"That's my mummy and papa!"

I realised that the guards had snatched me back to be thrown into the arms of Tyson.

A startled expression spread on his face like a disease as I hauled onto his shirt and began sobbing. "How did they get here?!"

It was my fault that they were in this mess. My fault that they were going to be killed-

She looks an awful lot like her mother. There had to be a logical reason-

I slammed my hands into Tyson, sending him stumbling backwards. It was bad enough with my own thoughts violently flooding into my brain.

With those same hands, I furiously wiped away the liquid building in my eyes and hungrily searched for Raven.

"Your an asshole!" I shouted, bringing my finger up to stab it at his direction. "Why the hell did you have to bring them into this?! If anything happens to them-"

A snicker escaped his mouth. "Darlin' I'm the one with soldiers at disposal and your the one with chipped nails-"

"These chipped nails will claw your eyeballs out if they got the chance!" I stumbled wildly towards him before my parent's eyes caught mine.

They must have been staring at their little goat from our balcony back in Adelaide turn into a furious magpie.

"Why did you bring them into this?" I questioned, my teeth violently clenching together.

"If you take a seat, you'll soon find out."

As I settled down into the seats aligned in front of the judge's podium, I observed that my parents were still wearing the same pyjamas from the night I'd left them.

They must have gone searching for their darling daughter and found that she'd been wiped off the face off the earth completely.

Raven was the first to talk. "Let's make this quick and straight to the point, shall we?"

The overweight oagle that sat in the judge's seat shifted in her seat and smirked vilely. A smile that spoke, you are so dead.

"Case 117," she announced. "This is a case regarding Rule #997 from Universal Code of Conduct Handbook which clearly states that Apex must be executed on sight. This hearing is to provide evidence that Auburn Archer, a citizen of Earth from Universe 112, is an Apex and her fellow accomplices are guilty."

From the corner of my eye, I saw mom gasp and attempt to stuff her fist into her mouth from letting out, what seemed like, a painful sob.

They weren't debriefed about it before they were bought in. Even if they would have been, they wouldn't have had a clue about what an Apex was.

"Your honour, a report was made about an incident down from the beach and the Alliance official, Alecandra Murphy, explained that a human girl with glowing arms had washed up on shore. She described her to be suspicious and decided to test out her theory," Raven explained, an arrogant smirk playing at the ends of his lips.

"Turns out Archer was able to somehow control her emotions of fear and even saved herself from the impossible," he added. "Proves that she possesses a superpower."

"But being an apex is genetic, what proof do you have that one of her parents are?"

Raven cut in.

Shit, shit. I knew exactly what he was going to do-

"She, herself, confessed that it was her mother."

My throat dried and I realised every set of eyes had rotated my way. I caught my mother's eyes before she collapsed into dad's arms.

"I thought we could keep her away-" I heard her murmur.

"Archer, do you deny this accusation?" The croaky voice came from behind the desk.

The blade of silence pierced through the air. Mom was going to have to pay for my mistakes.

"Your honour, this is incorrect," dad declared. Thank god, I hadn't heard his voice-

"What do you mean?" I heard my voice call out.

Mom grabbed his arm, whispering violent words into his ear. She had tears streaming down her face as she shook her head fiercely.

"She isn't the Apex in the family," he said. "I am."