ɖɛċɛɨʋɛɖ

twenty

"What happened to her?" Dakos voice is soft as his long fingers gently brush my hair from my face, and Ashe quickens his pacing as he sighs.

"Saxon had given her all of the pain from Ryos injuries at once, she couldn't handle it because she hasn't been given the chance to get used the pain, so when it happened she nearly fell to the ground. Ends up he didn't just give her the pain but he had completely blocked her away from him. None of us know why and I didn't stay to figure it out, I told the others to continue forward then lifted her up and came here. Halfway here she begin to get more gashes, and you know the rest." Ashes voice is nearly nothing but a pure growl of anger as he speaks and Dako sighs as he takes me in, in that fatherly way that he always does.

"I do not know how much more of this she can possibly take." Dako whispers and Ashe growls in agreement just before the darkness takes me once more.

"Shade baby wake up." Ashes deep voice is soft as it fills my ears, the sound along with his long warm fingers gently trailing over my cheek are enough to push the darkness from my mind, but not even close to being enough to remove the pain from me, yet I still peel my eyes open and take him in as he leans over me. "Hey baby girl." He gives me a soft smile as his deep hazel eyes meet my own but I can still see as much as I feel the worry that fills him. "Even though you weren't there Drake had done as you had asked and asked Reed if we would like to move into the house on his property, I have already packed all of your things for you, so we're all ready to go when you are." He smiles and I stare into his beautiful eyes for a few moments, then I begin to slowly push myself out of my bed with shaky arms. I don't make it to far before Ashe wraps his strong arms around my waist and gently lifts me off of the floor and holds me to him so that my legs limply dangle on either side of his waist, my long arms rest between our chests, and my head is laying on his left shoulder with my face resting against the side of his warm neck. Ashe keeps a gentle but firm hold on me as he walks out of the room and through the house, his warmth is gentle as it fills me and even though his warmth is as familiar and nice to me as Dakos is, it just isn't the warmth I want to feel, and from the smell of it Saxon isn't here to give me the warmth that I so desperately wish for, so instead I open my mind and allow the darkness to take me once more.

When I wake it's to the gentle sound of rain hitting the roof of the new house, I can hear the others downstairs as they start to fix the house to make it not only soundproof but also to dark to see into from anyone that is standing from the outside. For a few moments I only lay on my nest of a bed and listen to it all as I look outside of the window that wraps around the window seat that I am now laying on. Unlike last night or even the night before I cannot see the stars, I know that behind all of those deep stormy gray clouds that are now taking over the sky, the stars that I always look upon are still there, but not being able to see them makes me feel as if I'm further away from Ryo than I truly am.

I can feel the pain fill me as I think of what that rogue had said to Ryo, how he had said that Saxon was going to reject me for her, I can feel how everything within me screams for it all to be a lie, but something else deep within me is ready and waiting for it to all happen. After a moment I close my eyes pushing all of my crazed thoughts and pain from my body as I close the bond between us, then I open my eyes and turn away from the window and push myself up. When my bare feet touch the soft carpeted floor I push myself off of my nest like bed and walk through my new room without a single sparing glance to the room around me as I go to the closet and walk inside.

It only takes a split second before my eyes land on my bag of weapons but as soon as they do I pull it off of the shelf and onto the floor where I squat in front of it, then open it and pull everything out, then as soon as I'm dressed I open my large window and jump to the trees just a few yards away from the house. After I get a little over seven miles away from the house I find a tree with a small scoop in the middle of it and drop to it. A fiery pain fills my body from all of the injuries being pulled while I had ran here, but that pain is easy to ignore as I sit in the tree.

For the first time in my life I don't bother with hiding in the shadows, my body stays half seen in in the dull light of the moon as it remains hidden behind the stormy gray clouds, my face remains exposed as the hood of my cloak lays against my back, and instead of squatting in the tree I sit within its scoop with my legs criss crossed in front of me, my back slightly hunched forward, my thumb nail digging into the tree as I draw within its bark, and my hair sticking to my face as the cold rain runs through it. It feels as if only a few seconds have passed before I feel a familiar warmth drop into the tree just in front of me, even though he doesn't say anything I can feel the way he watches me with nothing but worry washing through him.

"When Ryo and I were children it was all but forbidden to see one another, let alone be near each other. When we were caught together we would be punished in ways no child should have ever been punished, but that never stopped us. At night, when the others were sleeping he would sneak out of his room and run to isolation to break me out, then he would he take me outside. My whole childhood was spent in a padded cell with only Ryo, Dako, and Panic to talk to on a daily basis, I felt as if I was imprisoned as if I would never be set free, but every time Ryo or even Panic snuck me out, I felt free. Every time I was out of my cell they would let me run, they would let me feel the grass on my bare feet, smell the flowers on the air, and even show me magic with nature, and each time I would feel just as free as I had the last. Ryo had found a spot for us to go when he had gotten me out, it was this large weeping willow, so large that I had to tilt my head back to see the top, along the bottom was nothing but roots but as soon as he had touched the roots these beautiful flowers grew all around them and even in the leafs. For a long time it was our spot, for us and only us, but one day Panic had this attack, something had happened to Ice and he went berserk, so that night we had both broken our silent agreement and took both boys there. After that night we had became family, Panic had been my friend before, but after that he was just as much my family as Ryo is. We had all four came up with the idea to send one another messages when we could, when nobody was looking we would send each other messages to tell the other that we were alright, sometimes had made it so that we would make them fun, make the messages coded with these stupid phrases that otherwise made no sense, but it made us laugh and that was all that mattered, and other times the wording was normal. I have wondered so many nights if I should send them a message, so many nights I have to force myself not to in fear that it may get one of them if not all of them in trouble, but there is nothing that I want to do more just to make sure that they are all truly alive."

"Why are telling me this Shade?" Ashes deep voice is soft as he speaks and I give a humorless smile as I dig my nail even deeper into the trees bark.

"I feel as if I am in that cell all over again, I feel as if I get broken out of my cell only to get brief glances at freedom before those glances are yanked away from me, split moments of happiness before those are torched to nothing, and given this beautiful family only to have them fear me and most likely leave me once this war is over with." As soon as those words leave my lips I feel him move closer to me, allowing his body to slide down the scoop within the tree just before he kneels down making his knees rest on either side of my own, then he makes my hand stop moving as he gently cups it within his larger and much warmer hand.

"Shade there is nothing that you can do that will make us leave you or even hate you, if it is truly as bad as you think then we may be angry at you for a while but we'll never truly hate you. You don't see it but each of us, even Cameron, Justin, Cierra, and now Drake love you more than we love our own parents. I won't lie in a way each of us see you as our mother just as Ice and Ace do, but more than that we see you as our sister, and we would do absolutely anything for you if it meant making you happy." I feel his magic flow through me as he sends his warmth into my body, and I let out a sigh but I still refuse to look at him. "I don't know what is making you feel like you are back in that cell but I do know that we are your family and Ryos group was there for you before any of us were, and I know that they mean just as much to you as we do, so to make you happy again we are going to get them out." I stay silent as I think over his words, more than anything I want to make sure that my brothers and their team are alright, but no matter how much I wish to send them all a message to tell them that I am here and will be getting them out as soon as I can, I just can't bring myself to do it. What I had told Ashe was true, but I had only said those things out loud because of the pain that clouds my mind and fills my body from what that one rogue had said to Ryo. After a few silent moments Ashe moves his hand from mine only to cup my cheek and gently tilt my head back so that my eyes meet his, and as soon as his hazel eyes meet my own he gives me a soft smile and pokes the tip of my nose with his finger. "We will get them back soon." He gives me a bright smile as he speaks and I lift my brow. "Reed found two of the hideouts."