I did as promised, and both Raven and I left less than an hour later. Dragonfly had promised me to stay behind and keep an eye on the rest as well as keep in touch with me. As my paranoia skyrocketed and bordered on outright insanity. It was then a very fine thread that I used to cling to whatever it was of my rational thinking I still obtained after that wonderful experience.

Raven looked a tad bit better, though her eyes belied her calmness. I had to say her façade was rather impressive and the way in which she was able to lie to the assassins about the blondie they'd seen was truly admirable, and a little scary. It was made more astonishing considering the state I'd found her in. She was deeply wounded, very much so and was on the verge of tears again, though she tried to fight it off. I'd bet my life that she was losing though as tears continued to swim in her eyes, yet not a single one of them dropped. I have to admit that I was rather enthralled by that raw determination, if not strength. I recalled her earlier tirade,

She was my sister! My sister, Cassie! Your best friend! She was all I had left and now because of your secrets, my only family is rotting away!?

The pain in her voice; the sincerity rang loud and removed the lock from the cage in which I had thought I buried everything in so deep that it would never be found again. The same cage I'd thought I had burned and buried six feet under along with all the memories and emotions I never wanted back; all the nightmares that forever torment me; the ghost of all the long-forgotten dreams that never came true, that will never come true.

When she spoke, I could clearly see the nightmare of seven years ago unfolding in front of me; the minute I turned around and saw my sister lying sprawled on the floor in a pool of her own blood; wrapped in her own agony and pain. I could clearly recall the minute the light from her honey eyes was lost; the final breath. I could clearly remember the feeling of despair and disbelief when I had awaited the breath that never came; the heartbeat that was forgotten.

Hearts are such monstrous things, that's why they are in cages, I had thought. I could clearly remember the feeling of betrayal that washed over me as I feel to my knees and wept. The wetness of my tears as they stung and burned their way down my bruised and bloody cheeks. How the pain of my wounds and torture for the past two weeks had seemed mild compared to the knife that had carved my heart out as my little world came crashing down on me. My best friend, my sister was dead! How was I to ever face Dragonfly then? How was I ever to face myself, every time I looked in the mirror? The weakling who couldn't protect even himself; the weak, pathetic child, who couldn't even protect his own sister. Zeus was right! I am nothing but a weak, pathetic child. I had thought as tears continued to flow down my eyes; my sister bleeding in my arms.

As we drove on, the silence that had forever comforted me was suddenly the cause of my anxiety and discomfort, until I felt so disoriented that I had surrendered the wheel to Alexia. It might've had something to do with the unexpected clarity of that flashback, or perhaps the absurd turn that day had taken, but I was on edge and I didn't care to know the reason for it.

"Alexia, soft music," I ordered, and she obeyed for once. I gazed ahead at the deepest, darkest sky I'd ever seen. It must be the calm before the storm. The forest up ahead was gloomy, dark, foreboding.

The sycamore, cedar and rowan trees that had allowed adequate light to pass down for the bushes and flowers have long wilted and were then the only remanence of the trees they used to be, but unlike humans, once a tree die they are reborn again beautifully so, they are beautiful even as they die and add the wondrous colours of autumn.

The rush of the air passing us by carried the night noises of the wilderness, predominantly those of vermin and the rustling of the treacherous wind against the naked branches of the trees as some of them went tumbling down, but they will be reborn. I won't, because I'm human and that is the greatest flaw of all.

I glanced back at Raven, who was so focused on the ground in front of her, that I was tempted to poke her just to make sure that she was alive still.

That will probably get you bitch-slapped. Not that I cared. If anything, the stinging after effect of the slap might be a welcomed change in this symphony of numbness and silence, at least then I'd know that she was alright, that we were alive still and hopefully continue to do so until the morning light.

"You al-" She cut me off and didn't provide me with the luxury of even finishing my question before responding automatically to it, her eyes not once wavering from the floor with which she appeared to be neck deep in a staring contest. I would've mocked her about that, but that wasn't the time nor the place.

"Fine." Monosyllabic, monotone, worse than that of a cyborg. For me, normal; for her, not so much. My worry was singing symphonies in my head then with everything that might be wrong; things I couldn't fix, but then again fixing had never once been my forte, killing, now there was something I could do. It was the only thing I could do. I took a deep breath that seemed to take a great deal of effort to exhale.

"Sure you are..." I muttered irritably. Her staring contest against the floor forgotten she stared at me her eyes scorching.

"What do you want me to say?" She challenged. "No, Black I'm not fine. I just lost my only family and possibly all of us are dead before dawn," A pause came as she wrinkled her nose at me, plainly pissed. "So," She dragged that word, sarcastically her voice more high pitched than normal. "No, I'm not "fine"," She sneered the word as if it was the worst sort of lie there was. "But what is the point in saying otherwise? What's the point?!" She repeated throwing her hands in the air in frantic protest. "Might as well lie about it, at least people will actually think you're strong, courageous, heroic even!" Her voice was dripping sarcasm.

And I thought I was sardonic...Though if the truth were to be told-

"I think you're the most courageous person I know without lying." She scooted closer to me and gawked at me in disbelief, her eyes accusing me of being a liar of the worst sorts. I put hands up in the air in mock surrender as I continued.

"True courage, Raven, is knowing you're setting yourself for failure before you even start, but you start anyway and you see it through till the very end because courage is not living without fear." I looked in the eyes then, hoping the sincerity of my words showed on my face, though I doubted it. "No one is fearless, Raven. Courage is learning to stand up against those fears, even when everyone else has left; even if the entire world thinks you're crazy and especially if it bugs everyone else. Courage is having grace in the midst of your worst nightmare." She snorted rudely at that as she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, right." She crossed her arms and legs, a gesture I was coming to recognize as the silent "leave me alone, I don't want to speak." I ignored it, a talent that I had always excelled at, and continued as if I didn't notice her silent discomfort and disagreement.

"Courage is waking up every morning to fight the same demons that have left broken and bleeding the day before, yet you continue to get out of bed and smile in the face of the bastards." She wasn't listening to me at that point and so I breathed deeply; my chest heaving as I tried to prepare myself to discuss the topic I really didn't want to discuss.

"I lost a sister too." I retook the controls from Alexia, needing the distraction to force my tongue and lips to co-operate. From the corner of my vision, I noticed her eyes flickering to me for a brief moment, before refocusing on the invisible spot at her feet. I sighed in disgust and contempt at Cassie's actions.

So help me, if I ever lay my eyes on you again...

"Firefly? I heard her name mentioned a couple of times in hushed voices while we were at the gala. They also mentioned something about her being the reason you never go there anymore." I groaned, which caused her to raise a curious eyebrow in my direction. Of course, they'd speculate all kinds of crap in my absence.

"Yes, that's the one I'm referring to. No, she isn't really the reason I don't go there anymore. Rather it's... something else." I broke off as I contemplated a way in which I could explain a reason even I myself don't understand most days. Turns out I didn't need to.

"Because of the look, people would give you after such events. That damned look of sympathy and relief that it didn't happen to them. The way they would never meet your eyes; never perceive you the same way. It's as if you're nothing but a fragile thing; dirt beneath their feet even when they know better." She finished for me still focused on the floor; her knuckles blanch from the way she gripped her then pinkish biceps. I nodded.

"It's worse if you're an assassin. They think that now you're easy prey. Now you're down at their level. They're wrong every time." She met my eyes then; hers penetrating and focused; determined and blazing.

"Katherine was everything I had left. League assassins killed her you know." She spoke so fast and softly, that I had to really struggle to understand it all, her voice rose an octave; obtaining a panicked and hysterical tone. "But it can't be you! It can't have been! It can't! You weren't the ones who killed my sister." She gulped audibly, as she lost the battle and tears dripped down her cheeks as a veil of her hair came down to obscure her face from my view. "But I saw you at school! The day she was going to die you came to school!" She turned to look at me, furious. "Who were you there for? Were you after us?" I shook my head and extended my hand towards her cheek and held it there a moment when she didn't cringe away from the proximity I carefully brushed the tears from her face. I then proceeded to run my finger through her tousled hair as it slid between my fingers as if it were silk rather than a girl's hair.

"I was after some nosy hacker, I didn't even know the identity of," I paused considering Cassie's presence and her rant and claim about League assassins trying to kill her and it hit me like a cheap blow to the gut as I continued through clenched teeth. "But now I'm thinking it must've been Cassie all along. Though if it was so, why did they go after you and your sister?" She shrugged as she considered that for a while.

"Cassie is because of her hacking no doubt, but Katherine always kept a low profile. She never even let me attend any of the afterschool activities or ceremonies for fear of me attracting "unwanted attention". She was almost as paranoid as you are." I raised an eyebrow at that.

"Are you saying that I won in that regard?" She smiled weakly at my pitiful attempt in humour and tsked.

"Yeah, but not by far. My sister would've had the sense to call me before jumping to conclusions and breaking the first rule in assassination, even though I had dropped my link I would've still heard it." She mocked and ridiculed me, but she was right I was an idiot.

"Only for you...Besides, I never claimed to be sane, just paranoid." I mumbled, and her smile deepened as a gleam in her eyes sparkled like gold, or yellow sapphires: glinting and glistering so bright that it hurt to look at them straight.

"So... What was your sister like? Was she your actual sister? Or is she like Dragon?" I forced the corners of my mouth to curl up in a hint of a smile as I teased her.

"Very close," I provoked. "She was Dragon's twin sister." She gaped.

"Dragon had a twin?!" She breathed, her smile growing more genuine the more we talked and so I forced myself to press on, though it always hurt to think about it, then again it also hurt not to.

"You asked once why I played instruments," I took a deep breath for the nerve to continue. "It was because she loved it. You see both of them were from the 4th district the one concerned with music and all sorts of arts." She was nodding vigorously, which caused in both my eyebrows shooting north as the edges of my lips curled more and I suspected my dimples were plainly obvious then. I paused a second too long as I tormented her with the answer.

"Go on." She screeched waving her arms in protest like a cartoon character. "You never tell me anything!" She complained as she pouted and pleaded for me to continue.

"Then I guess, I shall stop here and stick to the old traditional ways!" She adjusted her posture so that she was leaning towards me.

"No!" She screeched so loudly in my ears that I flinched. "You can't. You're cheating!" She accused. I snorted.

"Can't see how I'm cheating, but fine." I yielded. "But in return, you would have to tell me something embarrassing yourself." She nodded. "I did it," I paused and forced myself to spill out the words. "Because I thought the twins would think me cool," I muttered, though she was still able to decipher it.

"No! Did they?" I nodded."Well good for you." And so, it went on and on. I was never able to laugh atthe past before Raven. It seemed as if the two of us were broken and somehowhealing each other. Still, neither of us was able to escape the cruel prison ofdespair and love in which we were both the suffering prisoner and the cruelgatekeeper.