It's been months since they joined the recruitment program, and nothing had changed. The routine was the same every day; wake up, shower, breakfast, join the others and head out 'hunting'.

It was obvious that all of the soldiers were slowly growing both irritated and bored by the routine, some more than others. Jace was allowed back into the program after three weeks of his ban and fortunately stayed away from Ryker; either because of fear, or because he was avoiding trouble altogether.

"Finally found you, you bastard!" A painfully familiar voice said.

Deciding to assume it wasn't directed to him, Ryker kept on walking towards the gym, not in the mood for confrontation either. The person calling him out however, didn't seem to take the hint.

He closed the great distance between them in a flash, a burst of wind trailing behind him. He hissed in pain and let go of Ryker's shoulder, his black wings throbbing painfully.

"You should know by now, that using them will only cause you immense pain."

The boy gritted his teeth and snapped, "It's your fault for my being here in the first place!"

Ryker let out a breath through his nose, having had this conversation many times already but with different people.

"Just as it is my fault you didn't fight back?" He said, with a frown on his face and his jaw set tight, "-you could have flown away, could have saved yourself from such a fate, but you choose to act arrogantly and underestimate me. It was your own fault." He finished and with that, he stepped into the gym, leaving Barzen glaring after him.

Whether he was hated or loved, it didn't matter to him. What did, however, was slowly getting enough information on the Centre; its strengths and weaknesses so as to come up with a way out. So far, however, and to his frustration, there were only strengths. Nothing ever lacks a weakness, whether it is a big or small one is no matter, as long as it exists, that is enough and that is what drives Ryker to keep searching.

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"Glaze, the new members are complaining about the food. Though they really appreciate it and are grateful, it's not enough. We're growing faster than any of us expected, word has finally gone out about an existing resistance too. We're bound to expect more. If we don't solve this now, it won't be pretty later." Teradon, the acting General said, his dark green hair resting on his shoulders, partly covering the gills on the side of his neck.

He was an Amphimite, a kind of species in the Milky Way that lived mainly in water, but could also adapt to living on land. Faby, though he had gills akin to his, was different, he was genetically altered in the Centre with Amphimite DNA, therefore causing his to have like features; their speed, sharp eyes and the ability to breath underwater and reach a depth of 10,000 meters.

Glaze looked at the others scattered in the living room. Ditrix was sat on the floor, his arms crossed with his eyes on the ground. Zeira was seated next to Glaze, leaned back with her legs crossed. Next to her were Kai, Reever and Gran. Gran was seated in the middle on the two Zetrians towering on both sides of her almost protectively. Secile, Dragha and Faby were on the ground as well, beside the officials and Ditrix. Why they all choose to sit on the floor was anyone's guess.

"-and that isssn't the only complaint. They want weaponsss, and a wider training set for individual skills. Some are good at Archery, others combat, some handle guns better than others, swordry, bomb and the likes." The Lieutenant-General, Jayquise remarked, stressing every 's' for longer than necessary. At first glance, she comes off as terrifying.

Most of her body was covered in dark green scales, she had sharp, piercing emerald green eyes with a fine black line in the middle and had sharp, unusually long nails. Jayquise, however, was as sweet and harmless as the next person.

Glaze pinched the bridge of his nose. Ditrix lifted his head at that exact moment, his eyes reveal nothing,

"We have a few craftspeople with us. Couldn't we ask them to make some for us? Glaze, you could help upgrade the items."

Glaze looked at him, an expression dancing in his eyes, but Ditrix shook his head, "-obviously not alone." He added, knowing his friend all too well. Glaze looked away, silently agreeing.

"What about the food?" Teradon commented, an eyebrow arched in question.

"You can leave that to me." Mave, a Florajide, offered, her long, luxurious, light brown hair resting on the ground where she sat, with flowers resting in the depth of her hair.

"That's fine, then. I personally think you can handle that better than anyone." Chaster, Teradon's brother remarked, running a hand through his light turquoise hair, his lips pursed.

He was the officially appointed Field Marshal, having proved to have outstanding skills in military operations, physical strength and leadership qualities.

Mave nodded, saying nothing more and maintaining her golden brown eyes on Glaze's face.

"Well that's sorted then. As for a bigger training space," He begun, turning his hand upside down and opening his right arm which was part metal, "I've actually been thinking about it at the back on my head." He continued.

A hologram projection hovered above his palm, emitting from the middle on his hand. It showered the deserted estate they were currently in, with tall, medium and small buildings and houses covering almost all of the area. With his left hand, he zoomed in by pulling his forefinger and thumb apart, panning over the land with his pointer, looking for something among the buildings.

"We could use this space here." He suggested, pointing to where there was a massive, empty space, with no buildings for at least a hundred miles around it. It lead Glaze to believe that the estate wasn't exactly completed, before it became abandoned. Some luck, he thought, and looked up, unintentionally meeting Mave's gaze in time to see her quickly look away.

He frowned.

"This is where we'll set up the different training spots necessary." He continued, swiping his gaze over the rest, reading their expressions to tell if they agreed or disagreed, "It's not far from here either. So it should be fine. About a four mile walk."

Reever leaned forward and narrowed his eyes, a frown plastered on his face, "This Forrest," he begun, his violet eyes solely on a different open space which was smaller than the selected training spot, "-does it have any life in it?"

Glaze raised an eyebrow and turned to him, noticing Faby mumble the word' life' to himself as he did, "I don't necessary believe s-."

"All the animals went extinct here, brother. This isn't Zetriana, nor are you a Watcher anymore." A frustrated Kai interjected, his jaw pulsing as he gaze at Reever, his arms crossed in front of him.

Reever let out a breath through his nose and said nothing more, his gaze squinted ahead of his, his bottom lip between his teeth.

"Must you always be so hostile, Kai." Gran's soft, soothing voice remarked, glaring at her first born son.

"I only spoke the truth. If that hurt him, then he must be getting weaker." Kai spat out, his fiery red eyes still on Reever, who shut his eyes,

"We had to leave her behind, Kai. How long are you going to hold a grudge?" He provoked through clenched teeth, his own patience thinning.

"That's bull and you know it. She could have been here with us!" Kai growled, his arms now falling to his side and his hands curling into fists.

The two of them were obviously no longer talking about the forest, but most likely about what happened when they escaped from the Centre. No one other than them and Gran know how they did it, hence why everyone was silently listening, in hopes of putting the pieces together since they'd never talk about it openly. It was now clear that they never did, because it was a sensitive topic for them.

Reever frowned and finally met his brother's enraged gaze, his own holding nothing whatsoever, but his jaw was clenched, "No. She wouldn't be. She would have died anyway. She was dying, Kai. What would have been the point of bringing her here? She wouldn't make it." He reasoned, "I did the right thing, and you know it."

Kai smirked and shook his head, his shoulders tensed, looking ready to jump at Reever at any moment, "The point, Reever, would be that she would have been free. She would have spent the last of her days free from the Centre and their probing needles." He croaked, his expression momentarily changing to a pained one, "I would have been there for her, helped her get through her last moment in this world. Why would you deprive her of such a thing? You had no right, Reever and for that, I will always hold a grudge against."

Reever looked away, something flashing past his eyes, but Ditrix, being as sharp as ever caught it.

Guilt, and remorse.

"Be it as it may. But just so you know. It was never my idea to leave her behind. I didn't shut the door in front of her face. She shut them herself. I did my best to force the metal door open, for her but I couldn't, she put a spell on it, Kai. I couldn't save her, because she didn't want me to." Reever revealed, his voice cracking painfully at one point, "-you can hate me all you want, blame me all you want. But do remember thing, brother, I too had feelings for her. Do you honestly believe, that I would betray her?" He finished, his hand shaking in his pockets. He looked up at the ceiling, and briefly shut his eyes.

Kai narrowed his eyes into splits, "You honestly thing I believe that?"

Reever forced a smile on his lips, "No, I don't, because I know you. You won't yet, anyway. But you'll believe mother."

Kai lowered his gaze at that moment to Gran, who had been quiet the whole time, her eyes glassy, and her lips pulled into a tight straight line. His grimace hardened, "What does that mean?"

"Kai-." Gran begun, intending to spare him the truth, but he cut her off.

"Tell me that's not true! She's the one who said-." He trailed off, his expression now morphing into one of pain. Gran met his gaze then, and her heart ached for him. She understood, why he was angry. That girl, Anya, had said that she would give anything to see the world outside of the Centre, and Kai, being hopelessly in love with her, promised that he would show it to her.

But then, she came back to the lab one day and she was never the same again. Her body was weakening, completely drained and worn out because of the experiments and extractions done to her. The scientist did countless tests on her, infected her with engineered diseases, both trivial and deadly, killing her slowly in the name of testing her immunity.

She had been the only one of her kind left having barely survived a massive nuclear attack on her planet. Before long, it became clear that she was not going to make it.

Kai, however didn't care, and persuaded her into going with them. She gave in to him, knowing that he wouldn't leave without her. On the day they were to escape, once they were on the door that led to the outside, she suddenly shoved Reever through and used the last remaining power within her to seal it shut, enough that not even Gran could open it again.

Reever, who was also secretly in love with her too, became devastated and began to desperately try to break the door open, seriously hurting his hand in the process. They were supposed to meet with Gran and Kai who used a different exit route, but when Reever and Anya didn't show up on time, they went looking for them.

That was how they found Reever on his knees with bloodied hands and no Anya in sight. Enraged, Kai grabbed him and shoved his younger brother against the gate, demanding to know what happened, and where Anya was. Gran did her best to break them apart, and reason with them.

It took some time, but they broke apart from their brawling and hesitantly made a run for it before the Centre could get to them and have their efforts amount to nothing. That was how they ended up finding the Six and agreeing to form an alliance with them, and help out in any way they could.

Kai, however, hadn't known the truth about what happened, until now. Reever let him believe that he was the one who shut the door after a struggled between him and Anya. He thought he was protecting his brother by not telling him the truth, but he now realised that there had been no point in keeping it. She did it for them to have a chance of survival, so that she wouldn't slow them down.

Kai's eyes darted between Gran's, seeing the truth in her expression, and he looked away, his body sagging as he undid his fists. There had to be more too it, he wasn't stupid. Why would she suddenly change her mind when she had been so close to her freedom?

Unless-

Why, he thought, Anya.

"Kai." Reever began, taking a step towards his older brother, "-she asked me to give this to you." he continued, and pulled out something from his pocket.

A bracelet. Kai looked at it, though not at all recognizing it. He frowned and met Reever's empty gaze. Ditrix frowned, his gaze solely on Reever. Kai took the bracelet from him.

It wasn't anything special, just a simply bracelet with black beads around it and a single white one standing out. Reever looked away, and put his hands back into his pockets, feeling nothing but a sudden cold, empty void without it.

"And she told me to tell you, that she was sorry." He gulped, "-before she sealed the door shut behind me."

Kai held the bracelet in his palm, curling his fingers into a fist over it, before looking at the side of his brother's face, knowing very well what he was trying to do.

He sighed, and swallowed the lump in his throat, before he forced himself to walk away, outside in a much needed attempt to get some air. Ditrix licked his lips, watching as Reever walked towards the stairs, hearing his rapidly beating heart.

Just now, He thought, he was lying.

About the bracelet, and about the apology.

Feeling eyes on him, he turned and met Gran's white, knowing eyes. She sent him a tight smile, knowing that he knew, but not at all seeming to be bothered by it. Ditrix looked away, at the others, but they were all staring after the different directions the two brothers had walked.

This Anya girl, Ditrix thought, wasn't on their side from the very beginning, was she?

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