Cathy stared at herself in the mirror. Her face looked healthier than before but somehow more pale. Her cheeks weren't sunken anymore and her eyes weren't dull. Yet her entire demeanor seemed quite sad to her. Almost involuntarily, her hand reached for the wound on her chest.

She took off her shirt and stared at the purple scab on her chest, right below the collarbone. It was like a withering flower tattooed on her pale flesh. And the dark veins that radiated around it were like roots growing out of a stem. She touched it with a finger. The purple epidermis was dry and rough to feel.

It was such a strange thing to have on one's body. Her system had assimilated something that she hadn't been born with. It was an uncanny feeling. As if what she carried was obviously foreign yet somehow had always been a part of her.

Cathy was busy contemplating the scab when the door creaked open behind her. She perked a little, covering herself with her shirt quickly.

"Oh, sorry!" Lisa said. "I should've knocked." She was already backing out.

"It's okay," Cathy said. "I was just...never mind."

Lisa looked at her, a bit worried. "Are you okay, Cathy?"

The girl nodded, putting on her shirt. "I'm more okay than I should be after going through what I've been through. I just feel...weird that I'm still alive."

Lisa stepped closer to her. "It's okay to feel that way," she said. "Feeling something is better than getting numb towards it." She gently touched her arm.

Cathy swallowed hard. "I don't know, Lisa. My memories just feel so strange. I remember the things I've lost. The people I'm never gonna see again yet...I feel like someone else when I remember it. As if, these memories don't even belong to me anymore."

"It will pass, Cathy," Lisa said. "As bad as it may seem, it will all pass on. Just hang in there, honey."

"But it feels so difficult," Cathy said. "I...I just wanna be normal, Lisa."

Before Lisa could respond to that, there was a knock at the door. Cathy instantly pulled away from her touch, as if embarrassed. Lisa frowned sadly. Cathy was too young to endure all she had been through. She hoped she could talk about this more with her later. Then she opened the door. It was Erik.

"Morning, girls." He smiled at the two of them. "I hope you two aren't too busy."

"We aren't," Cathy said immediately.

"Why what happened?" Lisa said.

Erik smiled wider. "Let's go for a walk. There's something I need to tell you two. It's quite important."

###

Marie was still in bed but not asleep. She gazed at her son sleeping soundly next to her. She had never seen him this peaceful. And he deserved every bit of peace he was getting. No twelve year old should've seen the things Zack had seen.

It all felt like a dream now that she had time to think of it. They'd spent months in what was nearly hell, after living in the constantly lurking threat of death and after almost dying, running into Gemma and coming to Mathesdale was nothing short of entering a dream.

She smiled and placed the softest kiss on Zack's brow while he slept. Then the door to their room opened. Clint walked in and climbed under the covers next to her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

Marie was surprised but welcomed the affection.

"I love you," Clint whispered, pressing his lips to her cheek.

She smiled and leant further into his arms. "I love you too," she whispered back. "And I love it when you get all snuggly," she said playfully.

Clint regarded her with almost zero mischief. In fact, his face was intense and his eyes were brimming with passion. Marie felt flustered. "Zack is still next to us, honey. Don't look at me like that," she said.

His look never lost its intensity. "You and Zack are the only important things in my life," he said.

This time, Marie wasn't flustered, she was stunned. Clint wasn't fooling around. He meant what he said. And although he didn't have any need to say it out loud, she just felt safe and warm when he said that. "You mean the world to me too, love."

Clint held her tighter. And she let him.

Then they caught the whiff of something familiar. Something long forgotten. For a second, neither of them could believe it was real.

Then Marie said, "Can you smell pancakes too?"

###

"Gemma and I loved our grandfather," Erik said as he stepped out of the manor, Lisa and Cathy followed. "He always had an amazing set of stories to tell. The best one he told us was about a place where his father was born."

They walked out of the big wrought iron gates of the manor and started down the sidewalk. "My great grandfather's hometown was set in the valley drained by the largest river in the country. Every spring, the most beautiful birds migrated to the rivers. Some of these birds were rare in several parts of the world. It used to be such a big deal that the government made an event out of it. A few years later, ornithologists and nature enthusiasts and tourists and reporters used to flood the town to cover the bird event and study them." The three of them crossed a road where the traffic light was perpetually frozen on the red signal. They kept walking.

"My great grandpa's family owned an orchard. The event was a profitable season for them since they could sell juices and jams to the tourists as souvenirs. He used to meet people of every color, each one of them spoke a different language. Yet what brought them all together was their love of birds."

"Sounds wonderful," Cathy said. "To be surrounded by so many people who wanted the same thing." They passed what used to be an expensive clothing store with a broken display window. dismembered mannequins lay naked in the shattered glass. They kept walking.

Erik nodded. "But great grandpa only ever saw that event as a child. By the time he entered his teens, a war had begun. Another country invaded theirs. The invaders were more technologically advanced with a more disciplined military and an unhealthy amount of nationalism. By the time my grandfather was born, the invaders had set up colonies in my great grandfather's country, turned the inhabitants into slaves and serfs. The birds were a lost memory by now." The severed torso of a bronze statue lay rusting in the dirt. A political figure whose metal face was caved in, his bronze finger pointing at the purple sky above. Erik stared at the statue before looking at its two trunkless legs that still stood their ground on the concrete pedestal. Broken, yet proud. "That's when Ardvenia had started taking in refugees. My great grandpa sent his son with the rest of his family to Ardvenia to save them from becoming slaves."

Lisa frowned. "Wait, you mean you are from–"

"Yes." Erik nodded. "My bloodline descends from Moudrin. My grandpa came here when the Nesokan Empire attacked Moudrin and colonized it."

Cathy looked down at the ashen ground. "I'm sorry, your great grandpa lost his home like that. Lost the birds. Lost his family. It must've been devastating to see everything crumble like that."

"It's okay," Erik said with a soft smile. "I bet he was happier to die in his homeland while letting the next generation have a better future elsewhere." He looked up at the purple sky and felt the wind in his face. "I'm sure his soul is at rest."

Cathy and Lisa bowed their heads, as if holding the silence in respect for Erik's fallen ancestors. And then the man turned to them again.

"However, I'm not telling you the history of my country just to gain your sympathy," he said. "Ardvenia is not getting invaded but a fate similar to Old Moudrin seems to loom over it. This country is about to become a lost memory, just like my grandfather's Moudrin did." He paused, before dropping the real bomb of the conversation. "But you and I can stop that from happening."

"What?!"

###

The breakfast was laid out for them when they came down to the dining room. Pancakes and biscuits and tea. Gemma greeted them with her usual cheerful smile as she laid out the treats. "I was going to come call you guys," she said.

"Oh, I should wake up Zack," Marie said hurriedly. "He'll love this!"

"No wait," Gemma said. "Let the boy sleep for now. There's a bit of a grown up talk that I want to have with you two anyway."

Clint and Marie exchanged glances.

"Come, sit." Gemma pointed at the two chairs by the table.

Still a bit puzzled and slightly anxious, the couple took their seats. Gemma set their plates in front of them. Piping hot pancakes with a pat of butter that was melting away slowly. "There's no doubt that you both love your son," Gemma said as she sat across from them. "I can tell a close knit family when I see one." She smirked at them.

Both Clint and Marie were now a bit more wary. The statement just felt odd coming from Gemma for some reason.

"But I can also tell, the three of you have had a bumpy time ever since the war began," Gemma said as she poured herself a warm cup of tea. "I bet you wish you didn't live in this hell, right Clint? I believe you especially are highly displeased."

Clint frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I'm just referencing back to what you'd said last night," Gemma said. "You wish Zack could get to see the things you saw in your own childhood."

Now Marie was frowning too. Not because she doubted Gemma in some way, but because she agreed with what Gemma had been saying.

"But why are you bringing that up now?" Clint said, still frowning.

Gemma smirked at the two of them. "Because I know a way you two can make that happen for Zack."

###

"That's impossible!" Lisa snapped. "How are just the three of us supposed to free an entire country from the government?"

"Yeah." Cathy nodded, "It sounds far fetched."

Erik sighed and sat down on the park bench. "You took my statement too literally. It's nearly impossible to overthrow the government by just the three of us, yes. But we can set the revolt in motion." He looked at the broken statue. "I believe in the power of the people. If they come together and rise for a common cause they can end any unfair reign they want. And no, the three of us alone can't do that. We'll have to gather the numbers first."

"And where are these numbers gonna come from?" Cathy said. "The rest of the people in Mathesdale?"

Erik shook his head. "They are all normal people. They might've survived harsh conditions but the revolution needs someone with experience."

"And you know enough of these revolutionary people?" Lisa said.

"About two hundred of them." Erik smirked.

"And where are they?" Cathy said.

"In the high security prison in Sector 25," Erik said.

"And that's supposed to help us out how?"

"We'll break them out using the armored truck I just stole from the government. Lisa has seen how strong it is. And she has also handled it a bit. With some practice she can exploit it as the deadly weapon that it was meant to be." He looked at Cathy. " As for you–you've done this rescue thing before and under way worse circumstances. Again Lisa can agree that if it wasn't for you, she never would've made it out of the airport in Sector 22 by herself. You fought and outran an entire squad of operatives. And you are just fifteen right?"

"Seventeen," Cathy said.

"And now you also have the EpiFreeze in you." Erik grinned. He looked back at the blackened grass. "I wanna stop Ardvenia from becoming a blasted piece of land on the map of this world. I can't do that, unless we stop the government from waging pointless wars with other countries. But we'll need people to wrestle the control out of the government's hands. People that are being held in the high security prison" Erik looked at the women. "So...are you in?"

###

"But why will you do it for Marie and I?" Clint said to Gemma. "We basically just met."

Gemma gave him a sly look. "Well, I'm not doing this out of the kindness of my heart, you see." She leant back in her chair. "I want you two to do something for me in return."

Marie raised an eyebrow. "And that is?"

Gemma first looked at Marie and then at Clint and then back at Marie. "I want you to infiltrate a city outside of state C3. Erik has a friend in one of the unsectorized states who can use the talents the two of you have to offer."

"Talents?" Marie said. "I don't think you've noticed this yet, Gemma, but Clint and I are normal, boring people. I was an elementary english teacher before the war. Clint was a doctor."

"That's exactly why you and your family are perfect for this. Normal, boring people are what I'm looking for. You won't have to pretend to be normal. You are normal. You won't need to do much to be yourselves. That's your talent," Gemma said. "So, what do you say? You're in?"

###

Later that afternoon, Erik was waiting for his sister in the garage again. He was smoking another cigarette. It was burnt down to the filter when Gemma walked into the garage. "The Harrises agreed," Gemma said, flashing him a thumbs-up. "What about Lisa and Cathy?"

Erik crushed his cigarette in his palm, not wincing but smirking as his skin burnt. "You doubt my salesmanship?" he said. "Of course, they're in."

Gemma let out a sigh.

"I can't wait to watch the government burn when it all comes together," Erik said.

"Let's hope we make it work this time," Gemma said.

(to be continued...)