My butt sat comfortably against a wooden crate while the others pulled up odd objects to make their own chairs. Theo was next to me, letting me use his shoulder as support.

I let my eyes glance over Mercy who was and has been avoiding eye contact with me since I told her the truth. The real truth.

"Alright," Ravi said, catching my attention, "I thinks it's time to start talking."

"Right," I replied, nodding. I swayed a little. "Um...I guess the best place to start is the beginning. So, I'll tell you about that night."

---

I woke with a start, rolling over in my Pokémon blanket.

"Lena!" The little voice yelled. "Wake! Up! It's! Time! For! School!"

"Shut...up," I groaned out. "I'm tired, let me sleep."

"But it's time for school."

"I don't wanna go to school today."

"But I do! Now come on, I don't wanna walk alone."

---

"You hated being alone, back then," I said quietly, a little laugh in my voice. "That changed. Drastically."

I looked up to see her watching me with mesmerized blue eyes.

I continued. "After I wouldn't wake up, you went to get Mom."

---

"Sweetheart," she said, smooth like honey, gentle like a cloud, "time to wake up. You have school today."

"Don't wanna. I'm tired."

"Hmm. My ten year old daughter sleeps in like she's in her late thirties. I have so much hope for you in the future, dear. Really."

Mercy giggled in the back.

"I don't care, as long as I sleep in."

"Tell you what. You get up and I'll make you some of those cinnamon roles you really like."

I peeked up from the pillow.

"Promise?"

She smiled at me, flashing bright blue eyes and perfect white teeth. "They're already on the table."

---

"So, we went to school. She always knew how to get us to do what she wanted."

Levi spoke up. "What about-"

"Hey, no one gave you permission to talk. Shut up until I'm done."

---

Our little feet turned little puddles into tsunamis on the muddy ground. We made little ant canyons to go with.

"Apple, butt, car, the 'd' word, elephant, the 'f' word, giraffe, hell, and I pick...igloo!" Mercy said, reciting the words we already picked in alphabetical order. She jumped, making another ant sized catastrophe in the puddle.

"Apple," I recited, "butt, car, dick, elephant, freakin', giraffe, hell, igloo...jrefereferous."

"Apple, butt, car, the 'd' word, elephant, the 'f' word, giraffe, hell, igloo, jeferous...kangaroo."

"Beep, buzz, and whatever other noises that mean your wrong. I said jrefereferous. I win again!"

"Aww. How do you always win that this?"

"...I wonder."

"Sorry I'm late girls," a gruff voice said. I looked up to see dazzling light blonde, nearly white hair catch in the path of sunlight. "I got caught up at work."

"That's okay, Dad," Mercy said, stepping over to him. "Lena and I were just playing the word game."

"Oh yeah?" He picked the little blonde up in his arms. "And what's the worst word Lena came up with this time?"

"The 'f' word."

He looked at me harshly. "Lena Koinzel, I can't believe you-"

"I said freakin'."

"Oh...well that's acceptable."

---

"After we got home, everything was normal. We had dinner, but I don't remember what, and then we went to bed. You know, we used to sleep in bunk beds. You always slept on the bottom, for some reason. I never got why. And whenever I asked, all I got was-"

"Cause I feel like it," Mercy finished. "I remember."

I nodded.

"Like I said, everything seemed perfectly fine. We went to bed, we were happy, we were...a family."

Theo's arm wrapped protectively around my waist.

---

A sound woke me up. Something I wasn't familiar with. It was a bang, really loud.

"Mercy?" I asked. "Did you fall out of bed again? I swear, if you ever sleep on the top bunk you'll die of a concussion."

There was no reply.

"Mercy?"

There was another bang and an instant scream.

I sat up, using my arms to support me. Looking around the room, I didn't see anyone. Even when I peeked under to look for my little sister.

"Mercy?" I asked nervously, voice shaking. "Hey, I know I pick on you sometimes, but this isn't cool."

I dropped down, ignoring the ladder. I crept over to the far side of the room, grabbed the cold brass door with my hand, and peeled it open. The white halls were dark and empty.

Another scream sounded from the far side of the house.

I ran down the halls. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

When I got to the living room, what I saw made me wanna puke. Mom and Dad laid in a pool of blood, their own blood, on the floor. Mom's body was on top of Dad's. She looked like she was covering him, but something inside of me knew that she was dead.

No dead, I told myself. Badly hurt, near death, sleeping, anything but dead. They couldn't be dead. Mom and Dad were superheroes, nothing could kill them. They were Mom and Dad.

Another scream.

I looked to the right of the pile of bodies to see a figure dressed in a dark costume holding my little sister up by her right arm. A thing I could only guess was a gun was pointed at her head. She was crying and sniffling, screaming bloody hell.

"Lena!" She shouted. "Lean! Please!"

I could see the figures finger tightening on the trigger.

"No!" I screeched, charging him or her. I rammed my small body into theirs, knocking them to the side so they lost their grip on Mercy. She fell to the ground, landing n her butt. "Mercy, run!"

Sniffling and sobbing, she obeyed me, and started running down the familiar labyrinth of halls.

I turned back to them, who looked like a he. He was glaring at me, pointing the gun at me. I cringed, bracing myself for the feeling of death, whatever that was. Instead, I got a sharp pain in my stomach the made me cry out in pain.

My body collapsed to the ground. When I managed to peel my eyes open, I saw Mercy tightly gripping onto the man's arm. She was holding on for dear life. That idiot! In a swift motion, the man knocked her off and slammed her forehead with the back of his gun. She was out cold, dead on the ground.

"No! Mercy!"

My mind raced with ideas. Think, I told myself. You're weak, you cant do anything but think, so that's what you do. Think, think, think.

Grunting through unimaginable pain, I stood up, adrenaline the only thing keeping me awake. Using all the strength left in me, I charged the man. He grunted before letting out another gunshot. I'd only just managed to tip my body so that it hit my left shoulder. A buzzing went through it before it went completely numb.

Still, I charged, letting out a feral cry as my right hand shot up, connecting with the mans chin. He grunted, stepping back. I hadn't expected my little fist doing next to no damage, which was stupid in reality. So, I grabbed onto the man and clung for dear life. He beat on my back while I furiously bit his stomach and scratched his back.

When he finally got me off of him, I was bruised and battered and he was bleeding from his stomach. I could taste blood in my mouth, and I tried spitting it out, but it was useless. The taste wouldn't leave, which made me realize I probably had a longue injury. I learned that in my medicines class.

I was lifted up by the back of my oversized shirt and left handing in front of the man.

"A little fighter, huh?" He asked, looking at me curiously.

"You got them all, yet?" Another voice yelled from deeper in the house.

"...yeah!" The man yelled back, making me flinch. In a quieter voice, he turned to me and said, "Get running, Little Fighter. This is the only chance you got. I won't be savin' your sorry ass if you get caught."

I nodded eagerly as he set me down. That's when I got a glimpse of it, the red and blue swords making an 'x' on the sleeve of his armor. Grunting with pain, I used the very last of my strength to run myself out the back door.

"Traitor!" A voice yelled. A bullet was shot. I had a feeling they would be after me now, so I ran faster, my legs cold in the rainy winter night. If I was lucky, the rain would wash away the blood trail I was leaving behind.

I kept running and running, not sure if I couldn't stop or if I didn't want to stop. Right now, they seemed just about the same.

I don't know how far or how long I'd run by the time I'd collapsed. My body was coated in mud and blood. I was soaked to the bone, but I wasn't sure if it was with sweat or rain. Looking up, I discovered that the rain had stopped. My eyes caught a glimpse of the red liquid dripping from my pale shacking hands. Did it even rain, or was I just that covered in blood? I didn't know anymore.

Just as I thought I was about to drift off into unconsciousness, I was lifted off the ground startlingly quick. I didn't really care then, who or what got me. I would've happily died then. I remember how much pain I was in. Then I just kinda...passed out.

---

"When I woke up again, I was face to face with this big scary man," I said, smirking at Ravi.

"Oh, come on," he complained. "I'm not that scary, right?"

"I don't know," Clover said. "You kind of remind me of a bear."

"More like a teddy bear," I laughed. "Anyways, that was all I remember of that night."

I looked up at the others, taking in their wide eyes, looks of pity. And then, there were Bryce and Mercy who looked utterly unfazed. Bryce, I knew better, he just had one solid dissatisfied expression that he wore everywhere he went. Mercy, I was a little worried about.

"Guys," I said, "can you leave for a second? I wanna talk with Mercy."

They respectfully left us, closing the door behind them.

"So," I said, "how do you feel?"

She sighed. "It's...it's starting to come back to me," she admitted. "Slowly, but it's coming back."

"Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?"

"Good, of course it's good. It's just... I don't know. It's a lot to take in all at once. I thought that if I knew everything would be okay, but it's not. Everything's worse now that I know. Everything's harder. But, it's still not a bad thing. I'm glad I remember and I'm glad I remember you."

"You don't...hate me?"

She looked at me, really looked at me for the first time in a while. "Shadow...Lena. I could never hate you. Even when I didn't know you were my sister, I still loved you. I love you even more know that I do know."

Sighing, I pulled my knees up to my chest and rested my forehead on them.

"Lena, are you...crying?"

I didn't reply.

"Lena?"

"Shut up. I'm not crying, but I really don't wanna start so just shut up."

Laughing lightly, I heard her stepping closer to me. She pulled me into a hug.

"It's good to have you back, Big Sister."

"You too, Little Sister."

We stayed like that for a second before she said, "By the way, I know jrefereferous isn't a word now."

"It would be kinda sad if you didn't. Honestly, I'd be a bit disappointed."