Hey Rebel-lions, hope everyone is doing fine? Tell me, did anything interesting happen to you today?

Also, after reading this chapter, there will be a small somewhat important authors note below, please read!

Enjoy this update *wink wink.

Ivy

I knew the music was still as loud as ever, but it was almost as if everything else around us happened in slow motion, the music dulling and fading into the background, my pounding heart was what my ears could hear... in fact, it was the only thing that seemed to make sense.

I had seen those green eyes in my dreams times without number, not in any way hunting, but soothing, almost like a silent promise, but then I would wake up, and realization would hit me where it hurt the most. His absence had made my life pretty much dead and empty for a whole year... but that was all in the past, and this was the present. Ethan may have been absent for a year; a long, torturing, and agonizing year, but he was back...He was here. Standing right in front of me, and this, I was most definitely sure, wasn't a dream, because I wasn't waking up... you can't simply wake up when you aren't even asleep.

"Are- Are you okay?" His very familiar voice met my ears, and slowly enough, the music began slipping back into my ears, its irritating loud beats making it even more hard for me to think... what was he asking me?

If I was okay?

OKAY?!

My head was screaming those thoughts while his question resounded in my head over and over again.

I was lost for words, but I knew something was amiss, he wasn't looking at me with any form of recognition. None on sight, he simply had that Ethan guilty look, but I was sure it wasn't for the fact that he had lied to me in our last moments together. It was mostly directed to the fact that he literally emptied his drink on my chest.

"You aren't allergic to beer, are you? Cause you've suddenly gone so pale on the face." He said, those familiar eyes assessing me like they had done a thousand times before, but something was different. "Shit—" he fished for something at the back pocket of his jeans. He pulled out a white handkerchief shortly after, stretching it out to me. "I'm sorry, you should..." he gestured with his chest, clearly showing me how to clean myself.

What is happening right now?

Why isn't he explaining anything to me? why is he looking at me like some stranger who was a victim to his recklessness?

Suddenly his hand movement stopped as he tilted his head to an angle, studying me with furrowed brows. "I know this is an odd question to ask, but you look—"

"Ethan!"

He was interrupted by a loud voice calling his name over the loud music. His head turned a bit to the direction of the voice.

I looked too, and a familiar face came into view.

What in the—

If I wasn't mistaking, that was Subject 541... the guy from the picture... patient freaking zero.

As he came closer, his eyes widened upon seeing me. "Crap." He muttered, but I somehow heard him despite the music around.

"Silas, I—" Ethan began but was rudely interrupted by Silas.

"Not even one day here and you're already causing problems? Is your middle name chaos or something?"

"It was just a small accident; I didn't see her coming because I was rushing! You were being annoying with your stupid texts."

Silas eyes came over to my figure, eyes scanning me. "I think you broke her."

Ethan's gaze fell on me once more, a look of worry coming over his brows. "Yeah... I don't think she speaks English? Maybe she's deaf?"

Silas slapped Ethan at the back of his head.

"Ouch, what the fuck was that for?" he quizzed Silas, his face scrunched up in mock pain.

"You can't say that in front of her?"

"But—"

Silas grabbed Ethan. "Come on let's go, everyone is waiting."

I willed myself to say something, to call this all out, to make sense of the situation, but I couldn't... hell, shit was happening so fast and my head was still trying to wrap around the fact that Ethan was here... I couldn't think probably, and it somehow was difficult to speak.

"Shouldn't we make sure she's okay first?" Ethan asked, as Silas tried to pull him away.

Silas groaned a bit. "Somethings never change, do they?" he muttered, succeeding in pulling Ethan away.

Silas shot me a wary look of concern and something else I couldn't quite figure out, before he disappeared into the crowd with Ethan.

My heart was hitting my chest at an unimaginable speed, and I couldn't help but feel this insane painful dip in my stomach... I've seen this before... hell, I've experienced this before.

Ethan—he doesn't...

Fucking Glory.

I reached into my purse and brought out the small device, pressing the red button and then sharing my location to the inner circle as I made my way out of the Maddox's home.

*****

"You better be in fucking trouble for pushing that fresh apple button Fisher." Caramel rushed in the Rebel-lions Hub with knives on hand, stopping when she saw a confused looking Fiona and a slightly annoyed Roman, glaring daggers at me, seeing as I'd just interrupted him from the big event, he had been planning with his course mates. "What the hell? You're not dying?"

"My question exactly." Roman cut in. "That alert was for life threatening emergency only, Ivy."

I ignored them. "Sorry but not sorry, guys, this was the only way to get you guys out of that party, and besides, this is important."

"What's going on?" Fiona asked.

"Remember that thing I said about not taking the fight to Glory as long as she doesn't take it to us?"

"Yeah?" Fiona responded, looking at me in concern.

"Fuck that. We're taking the fight to her."

Caramel smirked. "Why the change of heart?"

"She played us guys... Ethan isn't dead."

"What?" Roman asked, not following.

"He's here, apparently... the whole serum thing was a fucking sham, she did it to get Ethan to stay behind so she could—manipulate him."

"Did you—did you see him Ivy?" Fiona asked, hope shinning so freaking bright in her eyes.

I nodded. "I did... he was at the party with that subject 541 dude. He didn't know who I was but that subject 541 guy, Silas, knew who I was."

"Oh, Jesus." Fiona let out breath.

"I think they used LT wipe on him, or some seriously strong stuff... it seemed like he didn't recognize me... but did, at the same time... he said I looked familiar—almost said, at least."

"Fuck... we gotta find him, kidnap him and tell him everything." Caramel suggested.

"I don't see how that's gonna solve anything." Roman said. "LT Wipe is lethal to humans... he has been missing for a year, God knows what other form Glory has used in wiping out his memories."

"We're killing her." I said.

"If it were that easy, I'm sure someone would have found a way to do that, decades ago... the woman is literally supposed to be long dead."

I began pacing. "I should have known... I should have known Glory was behind all this, Ethan disappeared and so did she... why didn't I see this? Why did I give up on him? why didn't I even try?"

"We have to get him back." Fiona said. "There should be a herb remedy to rectify this. Malcolm should know something."

"Malcolm is still MIA." Caramel pointed out.

I raked my fingers through my hair in frustration. "This is all my fault."

"This is nobody's fault, Ivy." Roman said. "No one saw this coming. It's clear Glory has been planning all this from the get go, hence, why it's so successful. She knew Ethan would choose to protect you... it's quite daunting, Ethan didn't see it coming."

"How could he have? Everything happened so fast. Edith, Ralph. God, he was probably overwhelmed with everything happening at once." Fiona said.

My poor baby.

"What are we gonna do now?" I asked. "I can't stand by and do nothing; Ethan needs our help."

Fiona nodded. "We need a plan. We can't just storm into the Grey Zone, seeking answers."

"We can't also just walk up to him and tell him that we all used to be friends and somehow we built a whole gang together." Caramel said.

I let out a breath, feeling hopeless... I knew one thing though, it was the fact that we had to help him... we had to do everything in our power to get him back, and away from Glory.

He would do the same for any of us.

"I think we should find—"

The door to the Rebel-lions hub pushed open, and we all turned to find the intruder, despite the closed sign on the front.

The atmosphere shifted as she stepped in, gloved hand moving to take off her hat, revealing a 90s styled hair, back to their normal blonde shade. She looked around for a while, as if admiring the building, before her eyes landed on our stiff forms.

A smile stretched on her blood red painted lips. "Oh Great, I thought I might find you lots here." She spoke, sounding as calm as ever.

Anger pulled severely at my strained reserve.

Her gaze fell to me, her smile turning sinister. "Interesting, evening, isn't it?"

Fucking psycho bitch.

Vote and Comment!

It just keeps getting tense?! But I'm so ready for this drama!

How did you find this chapter?

Ethan, do you think he truly recognizes her?

What do you think the rebel-lions would do next?

What do you think of Silas and Ethan's relationship?!

Ethan is here, but somehow, I still find myself missing him, do you?

I want more Ivan scenes, do you?

And most importantly, Glory, what do you think she wants now?

What are you expecting from the next chapter?

And FINALLY, if you had been Ivy in that position, seeing Ethan after a whole year of him being absent, what would you do? I'm curious about this.

THE IMPORTANT NOTE.

Hi guys, I'm sure you've noticed that I've pretty much been absent from all of social media... ever since Instagram deleted my accounts for no reason at all. It has been a crazy period, and I'm finding it hard to like start all over.

While Instagram was busy canceling me, they forgot to cancel my personal account which I'm quite shocked and at the same time afraid about. They might remove it too, but it has been a month now, and it's still there, so fingers crossed.

If you're interested in seeing more of me asides from my not so frequent announcements on my conversation board, you can follow me on my personal account. (therebeccayouknow) I might be posting stories about my books and also, I might be making some posts relating to my books. If you're interested in further supporting me, you can just go right in and send a follow request, and I'll attend to it asap.

Hope you guys have a good week ahead, keep fighting and take on all struggles, fearlessly.

I'll see you in the next update!