel its alien presence, an eternal annoyance. I had shut my eyes tight to try and banish the pain, but that was childish thinking. Farida's hands encircled my throat again, as they had in the elevator. I was starting to gain control over my body, but I was still very, very weak. I reached up for her wrists and tried to free myself.

"You're starting to regret it now, aren't you?" she said to me. I opened my eyes with some effort, and her face was very close to mine. Blood trickled from her lips still. She smiled darkly. "You're wishing you had crushed me when I was an egg. No, think about it some more: if you hadn't picked me up from the rubble of your home, you wouldn't have been a test subject. None of this would have happened. You wouldn't have had to deal with me."

I shook my head, despite her tight grip restricting that much of my movement. "I regret nothing..."

She shook me, hitting my head against the wall. "Liar. Why did you bother?"

"You were my sister... You still are...!"

"You're no sister of mine." I looked at her face, and the amount of bitterness I found in it broke my heart. "You never loved me. You just pretend you did."

"No..."

"Why did you leave me, Beta? You abandoned me."

I struggled to inhale more air. I had to keep consciousness, to stay alive and find out what was going on. "What... are you talking about? I... I never—"

"I was told that you made a promise to our mother."

I gaped at her, speechless. Her eyes narrowed resentfully, and her voice dripped with acid; "You screamed it when they took my egg from you. You promised you would protect me. The former Cyclonis told me that. I was told that you'd forgotten that promise, but... but I believed you were different from what she said of you... and yet... when we were finally together... you left."

Her voice had started to tremble, and I was astonished that tears had collected in her eyes.

"You left me alone for six years!" she screamed at me. "I was left with nothing! No family! No father, no mother, no sister... no one! And then... and then you just avoided me —pushed me aside— and sent me away like a problem you couldn't deal with! For ten more years... I had no one!"

In that moment... my mind's eye opened wide, pulling me back to the time when I last saw and spoke with my mother. Our village was preparing for war, after Karbus —Farida's father and my step-father— had killed the Cyclinian scientist on site. My mother was mourning... she had not only lost one husband, but two. A nest of eggs was all that was left of Karbus' legacy, Farida being among them. With all my heart, I vowed to my mother that I would protect the brother or sister that emerged victorious of the crystal's poison.

I promise, Mamu, I told her. Nothing's going to touch them.

My mother smiled and held me close. I could still remember her voice...

You won't need to worry about that just yet, she said tenderly. Everything will be alright...

But it wasn't. Oasium burned, my mother was nowhere in sight, Farida's egg was the only remaining in the nest... I had to protect her with my life. The Cyclonians caught me when I had her in my arms. She was taken from me, and for a long time following that, I grieved. I had failed. When I heard that she was being well taken-care of, I was both relieved... and jealous... As the Oasium Project shattered my spirit and dwindled me to nothing, I had forgotten my promise. And at salvation, when the Boreas Wolves rescued Farida and I... despite the kindness and compassion the Sky Knights had given me and the fact that I was properly reunited with my sister... as soon as we reached safe ground, I ran away when they were all asleep. After what I had gone through... what was life but an accursed void of evil people that killed off the innocent, the defenceless? I couldn't trust anyone.

I should've realized sooner... that I wasn't the only one alone.

My eyes softened. "Farida..."

"Shut up!" She shook me once more, rebounding my head back against the wall again. Her teeth bore, and tears cascaded down her cheeks. "I'm going to kill you now," she breathed. "I hate you! What's a sister for when they're never by your side?"

My face crumpled slightly, and I felt tears in my eyes as well. To see her like this... "Farida, I'm sorry... I never meant to hurt you."

"I hate you!"

"I love you."

She shut her eyes and shook her head violently. I heard her sob, but she tried to cover it up. Had she been keeping all this tortured emotion inside the whole time that I knew her? Sixteen years... she had her moments to let out that hate, but how was she able to keep those true thoughts to herself? How was she able to act like she hardly had a care in the world, so haughty, so bold...? I failed as a sister. I knew nothing of the true Farida, and I always assumed her personality was the way she portrayed it to me. I had to remember that she was my younger sister. She was nineteen now, in the beginning of the many years Raptors were known to have in life. She was the way she was because of me and my selfish need to escape the past. Her childhood was governed by a hatred that grew as she did... When I first saw her in this medical facility, I had tried to be a sister to her, to confront her, but I gave up too easily on her. Her loathing had frightened me, and I didn't take the effort of deciphering that loathing to be an expression of pain. I had a chance to make things right early, but I didn't... it was all my fault.

My hands had been on her wrists, but now I let them go.

"I don't know if I can ever make it up to you," I told her gently. Her eyes searched mine angrily, but as I spoke, I saw them crack. "I'm so sorry. I never knew I was the reason for your unhappiness, the reason you never smiled. I want to change that... I'm sorry. Please... be happy instead. Smile." I laughed softly, trying to smile at her. Tears leaked from the corners of my eyes as well. "You look so much like mom... you look just like her, did you know that? If you smiled..."

"Stupid Beta... what is there to smile about?" I felt her grip on me weaken slightly.

"So many things... please, let me show you. I'm here. I don't want to leave you alone anymore. I'm so sorry."

I touched her wrist again, but this time I had no intention to free myself. I just wanted to touch her, for once with just the urge to do so. She let out a heart-wrenching moan again, shutting her eyes. I leaned forward and managed to reach her shoulder. The pain of her spade inside me was burning, but that wasn't important anymore. Her grip on me ended, her shaking fingers retreated from my throat. She opened her eyes and looked at me. It was a different Farida indeed, or... no. It was the same Farida from sixteen years ago, the child who lost everything. I smiled softly at her and offered her my hand.

"Let's... let's start over. Will you let me make it up to you?"

She slowly dropped her gaze to my hand. With her fingers still trembling, she inched over to it.

But then everything went wrong.

The Leacher's power struck her in the back, enveloped her entire body in its light, then pulled back. Her body had been stripped clean of all power, and she fell to the ground. There was no will left in her... she just fell so lifelessly. Her arm had fallen into my lap, and it was heavy as lead...

Her teeth still glowed, but she.. she wasn't breathing...

Her eyes were open, but they... they saw nothing...

She was dead.

End of Chapter