NOW

Unaware of what had happened on the other end of the phone, Hayley finished off a voicemail to Alexia letting her know she'd be back home a day late.

They broke from the past to attend to what Cole had referred to as civilian life. Ethan rolled his eyes as he shot off texts to his parents detailing the goings on. Anna perched on her desk, computer in her lap as she checked her work calendar, moving around meetings to buy them another day and emailing for coverage in what she couldn't reschedule. It might have appeared as anyone else wrapping up their day. Though Hayley suspected theirs hadn't even started.

"So Annie, how long before you and Sylas got married?" Hayley wiggled her eyebrows. "I'm betting there was no waiting until after you graduated."

Ethan snorted. "She was a Bruan by that winter."

"What!?" Hayley plopped down onto the bed as Anna rolled her eyes at Ethan.

"I'll remind you that the majority of our graduating class got married pretty young."

"So what you're saying is you're conventional."

Anna chuckled at Cole as she got up to put her laptop away. "I'd say the nine years since prove my marriage does not fall within the conventional realm."

"Married a year after you started dating. I mean its definitely romantic." Hayley pointed at Cole. "Do not get any ideas." She smiled as he laughed.

"They were beautiful." Ethan wrapped an arm around Anna's waist from his perch on the couch. "How quickly it happened or how young they were didn't dim that."

Anna placed both her hands on top of Ethans head and the look on Ethans face when he turned to Anna's side stopped Hayley's smile. As she watched them she felt the absence of two people she had never met.

THEN

Soon the flowers bloomed. Then the air turned towards sultry. Followed by the sun glowing on the leaves as they began their fall. Students milling about the neighborhood seemed particularly hurried on that Tuesday of midterm week, missing the whimsy of the latest change in season.

To them it was just a Tuesday.

In one of the apartments above, two nineteen year olds enjoyed an afternoon of hooky from all that hurry. For Anna it was a break from her history midterm paper, and for Sylas his latest construction certification. It was breathers like this that they enjoyed most. Where they didn't need any particular activity or distraction. Just the calm of being with one another.

Anna was in the process of making their bed up as a couch so they could watch a movie. Sylas sat back watching as she balanced one foot on the headboard, and another on the top of the dresser to reach the built in cabinets above. Though she didn't waver, he wrapped a hand around her calf as Anna stretched. Tossing the oversized cushion she sought towards the bed, she hopped down and gestured.

"That'll be better for you to lean on." She brushed at his hair and smiled when he caught her hand.

"Will you marry me Anj?"

"Yes, I expect I will, but not because I handed you a friggen pillow." But she tilted her head when he tugged the hand he was holding down until she plopped down in his lap. "Uh oh. The Bruan serious face."

"I am being serious. How about you?"

Anna's expression sobered as she smoothed a line on Sylas's forehead. "I never spent much of my time thinking about getting married. But we fell in love, and then." The smile was back as she trailed her hand to the nape of his neck. The spot she liked best. "Yes, I am serious. I expect I'll marry you one day."

"Why wait?" Sylas grinned as Anna tipped back in a laugh. Gripping her hips he countered "Really, why? Because we've been together ten months, so what, we're young? So what?"

"Not because we're young, because we're in no rush. I know it's you, you know it's me. That's magic enough for now. Magic I didn't count on. I don't need a symbol more than that."

"I do." Sylas shook his head when Anna's smile faded. "I don't mean that we aren't real without it. I know what we are, but I feel like I was stupid. We missed years because of me; I don't want to miss anything else."

Anna pushed back and curled up at the foot of the bed. "It wasn't just you, you dolt. I could have done more about it too. And even with that, we didn't miss too many years, we're only nineteen. Everything has happened the way it's supposed to and it's been the best year. Without a piece of paper." As another thought crossed her mind Anna hesitated.

"Sylas is this missing years thing some fear that we're running out of time? Is this about them?"

"No. Anna Jane this about you and me, if preservers, emissary, hell if telekinesis didn't exist, I would still be right here asking. You're right that it's been the best year. And you're right that it's been that and could keep being that without a piece of paper. I don't want it as a symbol that we're right."

Sylas swung his legs over to sit on the edge of the bed, angling to face Anna. "There are only a few things I will ever ask of you. One is to be happy. One is to live whatever life you want. One is to take care of yourself. I need those things of you. And the last is to take me as the person who needs to be there to help you with all of that. To make you happy, to live a life with you, and to take care of you. I can and will do that without being your husband."

He reached for her hand as Anna's laugh came out in a hitching gasp. "I'm going to ask you anyway because I know you want all of those things for me too. And I don't see why I should wait to ask you when we're older or been together longer. I just…." Sylas's shoulders shrugged as his throat tightened with the emotion now sinking in. The only words he could get through were "Will you?"

Anna climbed back onto his legs and turned her face into the side of Sylas's neck. Her hands clasped on his back as his wrapped around her middle. "Yes." She whispered as he cradled her head.

And it was just a Tuesday.

It had been quite the point of contention with their loved ones that upon sharing the news of their engagement, in the same breath Anna and Sylas insisted they didn't want a formal wedding or reception. Just a nice dinner at the Grand after the vows would be enough. Anna joked that maybe by their ten year anniversary they would be ready for a proper wedding. But until then it didn't feel right to have a party and gathering when they would be looking over their shoulder and on guard.

That winter they flew back to Forks with Caroline Cole and Ethan to celebrate the holidays. There were dinners and a massive glowing tree at Holm House with the Kelly's. Parties and presents exchanged with everyone at the Grand. Amongst it all, they planned.

Then one January afternoon; with only Ethan, Caroline, and Cole at their sides, Sylas and Anna stood at the county courthouse. And were married.

In a grey suit that matched his brides eyes, Sylas's own glowed while his voice practically sang with his vows. The simple yet classic gold band he slid on Anna's finger was the finishing touch to the long sleeved cream lace dress she wore. Her smile lit both their faces alight. They laughed their I do's over their friends cheers.

It would be years before either of them wished they had done things differently. Said to hell with the risks and celebrated as loudly as they could. And still, that evening after everyone else had settled in, Sylas spun Anna Jane into a dance below the softly falling snow; and he thought nothing had ever felt so right. As they circled one another Anna was right there feeling the same. Letting out a laughing gasp, grasping his shoulder after he tugged her towards him, she felt a piece of life she never expected click into place.

At the time they believed it was just two of them in that snowy garden. Neither of them felt the watching presence, that looked on at the dance with unshed tears.

Over the next several months the five of them found their balancing act in a precarious position. The Preservers rarely tried for them all together, and school or work life made it difficult for them to always be a unit. Yet no Preserver ever got through. Not only that, but as they trained together their power became as effortless as breathing. It wasn't long before the Emissary began hinting that they were growing powerful enough to take a more active role in strategy. Especially once the Cullens and their family within the Quileute's had not only found their way to uprise against the Volturi, but they won.

From what both Carlisle and Jeff explained, it changed a major faction of the Preservers, as they had previously gotten support from the Volturi in exchange for turning a blind eye to their "collections". With the Volturi dissolved they were weakened more than they'd been in centuries. Though Jeff suspected they'd still find ways to control other powers and make vampires if need be, he still insisted the time to make a big move was now.

Staying firm on their point that the fight was the Emissaries and not theirs was beginning to be difficult for all of the five teens. Especially when the nightmares started escalating.

Beginning when Cole had dreamed of a vampire killing Cece, they all paid more attention to their dreams, even after Jeff's assurances that they were just that. In the two years since, they were all aware that the Preservers had all sorts of power on their side. Mind manipulation was perhaps the scariest as it was very difficult to block, as they were quickly discovering.

Since the week after they were married Sylas had begun being haunted by dreams. They weren't always nightly, but the subject matter rarely changed. Nearly every dream a choice of his somehow led to Anna's death. Whether it was him pulling a trigger or his mistake leading to it, she died, and he either made a move to follow, or lost his mind some other way. Then he would wake up screaming for her, until eventually his control grew enough that he'd stifle it. Waking only in a sheen of sweat with a residual headache.

They never brushed off the dreams as simply that. Though they shifted to believing they weren't premonitions of any sort. Just the other side slithering their way into their consciousness.

Still, they lived. As their teenage years shifted to their twenties, the cozy apartment that held them was filled with memories of a time all five of them would always hold dear.

Through his fight to block out the dreams that plagued him at night, Sylas worked hard to find his stride in the city. With his wife, he found a pride he could have never imagined. Family for him had always been present physically, but not a feeling he could carry with him. Now there were more to love than he'd ever dreamed he could claim, and amongst them a young woman he cherished. For himself and his work, Sylas enjoyed learning the different trades as often as apprenticeships turned up. Checking all the boxes, he found he couldn't picture himself a plumber or electrician, though the money would be good. He and Anna had no plans to move out on their own anytime soon so expenses were average and left him leaning towards finding his passion rather than a few extra dollars. For Sylas that was carpentry. What started as working a flooring crew became the study of repairing mantles and wooden furniture. By the time Anna began her junior year at NYU, Sylas was working for and learning from antique dealers on restorations uptown, finding his own creative niche.

Ethan however had not found his niche. He put in time during the day working at the gym, pitching in behind the desk and eventually in classes. Keeping in shape helped with his own training with the Emissary as well as his night job as a bouncer. He couldn't claim any long term career plans, which only reassured him that he'd made the right choice with not enrolling in college. With everything going on his time was hyper focused on his personal life and his friends with little room for anything else. He didn't mind it. Ethan loved nothing more than tagging along with Cole on his campus, catching a show with Anna, or going on a run with Sy. Above all things he loved spending time with Caroline. In the four years they had been together there were spats here and there, but their focus on their relationship never wavered. With so much of their futures uncertain they didn't speak much on marriage or if they'd ever start a family. To Ethan these things were assumed and he felt no hurry. He just enjoyed each day and worked through whatever life tossed.

City life served Cole the best. His shyness had diminished greatly as his university life flourished. And still, Cole was fond of how easily he could get lost in the city. How easily he could find subjects for his photography. His role at the school paper kept him busy with this studies, but he managed to fit in time for his other training as well. Cole didn't want to be the timid boy surrounded by playground bullies as he'd been at the time he met Anna Jane and Ethan. Certainly not when it came to the inevitability of their facing the Preservers. He wanted to protect those who had always protected him. So he trained perhaps the most out of all of them. As his ability grew, so did Cole's confidence. That certainty that he and his friends could handle what came next kept him quite a content young man. He dated when it suited him, but found it easier to keep with those who knew all sides to his life, figuring there would be time for the rest if things ever took a turn towards normal.

Caroline bounced from job to job, not really minding what she was doing as it was only a way to support her art. Her painting had evolved from the modern style she had tried her hand at in high school, to her own version of storytelling through landscapes. The things none of them could share with the outside world, were on her canvas. A moment, or a feeling, would be captured as she'd seen it, and then covered with other strokes of color, made to look like an ordinary forest or city scene. It helped her to feel that she could share a peak into her own life, and any others she witnessed. Retail work or waitressing was her means to that end. Her favorite being a painting of a sea on the brink of a storm. The waves were breaking in high thrashes between two sailboats. Yet in the paintings center was the promise of sunlight. Only Ethan could look at it and spot two sixteen year olds on a swing set. His and the other three's understanding of her helped whenever Caroline felt down at the distance between herself and her parents. They still called each other every week, but the shift in their relationship was apparent. It only made her hold tighter to the life they were all making together.

As the others found their footing, Anna was facing struggles. It felt on any given day that she was being pulled in several different directions. She wanted to just get through her junior year classes and revel in her new role managing the campus art gallery. Though her childhood of little stability gave her the tools to cope, Anna grew frustrated that there was no end to the turmoil in sight. If anything it was going to get worse from here. The responsibility she was beginning to feel for the Emissary was overwhelming. It helped her understand how Phillip had kept this part of her story under wraps. Even the memories she held of her life with her mother started to make sense. She couldn't imagine carrying this burden with a child in tow. And yet above all she woke up each day and went to bed each night happy with her husband lying next to her. Happy to help keep a home for them all. Even if she had begun to wonder where their next home would be.

Though Cole and Anna Jane were only a few months into their junior year, knowing they had less than half the time left in college had them loosely picturing their futures. That next phase after graduation would be the first time they all headed in separate directions. A thought that had especially Cole, Anna, and Ethan blocking it out as soon as it was mentioned.

One of the directions they all often headed towards was upstate. For Anna there were many towns in the valleys and towards upstate New York that she had explored while Phillip had been in various plays through her childhood. Many of her memories of those times were before she knew Ethan and Cole. Going to NYU gave her a reason to escape back to her favorite spots and share them with the others.

Caroline enjoyed Woodstock, Beacon, Athens most; periodically bringing her art to the shops. She wasn't ready for anything formal but it got her foot in the door of that world. She and Anna Jane made some trips their girl time, as Anna scoped out galleries that she may want to make her stamp on after she graduated. On others all five of them would go, rambling through the smaller cities, even smaller towns, or the fields and woods of the villages.

It was one of those trips that late fall of 2010 they reached a destination they had always been moving towards, yet changed everything.

Ethan was at a picnic table waiting for Sylas and Cole to get out of the antique barn at the edge of the town proper of Hudson NY. Sylas was mooning over the woodwork pieces inside and Cole the way the late afternoon light played on the barns siding. From his seat atop the table Ethan smiled as Caroline waved at him, dashing across the street, having come from the gallery a few blocks away. Plopping on the one of the tables benches, she leaned against Ethan's legs and sighed.

"They took it."

"Honey its time you stop holding that against them when this happens." Still he rubbed her shoulders. "It's a consignment gallery after all."

"I know, it just never gets easier. You should be attached to this one too, it was of your parents. Well. Under all the magnolias and branches."

"You want me to go in and buy it?"

Caroline laughed. "You four can't be my only customers. Sylas already threatens violence if I sell the ones with Anna to anyone but him."

"You can take him. Just look at that sap." Ethan jerked his chin at his friend as Sylas rushed over to Cole holding a piece of burlwood.

"I liked the gallery at least. They have a very eclectic style, you don't see that much in a small town like this."

"You were expecting what, paintings of tractors and pottery?"

"Well we are awfully close to Valatie. I don't know, I'm getting ruined by the city." Caroline admitted. "I don't think I'd end up working in a town like this but I'm not sure about the city anymore either. I mean for now of course, I love it for now. I'm still learning. But I think once the two nerds graduate I want to try Athens. They're so…I don't know. Seems like a town apart."

Ethan nodded as he shifted from Caroline's shoulders to running his hands through her hair. "But still rich enough to take away the sting of every sale." As she tipped her head back he planted a kiss between her eyes.

"Goes without saying. I'll need city commuters or refuges that's for sure. And it isn't far to get back to Cole or to visit the Bruans. Sylas is certain she's going to land on the capital for work and one of the townships on the border for living."

"I don't see him being wrong. But Ro, we don't have to choose where we land because of them. I want you to find where you want to be. I'm flexible on everything so long as I'm where you are."

Caroline flipped over to face him, resting her elbows on his knees. "Ethan. My love. If you're under the impression I'd stay close to them for solely your benefit then you are mistaken."

"Is that so?"

"They're mine too."

Pushing the hair back from the sides of her face, Ethan nodded. "Of course they are."

"You do get a say though. We'll decide between the two of us where fits." Caroline stood, still between the bench and Ethan. "Like we do." She declared as she leaned in for his kiss.

While they ignored the whistles that came from the guys, the honk of Sylas's borrowed truck had Ethan's arms coming around Caroline to band him to his chest. He glared over her head at Sy who just grinned.

"We're being summoned." He ran his hands up and down Carolines arms before shifting away and jumping down.

Sylas kept on grinning sheepishly as Caroline huffed over with Ethan.

"Sorry" He shrugged. "I need help with the vanity my boss cleared me to buy for the shop. He wants to turn it into a sink."

"And naturally it weighs eight hundred pounds?"

"That, and butterfingers over here already nearly broke two months rent worth of lamps in there."

"Got the shot of the tiffany glass though." Cole gestured with his camera as Caroline laughed and joined him to look at the photos.

Once they maneuvered the heavy chestnut piece outside, Ethan got in the bed of the truck to guide it while Sylas lifted, both of them grumbling. Watching the byplay, Caroline shook her head and laughed, resting her arm on Cole's shoulder while Ethan cursed the air blue in french.

"I've been with Anna Jane long enough to know what that means asshat."

"Baby its not my fault you can't speak it for shit."

"Boys." Caroline put in as she took the camera from Cole to snap a shot of the two of them, now strapping in the vanity.

"Hey, where's Anna anyway?" Cole asked Ethan.

"What are you looking at me for, we gave up the watching her shift to Geppetto over here." Ethan once again glared at Sylas's grin. "Didn't even notice his wife was elsewhere."

Kneeling to crank the straps on his side, Sylas jerked a thumb behind him. "She's down there, mental patient."

"Oh. So she is. Pond." He told the others as an explanation.

"Where there's geese or ducks, there's Anna Jane Bruan." Cole took back his camera and wandered over himself to the little pond in the field behind the barn.

Caroline looked over herself and watched Cole cross the field.

"Hey." Sylas jerked his chin at Caroline and her weary expression. "No worries Freckles. I always had eyes on her."

"No I know." Caroline shrugged as she leaned back against the side of the truck. "Just got the heebie jeebies for a minute."

Ethan clamped a hand on Sylas's shoulder and boosted down. "All this land making you jittery we're not gonna be able to leave the city."

"Why are we talking of leaving the city?"

Going through the earlier talk with Ethan, Caroline smiled as Sylas reached down to pinch her nose.

"No need to borrow trouble from future you. You guys will figure out where you need to land when the time comes. Just enjoy the now."

"I do. We all do." And still she cupped the back of her neck as the jitters returned.

"Ethan call them back." Caroline whispered and turned back towards the field in time to watch Cole wave his arms over at them.

Before Ethan and Caroline took a single step Sylas swung over the truck bed shouting as he ran.

Anna was on her phone and slapped her palm on Sylas's chest as he reached them. She shook her head once and kept listening to the other end. Sylas covered her hand with his.

"Its Jeff." Cole whispered. "He went to one of the other Emissary houses and everyone there was dead. He's called a couple others in the east coast and isn't getting an answer. And he thinks they've already been to our apartment."

"How many?" Ethan urged.

"Lots."

Not taking his eyes from Anna as she spoke rapidly to Jeff, Sylas handed his keys over to Ethan and guided Anna forward. Cole grabbed Caroline's hand to follow.

"Cole, you should call Carlisle."

Urging her into the truck between him and Ethan, Cole shook his head. "Ro, he's back in Forks, I think the lot of them still are."

Ethan turned back from the drivers seat as Sylas and Anna squeezed into the back of the truck. "Am I heading towards the city or what?"

"No." Anna clicked off the phone. "Jeff's already spoken to Carlisle, apparently he and his wife were on an east coast trip anyhow and are already running this way. So Jeff is telling us to head for the city, but he's worried for the next closest Emissary house. The one outside of Albany. That's where the Cullen's are headed….but we're closer."

"And?" Now Cole swiveled back.

"We can help. Or if we can't help, alright, but we can't run this time. If the Preservers are taking down houses, that's big. Us running shows we don't think we can win if the next house they take is ours. So lets beat them to it."

"Hell yes." Ethan agreed.

"Closest Emissary house." Caroline pulled up a map on her phone. "That's up a mountain, the one closest to the private air strip. Lot of landscape out there."

"So that's our play. If they're still at the house, we lure them out. If they haven't gotten in yet, we drive them down mountain." Ethan took a peak at the map, keeping the backroads in mind.

Caroline shifted as she looked to Anna. "We're used to using the city and crowds to our advantage, we haven't used land in a while. Not since the last trip to Forks as practice."

"This is going to be a bit different from our practices no matter where we are." Sylas put in. "How many did Jeff give an idea of?"

"He just said to take down the amount that are usually working out of these houses, he's thinking at least twenty, but could be more."

"You know what Jeff is going to say if we pull this off." Ethan looked through the rearview mirror. Sylas shook his head back at him. "Yeah I know. We're not doing it for that."

As the truck protested its way up the steepest parts of the helderberg mountains the five of them bounced back different strategies. They agreed on an approach, the one they termed the just go for it one. When they finally skid in at the shoulder before the driveways turn, they knew even if they had a more thought out strategy in mind it would have likely evaporated the second they felt the hum they each did stepping out of the truck. This wasn't going to be like the drills back in Forks or the ones they themselves had crafted their years in the city.

"No chance of leaf peepers out this way?" Caroline whispered.

"Theres a state park further up mountain. Papa took me once. I wonder if he wanted to make sure I knew the areas that were near these houses now that I think of it."

"Well we'll count on you to not get us lost looking for these shits then." Cole looked up the trees as they walked the border of the property.

"Doubt we need to look for them." Sylas put in and then grasped Caroline's arm before she could take another step toward the clearing.

Ethan froze, jerking his head to Cole and Anna, palms facing the ground to signal slowly. The five of them faced one another at the top of the small hill, eyes darting at one another, yet remaining silent. Sylas took a deep breath and nodding at Anna as she mouthed a count, he ducked a low branch and ran down the hill first, arms crossing to send the group of three vampires rushing forward, now flying into one another. The impact tearing them apart. The others followed down the hill and into the chaos.

Caroline let out a quick gasp as she saw the dozen or so more blurring towards her. Instinct had her arms pumping out while Cole sent his energy to meet hers.

Ethan rolled to avoid one and Anna clutched a hand as her eyes met another, the vampires yell cutting off with his air. Yanking her closed hand back, the head flew. She looked around for Sylas, catching the glint of a blade.

"Some are human." She yelled to the others.

"Push them back." Sylas yelled as they were swarmed, and from the opposite treeline Carlise and his wife darted into the field, knocking off limbs of the others they met.

Carolines breath wheezed in and out as it felt like each time one fell, six others were rush forward.

One of the humans with a long knife surged towards Cole, the knife meeting empty air as Cole seemed to fly back.

He looked around to see Anna skid on the grass, shielding Cole's body with her own as the knife again swung out, this time connecting with Anna's thigh. There was answering call of triumph to her scream. Both were drowned out by Cole's yell, which had blood streaming from the attackers ears before he waved his arms and sent him flying for Ethan whose one twisting hands had bones snapping. Caroline joined him to keep the way clear as Anna Jane fell.

"No no no no no." Sylas stuttered as he dove over and knelt at Anna. "Cole get Carlisle." Hearing no response or movement he tore his gaze from Anna's bleeding leg and reached out to grasp Cole's shirt. "Look at me Cole. Get Carlisle, bring him over here." Sylas pushed him forward.

"I'm alright. It's shallow, I'm sure it's shallow." Anna kept her hands pressed at her thigh as Sylas's tried to push them aside.

"I have to see Anj. Let me see." His answering curse was barely a whisper as he saw the blood spread. "I've dreamt this. Cole!" He yelled and before he could look up Carlisle was at their side.

"It's over now. Esme is with your friends and others have come from the house. Be still." He added to Anna.

"Are you…"

"I'm in control yes. It looks worse than it is, her artery is intact."

Caroline ran over, blood on her face and more than a little panic in her eyes.

"A few ran off, but we got most of them. They didn't get to anyone in the house."

"They would have if you all had listened to Jeff and head back to the city." Carlisle looked up from bandaging Anna. "You saved them."

"We had to try." Ethan said as he reached them. "Shine?"

"I'm fine. Geall." She reached for Cole's hand as he dropped down. "Geall Michael its all ok."

"Don't do that again." He dropped his forehead to hers with another shudder.

"I didn't know if you saw the knife." She looked over to Caroline. "Sweetheart….."

"No." Caroline waved her hands. "Don't start. Crazy. This was crazy. We almost…." She pushed away as Ethan tried to hold her. "I need a minute." She shook from head to toe as she walked towards the house.

Ethan watched her go and felt the strain of the last twenty minutes seep into him. It hadn't been like they trained for, no. But he still felt they had done every move right. They had fought together with ease. Though the result didn't weight as easy.

"It's not just theirs anymore." He said to the others as Carlisle went off to help Esme and the Emissary members clean up. "Its not the Emissaries fight."

Cole shook his head. "The way they looked at us. Not just the vampires, the humans they had. They would have wiped out the Emissary house and moved on, but us. They wanted it to hurt." He looked down at Anna leaning on Sylas. "We can't dodge this anymore."

"And we won't." She gripped Sylas's hand as he ran his thumb over the gold band on her finger.

NOW

Anna twirled the ring on her thumb, though her eyes were on Ethan as he continued.

"We stayed at the house that night. Anna ended up needing stitched so a long drive wasn't the best idea. And we were burnt out."

"Caroline?" Hayley wondered.

"Caroline especially. That fight opened each of our eyes in different ways. For her it opened a panic. She was probably already feeling a dose of anxiety about everything but that fueled it. And Sylas realized his dreams weren't just his. He had countless ones where Anna was cut just that way though in those dreams it was fatal. He knew then that the Preservers had seen it too and must have believed it was going to be their way to end her."

"You wouldn't believe the scars I have from them trying." Anna quipped.

"So that was the first fight all five of you faced."

"And only."

"What?" Hayley turned to Cole. "But…"

"Like I said. It opened each of our eyes. And from there it started to fall apart." He looked to Ethan and Anna, the losses clear in their eyes.

"It wasn't long after in the grand scheme of things." Ethan's jaw tightened.

"That it was just the three of us again." Anna finished.