With silence and a deadly expression, Mariana walked through town. Her eyes not being taken off her new destination. A cave, a den, a hideaway she vowed to never venture into again. A deepened place that only a few sacred words could get you entrance to. Luckily Mariana knew those words, because she had once helped to create them. To the train station she went and stepped onto the wooden platform and looked to the conductor. She nodded to him and walked over pulling him down into whisper.

"The mountains speak at the Wolves Peak," She said with gasping air. The conductor swung himself out of the way and let her in to the front car. Within the next 24 hours. She would have her family back. She would've saved another family. But the thing she could not shake, is that she would come face to face, with the reason she was where she was. She would have to face the truth. She would have to face Michael.

Among nightfall, at the base of a mountain was a rickety old train station. The conductor, unsure of Mariana's decision marked her as a suspect for watch over. Her final words being, five hours, right here, before she walked off into the frigid ice range. For a world so unforgiving as this, in the least, Mother Nature could give off warmth at Wolves Peak. So, Mariana would not freeze before her heart finished its mission. Her eyes casted left and right, scanning the mountain to find where the snow had covered the entrance to the den. She shook, eyes closing slowly for a brief moment as she steadied her heart. Next up came a shiver and what she knew could not be real. But what she prayed was.

"Ana!" A voice screamed as it ran over to her, tumbling to her feet. The figure appeared to have one yellow eye to match their blonde hair, and one green eye, to match grass that was no where to be seen. The figure looked up to Mariana and smiled bright, revealing that they had lost a couple teeth. "I'm so glad you're alive!" They begin hugging her tight around a leg. Mariana flinched and pushed away the boy. "What's wrong?" They looked confused and scared for the girl in front of him. "Don't you remember me? It's Mason. Your brother?" Mariana shook her head, not allowing the cold to play yet another set of tricks on her. "I'm real Ana. Didn't you miss me?" Mariana held her head in her hands, grinding her teeth and shutting her eyes tight. "Don't you miss Daddy? He's in the Den..." With that. She snapped. She flung the figure claiming to be her brother back and he vanished with the wind.

"This isn't real..." Mariana stated, "Father is gone. Mason never calls him Daddy. Mason doesn't know about the Den. And he never called me Ana." Mariana clenched her fists as she began to walk forwards towards a large open crack in the side of the mountain. For years she had avoided this place, but now, she was ready to end it all. She had no fear to do so here, or anywhere, in front of anyone. Behind her came the steps of another figure. One that was soon to be the end to the Jacklen family. But not for good. With one swish of an object unknown, and out went the lights of Mariana.

"Mom watch this!" A small girl, scars that were always seen on the girl seemed to vanish from this view, but her white hair, curly and messy, along with her bright yellow eyes, hopeful and kind. Those two things seemed to live forever in her. Away from her stood another woman stood on a porch, leaning against two glass doors that framed in a kitchen. Her hair was a deep black with a green stripe down the left side. Her eyes were colored green as a smile pressed to her lips alongside with a coffee mug holding a richly flavored tea.

"I'm watching Sweetie. Don't hurt yourself," The woman said. Her voice was kind and gently as the little girl swung on a jump rope, from a treehouse to the next tree over, where she slid down the trunk and backflipped off. "Impressive."

"One day I'm going to be doing what Dad does! I'll train the dogs so good that they'll make me in my own squad!" The little girl says running over to the woman and grabbing her leg.

"Let's hope you don't do exactly what your Father does," The woman told her, "He's a little, to ignorant about some things..." She slid open the door and let the little girl walk inside.

"Do you mean, with Uncle Michael?" The little girl asked.

"Yes Mariana..." She sighed closing the door softly, "Michael, Zack, Sebastian, even Isabell."

"Yeah, they always show up, but, they seem kind of... off?"

"That's a good word to use. But hey, one day the 'off' might finally hit your Father and he'll see the truth."

"Maybe he doesn't want to," Mariana said, "Like, what if, he knows it, and he sees it, but he doesn't want to know or see it. Like he wants his family to be good, even though they aren't." The woman looked at her with a nod.

"Maybe you're right. Just maybe Mariana. Now upstairs. You should've been in bed over an hour ago. And remember-"

"I know Mom. Watch what you say with them tomorrow," Mariana said and headed off to be. "Goodnight Mom."

"Night my Little Warrior," The woman says watching Mariana tread up the stairs in a tired motion. The woman sat at the table scanning over papers, rubbing her eyes every so often as another voice was heard, but only after a creak of the door.

"Carter James Jacklen come inside and go to bed," She says.

"How'd you know?" They said from behind the door. He steps inside, revealing his large black jacket with holes in it, ripped blue jeans, one brown boot, messy blonde hair, and a green eye. One colored black all the way around. The boy looked down with his hands stuffed into his pockets.

"What happened?" She said dropping her papers and walking over to Carter. Holding his bruised face in her soft hands. Carter had no response and pulled away from her. "Carter..."

"I won't tell you..." He says, "I don't want you to be ashamed of me..."

"I will never be ashamed of you. You are smart, and kind, selfless, daring, you are my little boy. No matter how old you are. I could never be ashamed of you," She said picking his head up so her calming eyes would meet his teary ones.

"I had to do it..." Carter cried digging his head into his Mother's stomach, "I'm sorry..."

"What happened?" A man says walking down the stairs to see Carter digging his head into her chest. His hair curly and white, much like the little girl. His eyes bright yellow as the woman looked at him. "Cora..."

"Will you talk to your Father about it?" Cora asked Carter as he nodded a bit, "Just him?" Again, Carter nods. His Father comes to the side and places a hand on his shoulder to lead him outside. Together they sat in the treehouse in dead silence. No one would speak. Carter wiped away his tears and looked away. "Why'd you do that?"

"Because tough kids don't cry," Carter mumbles.

"Yes, they do. I'm tough, and I cry when I get hurt. Your Mother probably deals with my crying mess on nights when all I do is mess things up," He says and turns to Carter.

"That's because you're an adult. You can mess up."

"That's not true. Kids mess up to learn things. Adults mess up because they aren't thinking. Were you not thinking or were you learning?"

"Both..." Carter states turning towards his Father, "This kid, younger than me, she was getting robbed and I ran up to the guys who were doing it... I hurt them... Bad... The cops showed up and almost took me. An ambulance came to... they said anymore force and I would've... I-" Carter cut himself of as his Father's large arms took him into a hug.

"Consider it a good thing. They're alive. The girl is safe. And you're home. Bruises go away. Just like scars fade away. What you need to do, is remember why you have all of them, and remember where they come from. That's your lesson."

"Thanks Dad," Carter said hugging his Father back. While from the window, Mariana's eyes unfocused themselves from the images of inside the treehouse. Her head dropped as she pulled in the most important thing, at least to the mind of this eight-year-old girl.

"Tough kids don't cry..." She said, "I need to be the tough one, for them... I'm to far into it to go back and give up now... I can't change being tough. And I will never cry. Never."