' It doesn't trouble me that you don't love me. What does trouble me is that you never will.' - Random Quote #1

Cade POV

I think my mind was frozen... maybe, but I couldn't comprehend enough to be exactly sure.

How... how was she here? I didn't understand. She couldn't be. My mind races with a million possibilities, and a fear was brought to the front of my mind.

Had they kidnapped her, as they had me?

What did she mean she couldn't remember me?

Her body, lying on the hard, concrete ground in front of me, was unmoving, except for the barely noticeable rise and fall of her chest. My mind was taking its time in registering this, as I stood still, my arms still loosely hugging empty space as the air wooshed in and out of my lungs, my heart beating faster and faster with each second, the blood in my veins pumping.

My mind snapped back to reality.

She was here.

I fell to my knees beside her unconcious form as I stared at her in awe.

She was bruised and battered, scruffy and scratched. But still my sister. She was still here.

My trembling hands slowly stroke her face, taking in all the dips and angles that had changed so much in five years. Five years I had lived without my sibling. My sister. My twin.

My eyes trailed down the rest of her body, bloodied and bruised.

My eyes snapped towards her stomach.

Dark, crimson blood seeped out of her clothes, the black jacket soaking it up. The only thing that stood out in the liquid was that it was sparkling. Shimmering with gold.

My first thought was that she was injured. Badly. But as I watched, the blood was slowly disppearing. It clicked. The fear in Reggie's voice that the wicked man usually didn't show as he called out to the boss. The blood. The golden blood. The blood that was slowly disappearing as it was soaked back into my sister's system. And of course I had registered the colour of her scales as she was shackled to the four corners of the room.

She was one of the most powerful dragons on the Earth. Just like me. A coat of precious, impenetrable metal. She was just like me. Undefeatable.

I wasn't worried about her wound, it would heal soon enough on its own. But I had so many questions.

How did she get here?

Why was she here?

When did she shift?

How did she shift?

How was she injured?

The only time a Dragon like us could be injured was when we were ancient, carrying hatchlings, or had only shifted themselves.

No no no no no! This wasn't good. This was bad. Really bad. Shifting four years late was considered bad for your health. Humongously bad for your health. Not many survive.

I shifted at age right, right on the dot, and that was painful enough. I was already powerful enough. That's the thing. Late bloomers were too powerful for their own good.

Inhabited by a powerful soul, they were capable of conquering the world as they wished. And those were the dullest colours.

A gold latecomer was unheard of. They were always on time or earlier for this very reason. My sister was in trouble. Deep, deep trouble.

I barely noticed that Reggie had slipped out of the room in the couple of seconds it has taken for these thoughts to run through my head.

~~☆~~

The wound was gone. It had vanished completely.

The blood sucked back into her system, I watch as the colour returns to her cheeks and her former dull hair regaining a Autumn, orange shade of ginger, yet she still lies eerily unmoving.

We had been lying here for little over five minutes.

The weight of the situation hit me. I remeber the many times the boss had said that he would kill my sister if he ever saw her again. He had made that clear in the woods a few days ago.

I hadn't known we had been hunting my sister, only that the head warrior of the academy and sister of the headmaster had been accompanying a new shifter, not that i wanted to go anyway.

I had led them to her, and she was almost being killed in a process.

I had diverted the shooter at the last second, earning more than a few lashes from the boss. I didn't regret it. I knew my side, that was for sure. I had been pretending- and I thought my acting skills were very believable, if I may say so myself- anyway, I was pretending to be on the hunters' side for quite a while now, even winning over Will, who was smarter than the rest in a strange way, more suspicious and calculating.

I had been planning an escape for a while now, next week even, but this has disrupted everything. I couldn't leave my sister here.

I pulled off jacket, wrapping it around her now shivering body, pulled out of my thoughts by her teeth chattering in the cold room, her breath rising above her in silver clouds.

That wasn't a good sign. But she was breathing at least.

I pulled her up, her small frame curling into a small ball, whole body shaking.

She wasn't supposed to be shaking, being a shifter, she should have a constant internal heater, like a radiator, warming you from the inside out.

So, I pulled her closer to me, wrapping my arms around her shoulders, as I hadn't done in so long, embracing her like a brother.

Her chattering subsided slowly, colour returning to her cheeks as she began to stir, and icy blue eyes snapped open wide, swirling with gold that disappeared as the confused haze cleared, which was soon replaced with fear.

"Shhhhhhh," I comfort her, "I've got you."

She jumps, launching herself away from me at an absurdly fast pace, a startled expression paints itself on her face.

Muffled yells come from the entrance of the building, and ours dart towards the steel door at the same time, but I pay no need, probably Will bring punished for treachery for trying to save Ash. I would've done the same, but I wasn't trusted with anything anymore. A good precaution, but not helpful to me at all, except that i got of thinking time to myself while mopping the floors of the dungeon.

My twin was still staring at me, although she was calling herself down as she realised who I was as I slowly crawled towards her, nodding, I confirming her thoughts.

With that, she flung herself at me once more, sobbing and shaking, clinging onto my jacket.

As I quiet her down, she doesn't seem to be heaving as much.

Just about as I was going to open my mouth to speak, the door banged open, the noise reverberating around the dull room.

It was Will, chest heaving, forehead glistening with blood and sweat.

I froze.

What the heck?

"If you two want to get out of here, we have a maximum of seven minutes and twenty-seven seconds. All of the humans have been knocked out."