"Shut up!" Jayden snarled. His ears blushed red with embarrassment and rage. "You know I'm telling the truth." Lily pleaded. 
He is only using you to get what he wants! This whole this is his game, and we are just the pawns!" 

Jayden whipped around and wrapped his strong hand around her fragile neck. "If you don't stop talker, I'll kill you here and now." Lily didn't flinch, although Dylan beside her did. He lunged at Jayden violently only to be met with the harsh uppercut of an elbow to his chin. Dylan tasted blood but still thrashed. His attempt only ended with a butt end of a rifle in his ribs. Groaning, the boy crumpled.

Lily spoke insistently, yet calmly. "You can't look me in the eyes and tell me you haven't seen the way he treats you like a useless piece of trash. Why do you think he recruited my brother?" Her words piercing deep but Jayden managed a forced smirk. 

"To toy with your precious emotions of course. To throw you off." He scoffed, his grip on her throat beginning to loosen absentmindedly. Lily shook her head. "That's why he is a higher rank than you?" Now his grasp on her neck faltered. Her next words making his blood run cold.

"He is getting ready to replace you, Jayden." The young man's vein's iced and goosebumps rippled on his arms. Rage and several other emotions he couldn't recognize swarmed him like hornets. Clouding his head and glitching his nerves. 

"Enough of this." Jayden choked out, glad the soldiers were too emotionless to judge him. He turned and continued his advance to his dear uncle's office at a faster pace than before. 

With each step closer they got to Marcus Houston's office, the more confidant Jayden's composure became. The hold the guards had on Dylan's arms tightened as if he would try and escape as they neared the gates of hell. 

"Well, well, well." Marcus didn't look up from the file he was reading. "If it isn't my two favourite people." He dropped the file onto his desk and smiled a welcoming smile. "How nice of you to join me at the brink of my glorious victory."

Lily glared daggers at him. "Houston, I swear as soon as I get out of these guards' hold..." "You'll what?" He challenged. "Kill me?" He smirked. "That will do nothing to stop this revolution." 

He raised a small walkie-talkie to his simpering lips. "Launch." 

That one, six letter word struck fear in the hearts of Lily, Dylan, and even Jayden. The rumble of ginormous engines shook the feet of the two captives. "Right now," Marcus leaned back in his leather desk chair. "Three jets have been launched. The mist contained in each is enough to turn the whole country into obedient subjects worthy of a powerful leader." He puffed out his chest in narcissistic pride.

 Dylan's P.O.V

My ribs ached from the rifle butt. Muffled voices blurred in my ears and my vision was clouded. It sounded like a girl, most likely Lily, and a deeper, more gruff voice. A man maybe? They seemed to be shouting. At least Lily was shouting. Was she being hurt? If that bastard Jayden touched her..!

I forced myself to raise my head despite the jarring throb in my skull. I felt like vomiting. Desperately, I tried blinking the stars from my line of sight. As the swarming dots begin to clear up, I caught sight of the man in front of Lily. My eyes widened and the aching throb in my head intensified. 

His horrifically distinct features matching with a name in my head. 

"Marcus Houston..." I slurred. He turned his gaze from the girl in front of me and looked straight into my eyes. The whole world around me seemed to tilt and whirl. A scene flashed in front of my eyes. A little boy I quickly realized was me, sat atop a staircase. A well-worn stuffed lion that had oranged with age clutched in his arms. 

I stared through the cage-like bars of the staircase as a man I recognized as my father argued quite loudly with a man who's aura struck fear into my very soul. Suddenly, young me lost his grip on his lion. The stuffed toy tumbled down the steps. Each time it hit a step it sounded like a thunderclap. 

The arguing stopped and the two men turned in my direction. As he turned his head and stared dead into my eyes with so much loathing and hate it made my blood run cold. The tall shadow-like man stepped closer and picked up the lion. When he looked back at me, it seemed his expression changed. From hate to pity. Before my father could stop him, he swiftly climbed the steps and handed out the stuffed animal to me.

With trembling hands, I reached out and received the toy. Being so close, I noticed details I had never noticed before. His long scar running along his forehead and the chipped left incisor tooth. The atmosphere turned cold and dry. 

The scene changed to my father kneeling in front of me. His warm brown eyes full of compassion, weariness and sadness. The jade necklace he slipped around my neck glistened in the firelight. A soft comforting smile crept up his lips. behind him, our house engulfed in savage flames. 

Once again, time and place shifted til I say myself sitting across from the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. Her brown hair teased her right eye. She looked up with innocent and confused ocean blue eyes that seemed to twinkle. "What?" She demanded. I couldn't help but notice the foam of her cappuccino on her upper lip and resisted the urge to wipe it off with my thumb. "Nothing," I sighed, resting my chin on my palm. "You're just so stunning to look at." She blushed and looked down at her drink muttering under her breath. "Dork."  

A sudden montage of the rest of my life flew by like a movie set on fast forward, only to have my brain comprehend and remember every single memory. I collapsed. The shouting stopped and I heard a soft yet frantic, "Dylan?!"

Double update! Man, you guys are lucky! 

~Keziah13ninja