He blinked as the lights burned his eyes. He was back in a hospital bed, but could find no energy to rebel. His entire body was limp and felt nothing. Not even hot or cold. He was completely numb.

Cad wearily glanced around the room, and found himself back in the room he'd been in when he last woke up. Doctors stood about in the room, watching him with fear. Either they were frightened of his strength, or someone drew on his face and everyone was too scared to say anything.

The latter was the less likely answer in Cad's mind. After ripping himself free from the tubes and restraints the last time he woke up, he couldn't blame them for being anxious.

Slowly, Cad began to process why he'd gotten up in the first place. He remembered a stretcher rolling past his door, with a woman dressed in black laying on it, unconscious. Goldi...

He strained to break the bond holding down his arms. Unfortunately, these restraints were much thicker and resistant than the last ones he'd been held down with. There were also more of them now.

Two held down his wrists, two on his upper arms, two on his ankles, two on his thighs, and one over his abdomen. All of them were composed of not only thickly woven cotton and polyester, but had strands of wire to reinforce their structure and strength.

He was far too exhausted to fight the bonds for very long. His chest was aching with sharp pains and worn muscles than screamed at every attempt he made to free himself.

The doctors saw this, and had slight relief when they saw he could not break free as he had before. But anesthesia couldn't make Cad too weak to fight forever. Eventually, he would get out of this disturbing cage. He would break free, and he would find Goldi.

He couldn't lose her. Not again. He'd die fighting before that happened.

The door to the private room slid open with an ear scratching screech. Footsteps echoed in his drugged up mind. Metal glinted in the place of skin, and what little was functioning of Cad's heart leaped at the idea that the person was best friend.

Instead, he found the Queen of Luna. Back when he was a child, one would marvel in awe at the presence of royalty. Or fear it to the point of petrification.

Cad had to admit, he was a tad unimpressed by the woman who was supposedly queen. She was younger than Goldi, but obviously tired. Cad had heard announcements about her, and seen occasional images of her across Luna. All of them made her appear angelic, or celestial.

The girl before him was exhausted and speckled with grease smudges. Clad in cargo pants and a loose T-shirt. She was no Levana, which gave Cad some ease. Still, did this girl even want to be queen?

"Hello, Cadmar," she started. Cad winced at the volume of her voice. Something she took note of. "You had an acute heart attack, and have to rest in order to get better."

He grumbled and glanced at the door behind her. He needed to check on Goldi, to make sure she was alright. She was always horrible about taking care of herself as a kid. Never putting bandages on her cuts and scraped, never eating properly, never taking the time to calm down and relax.

The queen saw his distress. "Goldinia is in the other room. She's stable, and has been for a while now. She's just suffering from withdrawal symptoms from the serum that was pumping through her for years. She's very weak and tired, and we're treating her for malnutrition and any possible illnesses she may have contracted."

Hearing that, he found it a little easier to relax. If Goldi was just in the next room, it wouldn't be terribly difficult to barge from this one to hers. Or, if he was strong enough, he could simply barrel through the wall they shared. Assuming he went through the right wall, they'd be fine.

He only hoped that Goldi was safe and getting better. He only wanted her to be okay. The life she'd led so far had been less than kind of her. She deserved so much better.

And if Cad found that Queen Selene was lying about Goldi, he would take great pleasure in tearing her throat out.

........................

"She's gone," Wolf announced. "She and Cadmar haven't come back yet. Both of them have been gone for hours. They must have been taken. Or somehow reverted back to their former states."

"But no antiserum for our cure was engineered. There is not reverse for what happens to us. That is why when we metamorphosize, we remain this way," Scarlet argued. Stars knows Wolf and Scarlet had been doing that a great deal lately.

It was almost as if they'd gotten along better when they did not have incite to what the other was thinking.

Wolf shook his head and pondered over it. Crescent had gone on a reconnaissance mission and not reported back yet. She'd left hours ago to a section of the palace that was merely a twenty minute walk in normal human standards. With her speed, she should have been there in five, maybe less.

And when Cadmar turned tail and bolted with Goldinia over his shoulder, he didn't appear to be himself. Well, not the way he was after becoming who he was truly meant to be. He seemed slower, not as connected to Wolf and Scarlet, and rather selfish.

Those given the gift of new life were not selfish. Partially biased, yes. Stronger in mind and thought, of course. Protective of their capabilities and determined to help others achieve them, absolutely.

But they were never selfish.

Wolf had a sneaking suspicion that Goldinia had something to do with Cadmar's sudden change of heart. She was the one he bit before reeling back and cursing. Perhaps something about her biology was the reason for such a change inside him.

And if Selene and the other figured out what made Goldinia resistant to the change, and actually reversed the effects of Cadmar biting her, maybe they'd also found a way to change Crescent back a well.

"Stop worrying," Scarlet ordered. Wolf had forgotten Scarlet could sense when he was deep in thought. For some reason, she found it annoying. "Crescent is probably fine. She must have gone out to find and change Carswell or something."

At first that idea made sense to Wolf. "She wants him to be a part of us, doesn't she?"

Abruptly, Scarlet cackled wickedly, as if she was a witch. "Wolf, I forgot how naive you can be," she smiled. "Of course she doesn't want him to be a part of us. She wants to turn him to get to Selene."

"She means ... she means to use him?" he inquired, unsure of he was hearing Scarlet correctly.

"Of course she is!" Scarlet cried, shaking her head. "Part of transforming the world to be like us is changing everyone. She has not special feelings for that waste He's useless not matter what modifications are made to him."

Befuddled, Wolf couldn't help but question Scarlet further. "But Crescent loes Thorne."

"Loved," Scarlet corrected. "As in past tense. Higher beings like us have no need for something as frivolous as love."

That chilling statement froze Wolf in his place. "But ... I thought we were in love."

She scoffed, loudly and unmistakable. "Oh please, Ze'ev. Have the chemicals in you slow little head not modified to delete that damned emotion yet? They already have for me and Crescent."

His whole view of reality was falling apart before him. This cure was supposed to make things better. It was supposed to improve the human race, and make everyone the same. To make it easier for people to understand and care for one another.

How could the cure do that if it stripped people of Love. "You don't love me?" he asked, his heart aching.

She rolled her eyes. "Of course not." With that, their conversation over, and Wolf wasn't sure whether this was truly a cure anymore.