Reena lay on her bed, gazing up tiredly at the white washed ceiling of her room. She wasn't mad at Kara the way her mother was. Deep down, she had known that Shade wouldn't be the same if he returned. His memories were truly gone. There was an empty, vacant look on his face now, one that gave away everything. She knew, and there was no escape from the horrible truth. Her brother as she had known him before was gone forever. She had tried to think of a solution, but no spell could bring back memories. No spell could heal his mind and make it all okay again. Even if such a thing existed, Reena wasn't that good at using magic, and any attempt she could make to fix it would probably only make his mental state worse. The fairy girl briefly considered going to tell Sunny what had happened, just so she could talk about this whole mess with someone, but she decided against it and just continued to lay there, letting out a sigh. The door to her room opened with a creak. Reena couldn't find the strength to turn around and face whoever was there, so she just closed her eyes and silently willed whoever it was to go away and leave her to mourn her brother in peace. Her wish didn't come to pass, however. Her bed moved as someone came to sit upon it, and a familiar voice broke her out of her reverie. "Hey."
It was Shade. Emotions stirred up inside of her like leaves blown by an unwelcome wind. Reena opened her eyes to see her brother there. His hands were in fists at his sides, and he turned to look at her, the forlorn look he had only breaking her heart more. "I'm sorry," he said at once. "I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about you. I wish I could remember."
"Remember?" Reena forced herself to sit up, fighting back the urge to cry out. "Remember what? Me?"
"Yes. You, and this place." He shook his head. Scowling, he then put a hand up only to punch the closest pillow. "Everything! It's all gone. I know I'm hurting you, and the others, but I don't know how or...or why. I just know that Kara left me here." His voice trailed off, but soon started up again. "Who was I to you? Were we friends?"

"Friends?" Reena found herself laughing. "Friends? No, we weren't just friends. We're related. I'm your sister, the middle child."
"Really?" Shade looked incredulous. "You're not lying to me?"
"No...no, I am your sister. You have other sisters too, though. You have April, and...Sarah."
"Sarah?" Shade's eyes narrowed. "Where's she? She didn't come talk to me."
"I know. She's far away, but..." Reena sniffled. "She's here in spirit, Shade."
"Oh." There was a long pause as the two fell silent, not willing to speak. Shade replied soon enough.
"She's...dead, then."
"Yeah." Reena smiled a little. "Yeah, she is. She was the oldest. She would've known exactly what to do, but...now she can't help. I've just got to follow in her footsteps, I guess."
"I'm sorry."
Reena was startled by this. "You don't have to be sorry."
"Yes, I do. I'm sorry for Sarah...and for what I'm doing."
She looked glumly down at the floor. "What are you doing?"
"Causing pain." He crossed his arms. "It hurts to see you act so different. It's like getting a knife stuck in me and then having it twisted around. I remember a little bit...how you used to race me around the woods. I'd slow down...I'd wait and then laugh because you'd take a while." He smiled. "Did that really happen, or did I just imagine it?"
Reena was overjoyed. He was remembering things. Sure, the process might be slow, but it was definitely happening. She turned to him, trying to urge her brother on. "No, it did! Shade, keep going! What else happened?"
"Well...I, um...called for you, and then you came and followed me back home. We were younger then...you were nine and I was twelve." His eyes narrowed in concentration. "I can't remember what I called you, though. Your name...it was something with an R at the beginning. Was it Ray, maybe?"
Reena shook her head. Come on, she thought. If he remembers nothing else, at least let him know who I am. "No. That's close, at least."
"Oh, okay. Hmm, is it...Reyna?"
"No. You're getting closer."
Shade looked like he might get an aneurism from the amount of effort he was putting into this. He closed his eyes, then opened them and took a breath. "Ugh, this is impossible. I'm really sorry, Reena. I wish I could just-"
Reena cut him off with a shrill squeak. "What? You got it! You got it, that's my name, Shade. I'm Reena."
Shade's eyes widened significantly. "You are?"
When she nodded, beaming until her face hurt, Shade returned her grin, his eyes showing his relief and happiness. "Reena...Reena! That's nice. I feel like it means something."
Reena couldn't stop smiling now. He remembered her name! There was hope for him yet. "It does. Did you want me to tell you that part?"
Shade shrugged. "If you want."
"It means, um...flower in the old Faerie language. Like a growing one. A blossoming one? It's...something like that." She looked down at her hands, remembering her mother explaining this when she was younger.
"Mom said that when I was a little kid, I really liked flowers. I would touch them, pick them, even wear them sometimes. She named me that originally because of my smile, though. It was something new, she said, like a flower that had parted its petals to the sun." Suddenly embarrassed by this, her words trailed off and she sat there in silence. Shade made her jump when he interrupted the still quietness. "It's cool," he murmured. She stopped him. "No, you don't have to lie. It's dumb."
"It's not. It's really pretty." Shade had closed his eyes then, deep in thought. "Is there such thing as a black rose?"
Reena was confused now. "A...black rose? I don't think so."
"Well, that's what I see when I think of that name. That should be a thing."
Reena laughed. Her brother was so stubborn then in his words, as if he'd hold a knife to someone's throat to make his imaginary plant real. "That's silly. Who would want black roses?"
"Some people." Shade inched a little closer to her on her bed. Reena wasn't sure why until he spoke again. "Your arm...what happened to it?"
"My arm?" Reena looked where he was looking, and took in a sharp breath. Ah, yes. Her short sleeved shirt had revealed her scar to him. It was still there, the broad, ugly thing. It ran from her shoulder all the way down to the center of the underside of her wrist. Reena shook her head, clutching the old wound and wincing. "It...it's nothing."
Shade crossed his arms, leaning back on her bed's mattress. "Oh, come on. A mark like that wouldn't have come from nothing. What happened?"
Reena swallowed hard. She could hear them, if she thought long enough. She could still hear the roars, and could feel the monster's talons digging into her flesh. The words came out before she could stop them. "I was...attacked by a dragon a few weeks ago. It cut my arm open."

Shade listened with a sudden interest. Hadn't Kara said something about a dragon to him? Right. She'd said that he'd been a dragon, and that he'd been by her side often. A sudden burst of memories returned in the form of a flashing, pulsing image. Shade nearly fell off of the bed, but clutched the covers closest to him to avoid doing that. He could see a massive black dragon with dark eyes crouched in front of a fairy with long, black hair. Reena! She held a sword in her grasp and was about to swing it at the creature in front of her when Kara intervened. He knew what would happen, but had no choice but to see it in action. The dragon's wickedly sharp claws met with her arm while she'd been distracted. Her scream was loud, loud and desperate and anguished. When he returned to the present and the flashback ended, Shade found himself gasping for air, his body rigid. Reena was staring at him, a question about to come from her. "Shade-"
"I'm sorry."

Reena looked at him, unsure of what he meant. "What do you mean? The dragon did this to me, not you. It wasn't your fault."
"But it was.."

Shade knew he wasn't getting anywhere when his sister continued to look at him as if he'd grown an extra head.  He dropped the subject, fuming but doing his best to hide it. "Never mind. Did...Kara just leave?" Reena laid back, resting her head on a laced pillow. "Yeah. It was for the best, though. Mom was too mad at think sensibly, and she doesn't really belong here anyway."
"I know, but...I'm her Guardian. I was supposed to protect her!" He felt the walls he'd put up against his emotions crumble in that instant. "Instead I screwed up. I made her worry, I hurt her when I disappeared, and now I've gone and hurt you guys, too." He felt himself shaking a little. "Not only that, but I've started to feel differently towards her. It's not a good different. The Council'll kill me for it. If they don't kill me, then they'll take off my wings. I just..don't see how things can get any worse." He buried his head in his hands.

Reena knew what would help. It was not the best idea, but it might help to ease her brother's mind a bit. Mom will have my head for this, but who cares? Not me.
"I know of a way to make this better."
Shade had lifted his head by now, his shoulders hunched. He hardly reacted, not saying much. "You do."
"Yeah, actually!"
Shade still didn't do much, but replied anyway. "What is it, then?"
"Go with her."
Reena's voice was shaky, so she repeated herself after she took in a breath. "Go with Kara."
"Go with her? Reena, I...I can't."
Shade sighed. He'd done a lot of that lately, along with looking off distantly as if he longed to be somewhere else. "I'm not sure why, but she doesn't want to be around me anymore, and I don't want to bother her."
"But you're her Guardian." Reena looked directly at Shade, trying to prove her point. "It's pretty much your job to bother her."
This didn't get a laugh out of him. Reena decided she'd move things along, then. The girl grabbed a backpack from somewhere in the room and, after snapping her fingers at it, tossed it to Shade. Her brother caught it, watching as the inside of the bag glowed and then dimmed. "Reena, what's going on here? What are you doing?"
"What I have to." She pulled him off of her bed by his arms and then grabbed his shoulders, forcing him to look at her. "I know how you feel about Kara. I'm okay with that, and I want you to be okay with that, too." Reena knew tears were gathering in her eyes, but her voice was still strong. "I won't let you lose your wings because of Kara's bad choices. No one ever said that you had to listen to her and what she wants."
"But what about you, and...Mom? You need me here."
"No, we don't." She smiled up at him, though it hurt to do that when she was feeling far from cheerful. "I need you to be happy. Mom might not know it, but that's what she needs, too. We all need you to be okay again, and that crazy girl is the key to that." Shade was still hesitant. "But what if I can't protect her? I messed up the first time. How do you know for sure that I won't mess up again?"
"I just do."
Reena hugged him, squeezing him as tightly as she could. Shade returned her embrace, and hugged her just as hard. When they broke apart, lines of tears streaked across her face, and she rubbed them away quickly. "I put everything you'll need in that backpack," she said. "You can get anything extra, but I would hurry if I were you."

"Okay." Shade cast a glance at Reena, his sister. His sweet, selfless sister. He hoped they really did turn out to be related. She had such high hopes for him, and so much support. There was no one else he'd rather have as his sibling. He turned to go, but Reena's eyes, glossy with tears, rooted him to where he was. "One day," he said. "That's as long as I'll stay with her for. After that, I'm coming back."
"That's what you said last time."
"I know, but this time it'll be true."
He gave her one last smile. "You take care of everybody while I'm gone."

Reena's heart hurt. It felt like she was about to fall to pieces, but that was fine. Shade would come back. She knew he would. "I will."
Shade nodded, and then he rummaged through his pant pockets, pulling out a few small objects and tucking them into his bag. He waved to her, saying his final farewells.
Then he left the room. Reena ran after him, watching him go. Thankfully, their mom wasn't around to stop him. He went down the rope ladder and was at last out of her sight. Reena sniffled, and put a hand to her scar. "You better come back soon," she said to herself. "God, Shade, I already miss you."