"Kate! Oh my Fate! You're here! You're actually here!" Matilda's eyes spilled over with tears as she rushed towards me. Her arms enveloped my body as I hugged her back as tight as I could. She ran her fingers through my ponytail as she gripped me close her body. My own tears were flowing down my face as I choked back a sob. "I'm so happy that you're ok. I've missed you so much. I can't believe you're here!"

She pulled back, taking my face in her hands to look me in the eyes. I brushed the tears from my cheeks as she smiled at me with that stunning grin.

"Beautiful as always." Matilda laughed, shaking her head. "I can't believe that you're home and that..." Her voice died in her throat as her eyes trained behind me, the happiness that had once registered on her features now dry like a drought. She looked like a feral beast as her hands slipped from my face to point around me. "You. I remember you. You took my sister, didn't you? Didn't you!"

Matilda pushed past me as she shielded me with her other arm. In the next moment, she had hurried through the door as she charged at Finn with a wild scream of rage.

"You said you would protect us, you asshole! And then you took her away to some bullshit inspection! Bullshit! I call bullshit! I will kill you! You perverted psychopath!"

I swear I saw Raphael lean over to Cybele with a smile as he muttered, "I like this sister better." She shot him a mean glare and I gave him one of my own as I ran onto the porch. Finn hardly seemed phased, only looking at her with wide eyes.

"Matilda, stop!" I yelled, charging after her as Finn backed away from my sister with his hands up. He didn't make any move to attack or run, as she probably just seemed more delusional than a real threat.

"I didn't take Kate anywhere, Matilda. That wasn't up to me." It was all he could say before she snapped back her vicious reply.

"Then you can tell your leader or whoever the hell made that decision to go to..." I leapt in front of Finn, taking Matilda by the shoulders as I looked into her green eyes. She paused her fury, a whole new expression on her face as she watched me. I'd just stepped in front of her, for him. It was a look of shock and disbelief; was I against her now? How could I defend someone like Finn her face seemed to say?

"He didn't do anything wrong, Matilda. He's a good person. Remember, he saved your life during the fire?"

She narrowed her eyes, glancing to look at Finn before back to me. "Well, let's just forget that part and skip to when he took you from us, Kate! You've been gone for a month with these... bird people!" Matilda hugged me to her chest again with a sob, squeezing me tight as she buried her face into my neck. I felt her body begin to shake as she gripped me like I'd be ripped away. "These people are responsible! They split us apart, the last of our family."

I took in a deep breath at the pain that flared in my chest as her words, and I wrapped an arm around her as I rested my other hand on the back of her neck. Squeezing my eyes shut just for a moment, I opened them before pulling back to look Matilda in the eyes. "There's a lot we need to talk about, Matilda."

She looked up, her face falling as she took a step back away from me. She didn't like the situation in the least as she looked around at each of the guardians; she felt cornered. "Why do I get the feeling this isn't going to be a good talk, Kate?"

Rubbing my eyes, I offered the smallest smile. "You can decide if it's good or bad, but it will be mixture of both. Everything is. Can we go inside and just talk about it? Please? Just you and me if you want."

Her face contorted as she clenched her hands into fists. "I want you to tell me where the hell you've been and what you've been doing... with these people!" Her eyes were narrowed as she gazed straight into my eyes with a new anger, making me flinch. I'd forgotten how headstrong she could be when she was sober. "You just left! I never heard anything from you, and they very well could have lied to me about where you were, which I'm sure to an extent they did! You could have been hurt or dead, and I wouldn't have know! Do you realize how much that hurt me, having no clue where the hell you were or if you were even alive?"

"I know and I'm so sorry." I breathed, taking her hand in mine. "Let's just talk inside and I'll answer all your questions."

"Not all." Raphael glared at me. "You know what you should and shouldn't say, correct?" His eyes were telling: information about Gabrian. She would be at risk if she knew too much about Secta's hidden home.

But, Matilda didn't quite understand what he'd meant by that statement.

"I am her sister and she can tell me whatever the hell she wants, you son of a bitch!" Matilda nearly collided with Raphael as she squared her shoulders with a snarl, very ready to try and beat his ass for speaking to me at all. "You do not have the right to talk to her that way and I will personally snap your tongue from your throat if you open your fucking mouth again!"

"Matilda," I tried to speak, but she glared in my direction, lifting her hand to silence me.

"Inside. Now." She looked back to the other guardians. "You can sit in the living room and none of you will interfere with Kate and I's conversation or I will personally make sure that you never see her ever again."

"Matilda!" I hissed, but she ignored me.

"Get comfortable because I'll talk to her as long as I please and that is the end of our conversation." She looked to me, "Kate, let's go. You can talk to your new friends once we are done speaking and that is what you owe me for worrying me to death! Are we clear?"

I took a deep breath, looking at Matilda as I bit my lip. This only made her narrow her eyes as she stepped forward to glare down at me, using her height to her advantage. It was the first time that she'd actually scared me. I'd really made her pissed.

"Are we clear, Kate?"

"Of course, Matilda." I replied before I was drug into the house. It was time for my interrogation, and I knew she would without a doubt be bad cop.

Matilda sat in a chair across from me, watching me with her intense, green eyes as she tapped her fingers against the table in between us. We were upstairs in a small breakfast nook by a nice, large window, and I'd learned from her that it was the temporary Benton residence until they had the funds to build their dream smuggling den. Then, the house would be her's alone as she'd agreed to help finance their stay and bring in profit for the Benton business.

I didn't like the idea of her getting too involved, but hell, that's exactly what I did in the past to help feed my siblings when salaries were cut across the entire city. You just got desperate enough to do about anything, and Matilda was on her own, hardly capable to pay for rent in a spare bedroom as the city was trying to balance its economy after Tron.

There was a new governor appointed directly by the King and Queen themselves so they could monitor the growth of the city. Things were going to get better again, and hopefully Matilda could get out of the thief trade.

"Are you and Malaki together?" I blurted out, my vision poking at my curiosity. It was something I wanted to know because it would give me some comfort that I wouldn't be leaving her alone. And of course, there was the whole part of this conversation where I had to tell her I was going back with the bird people.

Her eyes widened, a faint blush on her cheeks that made me smile. It had been real! "Yes, we are now. How'd you know?"

"I didn't," I lied, drumming my fingers against the table. "I just saw a... look between the two of you and figured I'd ask. I knew he had feelings for you before the fire and much longer than that too."

Matilda swallowed, nodding her head. "It's new, but I'm feeling hopeful about it. I've realized that I like him a lot and..." She snapped out of her conversation and narrowed her eyes at me. "I'm not going to be the one explaining myself in this conversation, Kate! You are going to start giving me answers."

I bit my lip at her words, nodding my head. "Of course! I'm sorry, but I just wanted to know. Especially if it made the both of you happy. What do you want to know from all of this? I'll answer the best I can."

Her green eyes looked into mine, "why did they take you, Kate?"

"That's a bigger question than you think." I muttered under my breath before taking a deep breath. "I sort of have a special ability that not many other people have, a sort of magical power. They took me with them because they saw me use it and want to help me learn about my meraki, which is what they call the magic. They think I'm relatively powerful and that I might be an important piece in their mission."

"You have a superpower?" She narrowed her eyes, biting her lip. "Seriously? So they drafted you?"

"Basically," I closed my eyes, focussing deeply on my core. 

The fire. Stroke the flames. I felt the soft rush of power run through my fingertips as I opened my eyes. I watched  the gold run through my veins before it emitted a soft light into my palm. I'd figured out how to reach it just a little. The light died and retreated back inside me as I looked up to Matilda, her face white as she stared at my hand. 

"I promise that I'm ok, Matilda. They took me to teach me and to train me. I need to be with them because if I don't learn how to control my meraki, then there is a high chance that I could lose control... and it would kill me."

Her face shot up to look at me, "it could kill you? That glowing thing in your hand could kill you?"

"It's very powerful inside my... core, and I haven't adapted my brain to its power yet. It could fry my mind if I use too much and haven't gotten accustomed to the power, just like if you overwork a muscle without the right practice then you could injure yourself. It's the same idea, but my meraki can do a lot more damage than a pulled muscle."

"So, they're training you to get used to your... meraki so that it won't kill you?"

"Pretty much, and they want me to join their army because of my power. Matilda, there's a lot more going on in the world than what you'd think. I've seen things that I never could have believed were real." I clenched her hand in mine, "and they think I have a chance at getting rid of a lot of bad people."

"I... I don't want you to join an army, Kate, and just leave!" She covered her eyes with her hands as she began to cry. "Mom and Dad never came home... you might not come home! Do you not understand that? I can't... live with the idea that you might never come back just like them!"

My heart twisted and knotted in my chest as tears ran down my face. "I can't stay here with you, Matilda. I want to so badly, you have no idea. But, I could really hurt myself and all of you. There's a darkness that's searching for me because of my meraki, and if she finds me here, she'll kill all of you."

"Who is looking for you?" She coughed, gazing up into my eyes.

"The Goddess of Evil, Noxia."