My heart beat loudly in my chest as I prepared to say the words that my mind was processing.

"Edward..." I took a deep breath.

He looked into my eye with the utmost concern for what I was feeling, as well as what I was saying.

"I...think I was experimented on."

It was out. The giant secret that I had kept from my lover this entire time was out of the bag, in the open, and authorized for scrutiny.

Edward's eyes went wide like an owl's, and suddenly, I noticed them become watery, as I looked up to meet his gaze.

"Mein got... who, where, why!? I...Is this where you got... these marks..." His eyes brimmed with tears as he lifted my arms, examining the scars.

I remained silent, losing the strength to speak. While I was deep in thought, Edward wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close, burying his face into my hair.

"Mein Gott, Mein Gott , wie konnte ich das dir passieren lassen ... Ich habe meine einzig wahre Aufgabe gescheitert ... verzeih mir , oh Gott , vergib mir..."

I felt warm moisture on my head, signaling my tears to reappear as well. I felt, by the way he held me, that he blamed himself.

"I've been tested with... substances I don't even remember..." I croaked, snuggling into him tightly. "It's gone on since I've been here. Under Maxis' orders, I am brought to be tested, every so often..."

Edward held me tighter, and I felt more slow, silent, tears slide down his slick cheek to soak my scalp. Nervously, he muttered German under his breath, cursing at himself.

"Edward, it's not your fault! It's not.... by my own will I am bound here. I chose not to tell you... because..." My voice cracked and ceased.

"I didn't want to hurt you. And I was trying to protect you... because even if one word about this slips out at work or any other place, you and I are over, and..." I sniffled, running my nimble fingernails through his hair, and pulling gently backwards, training him to look at me. His eyes were swollen underneath and his cheeks and nose were red from sadness.

"I can't lose you, Edward," I stated with all of my heart, as I gripped his cheeks. "Before you came along, I would have rather taken a knife to my wrist than endure the pain of being here any longer. Having you here gives me the will to live, and..." I kissed his lips, trying to prove my point. "I'll fight for it."

Edward's hazel eyes trained on the sheets in front of the bed.

"Eliza, we have to get out of here." He stated suddenly, shaking his head and piercing my gaze.

"W-What?"

"Eliza, we can't stay here any longer, because if we do..." He put his hands on his head and pulled on his dark lochs. "Nein! I'll kill them!" he raged abruptly, standing from his position and walking to the side of the room, causing me to bolt up and follow him.

"No! No! You can't hurt Maxis, I-"

"You what, Eliza?! Look at what he's done to you! He-He's tortured you, damn it... He's taken you from your home, he's killed what bit of soul you were allowed to have here! He can't be allowed to live for all he's done, I swear..."

"Edward, You cannot hurt Maxis!"

"He's... your father... mein gott...." He exhaled. "Nein, he is no father. He doesn't deserve that title, he-he's not worthy...." Eddie began to pace the small room.

"How can you possibly vouch for him! A-After all the hell he's put you through!" He cried to me, tears flicked away by trembling hands.

"You're right. He's not a father to me. I will forever hate him for doing whatever he did to our family..." I sniffled. "But you can't kill him... even if Maxis wasn't a father to me, and even after all of this, Samantha is my sister, and I don't want her to grow up without a father, like I did!" I yelled across the room, gasping once the words were free. Edward stopped his ranting, and I reveled on the fact that I had released the only motive I'd had for keeping Maxis safe.

Edward stared at me as I plopped back down on the bed, and sank my hands into my long hair.

"She may not know I'm her sister... and she may hate me..." My eyes felt like bursting from the pounds of tension on my tear ducts. "But she already doesn't have a mother to grow up with, to teach her how to braid hair, or play with dollies, or draw. I can't take her father away too. She loves him and... even though we have less of a connection than acquaintances... I want her to one day know that I cared."

I took many deep, shaky breaths into my lungs and exhaled loudly.

The bed shifted under Edward's weight as he sat beside me, his body radiating pent up emotion.

"You have a job here, too. You can't just throw that all away, I will not let you."

"I don't care about that anymore, Eliza... you are all I need. If we have to be poor the rest of our lives, so be it. This is no life that anyone should have to live..." He took my hands and pressed his forehead to mine, as my heart finally relaxed.

"You and I would be fugitives. Even if we could escape, Group 935 has facilities all over the world and in places we don't even know exist."

"I will find a way. WE will find a way. Even if I have to-"

Ding, Dong.

The doorbell rang and my heart stopped beating.

"Go, hurry," I whispered frantically, and Edward paused hesitantly before shooting a worried look into my irises. He got up quickly and headed out.

I took a deep breath and followed a few minutes later.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Edward's POV

It was the only time that I ever put my will before Eliza's.

As I walked down the stairs, heart beating rapidly and palms sweating like rivers, I knew I would have to plan on my own. She wouldn't leave if I didn't force her to. I had to figure out something...

We'd have to take Samantha with us.

I touched the handle of the door and twisted it with a sigh, looking at the ground in front of me. A pair of black boots were in front of my sight, and suddenly I looked up to see a man dressed in some sort of armored suit, along with upwards of five men standing behind him.

I heard the patter of Eliza's footsteps behind me, and swore I heard her gasp.

"Kann ich Dir helfen?" I asked, looking up at the taller person. He looked down at me, cold, icy gray eyes boring into mine.

"Wir sind ihr für das Mädchen."

My heart dropped immediately to the floor and my head began to ache as he continued.

"Maxis hat mir den Befehl gegeben, das Mädchen zu ihrer neuen Heimat zu geleiten. Bitte sagen Sie Diener ihre Sachen zu sammeln und kommen Sie mit uns."

The world around me faded to gray and I took a step backward. I looked to Eliza, who was in the kitchen pretending to cook something, and through the doorway I caught glimpse of her worried expression.

Her crystal eyes contacted mine and I felt as if I would throw up.

"Herr Richthofen?"

"..."

"Herr Richthofen!" The man's voice broke through my wall of emptiness.

"One moment," I said, slamming the door and locking it, thankful that the man did not object.

I cupped my hands over my mouth and leaned against the wall. Eliza looked at me with an asking expression upon her visage. She silently mouthed the word 'what'.

My legs carried me weakly to the side of the kitchen table where the men could not see us from any window.

"Edward, what!" She whispered frantically, but I scarcely heard her. I embraced her quickly and fought in my mind, with my own conscience, as my eye began to sting with the moisture of hopelessness.

"They're asking you to pack up and leave," I mustered up the strength to croak out the few words I could, and Eliza's body went stiff and her expression went cold.

Many minutes of silence passed, allowing grief to strike.

This wasn't happening, it couldn't be.

"I-I won't let them take you, I can't-" I felt a hand over my mouth as Eliza silenced my sentence. Her eyes did not show any sign of emotion, and her actions seemed robotic. She dared not look at me, as she kept her eyes trained on whatever was behind me.

For an eternity, she stayed that way. It was then that I realized...

Her eyes were empty.

There was one thing that Eliza reserved only for the most distraught of times, an expression that I had only caught glimpse of a few times before, but was this time painfully evident. Each time her eyes looked this way, I knew that a piece of her, no matter how big or small, was gone forever, and it would never return. This time, those empty eyes lasted for ages and ages, until the door rang out with ricochets of bursts sodden with impatience from the men outside.

"Herr Richthofen!"

She removed her hand from my lips as needy remarks from outside the door fell on all but deaf ears. She looked solemly and silently down at my lips and gave to me the sweetest, yet equally forceful show of affection that she could at that moment, a bittersweet kiss on my slightly chapped lips, a symbol of her departure and most of all, her gratitude.

With that, nearly emotionlessly, she turned on her heel and made haste on her way to the attic to gather up what little belongings she had, and I stood by, unable to even comprehend the thoughts swimming throughout my brain.

She returned a moment later, with nothing but a hairbrush and her pen. Her sketchbok was nowhere in sight.

"No," I breathed, my heart breaking as I stepped in front of her, blocking her path to the door. "You can't leave, n-not like this. Not now, Eliza..."

Her gaze hit the floor, and her lips seemed to have nothing to say.

"Herr!" Another pound on the door.

"Just a moment!" I screamed, and the tapping stopped immediately.

"Eliza..." I whispered again, concealing the true heartbreaking grief that I longed to release.

"You know what must be done, Edward," She voiced ever so softly, as if this was meant to happen all along. Her actions upset me, but broke my heart even more.

"No, it doesn't have to be this way, I'll tell them something, that you can't leave today, and tonight we'll leave, leave for good." I grasped her shoulders and kneeled into her eyes, begging her to look at me just one time. Her eyes closed and she shook her head.

"They'll keep coming. They always do." She waved off the options nonchalantly, and began to try to push past me.

"After all we've done, you'll let this happen? Eliza, l-listen to yourself, we have to try!"

"What do we do? There are no options. If you try to stop them they'll have a gun pointed between your eyes and mine before you can even explain your reasoning."

"I would rather die than lose you." I said, pressing against her efforts.

She stopped to sigh, and quickly she broke away just in time to hear the keys jingling at the door and see the men let themselves into the house that I once thought that I had the only key to.

She walked past me, and I noticed the slight quiver of her pink lips as she met the men with a drooping head.

"Ich entschuldige mich, Sir. Wir sind in Eile. Männer, begleiten den Diener."

"Wait!" I shouted before the man could turn away. The other men looked my way, and as did Eliza, with a scared look on her face.

"Where are you taking her- ah- Wo nehmen Sie ihr?"

"Wherever Maxis tells us to take her. Vielen Dank für Ihre Mitarbeit, sir. Auf Wiedersehen."

His back turned to me and the door was slammed as the envoy of men in black left with my only love.

I collapsed onto the floor, ignoring the pain of the hard floorboards, as it was the mere bite of a mosquito compared to the intense grief I was feeling inside. Picking up the pieces of my shattered heart was an impossibility. I felt as if my entire world had caved in, my entire existence all for nothing.

Already my body ached to be with her, my soul like a puzzle piece without its fit.

This had to be some nightmare.

The world and whatever forces that controlled it could never be so cruel...

Or so I thought.