The girl was in complete and utter shock. But she was too defeated inside to ask why. As the girl stood frozen in her place, she continued to walk back to her room in the medical center.

The sound of pounding footsteps raced down halls behind her. She thought it was just someone running to mourn their dead relative in the main hall. So she kept walking on. The pounding grew, making her think that she was losing her sanity and that it was only in her head.

"Goldi?" a masculine, low voice echoed from behind her. She froze. The last time someone called her by that name, she was only a kid. Next to no one called her by that name. All but one of the people who addressed her that way were dead. So ... it could only be-

She turned around slowly. At the end of the hall, a tall, bulky man stood while taking in shaky breaths. He had the same muscular build as Cygnus and Corvus. His hair was red and parted off to one side while still being messy. His eyes a green that was plucked from the more nurtured parts of the wilderness. Those eyes .... they made her feel like she wasn't so hopeless anymore.

With barely enough air in her lungs, she said, "Cad?"

His smile doubled at the sound of his name, and his breathing staggered even more. Still, he began running to her. And she ran to meet him sooner.

When they were close enough to one another, he lifted her off the ground and into his arms. It was like she weighed nothing to him. He spun her with joy as she buried her face in his chest. "Cad," she gasped, her headache growing worse. She wished that she could cry, to show how happy she was to see him again.

He finally let her stand on her feet after a while as he smiled, "Goldi." He lifted her hood off her head and cupped her head with his two large hands. She gripped his wrists, though her hands couldn't quite reach all the way around them. Oh, how he'd changed so much from when she last saw him.

Cadmar was his full name. But he allowed her to call him Cad for short. Her siblings used to tease them about that. He was the only one not related to her that she allowed to call her Goldi and not Goldinia.

He took her in with his deep green eyes. Always concerned, always kind. He must have stuck out like a sore thumb in LSOP. His eyes snagged on her left arm, the metal one. "You got a new arm?"

When she looked up to see his reaction, he wasn't disgusted. He was grinning with joy, happy for her. Maybe being a cyborg wasn't as bad as she thought.

"Yeah," she replied, shyly. Even as he was glad, something turned his attention to her eyes. She knew what he wanted to know. "One of them is fake," she remarked.

Cad's face scrunched slightly. "Why?" It was less kind than he usually talked to her. Like he wanted to know who did this to her to make them pay.

"A Thaumaturge ... made me cut the real one out, after you left." At this, a fire sparked behind his eyes.

His hands fled from her neck and face to her waist. There, he patted her right side, as if he knew he would find metal there. While she was embarrassed, she couldn't blush, which she was grateful for.

He scanned her up and down again. "Where else?" he questioned.

Despite Goldi being self conscious about it, she lifted the right leg of her pants to reveal her metal leg. Cad didn't quite show pity, but more remorse. He sucked in a hallow breath and leaned his forehead to hers. Not one more word was said between them. They stood in their place and took comfort in being together again.

Cadmar was Goldinia's best friend from childhood. Actually, he was her only friend. He stood by her through everything. For years, they did everything together and kept each other safe. When baby Crescent was taken from the Darnel family – all thanks to Goldi's mother – and her arm was cut off as punishment, Cadmar was the only one who would go around her.

He'd lost his mother and father to the lunar crown when he was a toddler, and was raised by his aunt and uncle. The neighbors of the Darnel family. Since before they could walk, they'd been together, playing and laughing. Then, he was drafted into LSOP, and he hadn't told her about it. She hadn't found out until the morning after he was taken. But she'd forgotten to berate Cad about that at the moment.

Sensing her sadness, he drew her into his arms to hold her. His hand rested on – and covered – the back of her head. "They're all gone," she whispered. "All of them."

His warmth was enough to comfort her, but he rested his head on top of hers as well. Reassuring her that Cad was there to help her. "I know," Cad breathed. "I'm so sorry."

Goldi tried to take solace in having Cadmar at her side again. Just like old times, when it was the two of them against the world. She listened for his heartbeat as her head was pressed to his chest. He had almost a foot on her now, which felt odd, since they'd been about the same high when they were younger.

"Have you had time to look for your aunt and uncle?" she asked, remembering it had been over a month since the revolution – according to the computer in her head. He'd been free with the rest of LSOP for just as long.

Cad held her a bit closer. "They're gone too. They died of Regolith Poisoning."

Goldi rung her arms around Cad as best she could. Her hands could barely touch behind his back. "I'm sorry."

Neither of them could tell how long they stood in the corridor, wound up in each others' arms. It had been years since they'd been able to see one another, and Goldi could hardly bare the thought of what the Lunar scientists had done to her best friend over the years. He was gigantic, muscular, and robust. A complete contrast to his near lankiness as a child. He'd been so intelligent in their classes, both of them had.

So smart, so kind. How had Goldi ever been able to deserve someone like Cadmar?

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

The second he picked up the scent from the hall he'd been patrolling, he knew who it had to belong to. Even after all that time, all those years, he still remembered everything there was to know about Goldi. The hardest part about being drafted into LSOP was leaving her, and he knew she would never forgive him for not telling her.

Thankfully, it didn't seem like she could recall that, so he didn't bother to remind her.

Her head was pressed to his chest, and he held her as tightly as he could. The hardness of her metal limbs easy to detect, though he didn't mind. In a way, she was whole again. At least, she was whole physically.

Cadmar weld his eyelids shut and only willed them to open to make sure that the person he was holding was indeed Goldinia. His breaths hitched whenever he saw her now, making it damn near impossible for him to close his eyes again.

He knew what happened to Corvus and Cygnus, Goldi's beloved twin brothers. They'd been drafted into LSOP as well. And as fate would have it, into the same pack as Cadmar. He'd helped them along with their training and did his best to keep them out of the trouble for Goldi's sake. Seeing the two of them everyday reminded Cadmar of what kept him going in LSOP. What made him determined to retain being human after being transformed into an animal.

Goldinia.

All of the children in the Darnel family had the same blue eyes that pulled you under like the ocean tide. Looking at the eyes the twins shared, it was a painful and wondrous reminder of Goldi. Cadmar thought he would never see her again. That he would die before he ever got the chance to finally tell her goodbye forever.

Or, to tell her that he loved her.

Yes, of course he loved her. They'd been through everything together since the two of them could walk. They'd gone to class together and practically lived at each others' houses depending on the week. Their lives so entwined that nothing could happen to one of them without the other being effected. Her family was his family and visa verse. Which was why Cadmar was so fixed on making sure that the Darnel twins stayed in one piece. So that even if Cad couldn't get out of LSOP in time to see Goldi again, the two of them could.

(Twelve years ago)

Cadmar stood in rank with the other members of his pack. All together, there were eight of them in total. Of course, their Thaumaturge Pier told them the pack would be receiving two more members. As that was the maximum number of Lunar Soldiers he could control at once. Still, Cad felt pity for the poor kids that would be joining their pack. He'd been in it for four years now, and could say without the shadow of a doubt that it was no picnic.

From his spot in the ranks, Cadmar was already Second Beta, or third in command. He may not have been one of the oldest in the pack, but he'd proven to be one of the strongest. Until that day, he fought for the honor of his family and his planet.

But when the two newest members of the pack entered the room, all of that changed.

The changes of the operations had altered their appearances. Still, he knew exactly who they were by their hair, eyes, and faces. Corvus and Cygnus.

Goldi's little brothers.

The two of them had been inseparable since the moment they were born. Always together, they'd even shared a room in the Darnels' house. Then again, they'd shared a bed a few times when they were little. No matter what happened, they were always with the other. If one of them was sad or happy, so was the other for the exact same reason. They must have shared a heart and soul, because they both knew whatever the other was thinking or feeling at any given time.

Now, the two of them looked depressed.

Thaumaturge Pier introduced them to the pack and told them to file in where there was room. Both of them took spots in the front. Where as Cad was standing up straight on the side, one spot behind the Alpha of the pack.

Alpha Eyphah was not the tallest of the pack, but by far the strongest. He was eighteen, with eyes of yellow and pupils that were more black than most. His skin was darker than Kobicha wood and her white fanged teeth poked out from his lips. He had the most scars on his skin because of the number of fights he'd been in. Somehow, that didn't stop him from starting more.

Cad knew what was going to happen once Thaumaturge Pier left the pack to train. Eyphah would challenge the twins to a fight, and he would win. The two twins wouldn't stand a chance against someone with as much training and experience as Eyphah.

Just as he'd though it, Pier abandoned the pack to allow them to train and for him to do whatever else he needed to prepare himself. Eyphah was not in any way afraid to call for a fight. He'd gotten away with every single one he'd made so far. No one was stupid enough to tell the Thaumaturge about Eyphah's unfair duels with the newest members. Mainly because no one was that willing to die yet.

Eyphah left his stop in the ranks, as all the other pack members had, and blocked the path of the twins.

"How about we have a little brawl, to find out where you'll stand in the pack?" he snarled, his lips curled in an evil grin.

Corvus and Cygnus stood their ground and looked at one another with emotionless expressions. They conferred without words, and both moved to go around wither side of Eyphah.

Too bad neither of them would get away from the Alpha. He gripped the backs of their shirts as they moved away and yanked them back. "I said," he growled. "Lets have a brawl."

Cadmar's nails dug so far into his palms he thought they would draw blood. Watching Eyphah bully the twins was a reminder of the people who bullied Goldi because she only had one arm. Unlike the people who were so cruel to her, Goldi thought of others people besides herself. They hadn't risked their life to save their baby sister from being slaughtered. They hadn't given everything to keep their family from falling apart, even though they knew it was a hopeless endeavor.

"Leave them be, Eyphah," Cad demanded. Calling the attention of the other pack members to him. Eyphah turned to Cadmar in angered shock.

He left the twin to tower over Cadmar. "And why would I do that?"

Eyphah only had two inches on Cadmar. He could see that now. Cad had protected Goldi from all of the people who tried to hurt her and bully her. He'd even broken a kid's nose once after they'd slapped Goldi. Now, he was going to do what Goldi would have done for her brothers.

He was going to protect them with his life.

Cad barked in response,"Because I'll make you."