November 6th, 2099

November 6th, 2099

Marianna abruptly woke to the hospital bed being transported somewhere, the bed jumping an inch or so off of the ground every bump there was. She hesitantly opened her eyes, and saw familiar eyes. Was it...?

"...Aiden?" She mumbled, still being half asleep.

The man the eyes belonged to shushed her. In moments, she was being lifted up into an airplane of the sorts, where the hospital bed was tied down. A few minutes later, after the plane took off, she heard a familiar voice.

"Hey deary. How are you feeling?"

Marianna opened her eyes all the way, and saw who looked like Kimber, only this woman had blonde hair, and brown eyes. But the tone in her voice was unmistakable. "Better now. Where were you guys?"

Another voice spoke up. "For the first five years, you were pronounced dead. Then as soon as we found out otherwise, we found out where you were, and you were wiped off the face of the earth, or so it seemed. And we've been looking for you ever since, but over the past seven years, your location kept changing."

"What about mom? Where is she?"

Aiden sighed. "We had to split up after they took you and Ryan...now known as Rye. But I'm sure you knew that by now." He paused. "Kimber, you need to look for that object we found in her x-rays."

Kimber nodded. "Alright deary." She brushed Marianna's hair out of her face. "You're going to be alright, Mary. We just need to get something out of you. We'll just need to wait til we get more situated. You're not going to like what you're going to have to do, though. Which I'm terribly sorry about." She kissed Marianna on the forehead, and pulled a warmed blanket over her. It was somewhat chilly, and she didn't want her to get cold. She returned to the front of the plane with Aiden, who waited until she was looking away to crack the resemblance of a smile.

After a little while, he heard Marianna snoring, and asked, "Hey, what did you want to talk about earlier?"

Kimber looked over at Aiden. "Oh, well it's not completely important at the moment."

"Of course it is. You were insisting on telling me whatever it was earlier."

Kimber looked back at Marianna, to make sure she was passed out, and sighed. "I think I might be pregnant."

All color flushed from Aiden's face. "Are you absolutely sure about that?"

"Yes, lovey. I'm absolutely certain there is a ninety percent chance that the one night we were both inebriated beyond recollection..."

"Oh god...yeah, that sounds about right. But you were also finally open about being jealous of all of the women over the past ten years."

"Yes, that too. Which I'm still very sorry about. I still have no idea what came over me that night. I suppose all of the men who were after us made me want to be more honest with you."

Aiden nodded. A few minutes later, he thought. "What are we going to do about your daughter?"

"I'm not sure yet. I want to go back for her, but only once we know we finally have Marianna in safe keeping. I want her to see me for who I am, not just her mother. I'm sure they're telling her our ultimate form is a sickness of the sorts, or have never let her reach her full potential."

Aiden nodded. "Good thing we're fairly close. But...are you sure you want to go alone?"

"I have no choice. You need to keep an eye on Mary." She paused to think for a moment. "And Aiden?"

"Yeah?"

"If I am...pregnant...this will most likely be the last child I will be able to bear. They only left a few eggs left for me to have as my own. The rest will die off eventually." Kimber turned back to stare out the window, and the remainder of the plane ride, they sat in silence. When they finally arrived, Aiden landed the plane behind a somewhat secluded house in the mountains. Once it was completely secured where it was, he got up from the chair, and walked back to start unhooking Marianna's hospital bed. Kimber followed in que, and began unhooking the bed. Aiden laughed.

"You don't look bad in that corporate monkey suit."

Kimber blushed a little. "Well don't expect me to keep it on now that we're here."

Aiden rolled his eyes, laughing, and before he could speak, was interrupted by Kimber.

"You don't look so bad yourself, Mr Corporate."

Aiden thought for a minute. "I'm surprised that went as well as it did. Makes me wonder if it was too easy, ya know?"

Kimber nodded. "Yeh, I know. It's best not to think about it right now. All that matters, is that we have Mary back in our hands."

An hour or so later, Marianna woke up in a warm bed in pajamas and a soft, cuddly throw blanket on her. She sat up, and saw a mug on the bedside table with a note beside it. It read:

'This is for you in case you wake up before the morning. There is a trash can beside you that you'll know what to do with. You need to make sure you drink the entire glass, otherwise you will not get better.'

Marianna felt confused for a moment, but saw the trash can on the floor next to the bed. She took a small sip from the mug, and it was surprisingly tasty, so she drank the entire mug. A few moments later, she felt something move in her stomach, and felt light headed. Following by her throwing up her guts in the trash can. There was a light thud in the bottom of the can, and she automatically felt better. She grabbed the note, and finished reading it:

'There is a bottle of water on the floor beside the trash can so you can immediately get the taste of vomit out of your mouth. Even if you feel better, you need to get your rest. I will be gone in the morning, but Aiden will be here to make sure you're alright.

Love,

Kimber.'

Marianna felt for a bottle on the floor, and grabbed it, opening and taking a huge sip from it. She went to lay back down, but had a sudden urge to pee and grab a snack. She walked out of the bedroom, and searched the small home for a bathroom. She found the kitchen first, and grabbed a small package of cheese nips, which she brought into the bathroom with her. Not caring about germs, she ate her cheese nips at the same time as she peed.

When she returned to the bedroom, she climbed back into bed, and after a few hours, fell back asleep. During those hours, Kimber sat in the living room, mentally preparing for her first encounter with her daughter. She had gotten glimpses of her, but never interacted with her first hand. She knew her daughter would be more than capable of brining Ryan out of whatever brain washing he has undergone. Kimber smiled, more than aware that Aiden had been standing in the doorway for a few minutes, but choosing to ignore it for the time being. Until he walked over, and sat down next to her.

"How do you know she isn't going to reject you?"

Kimber smiled. "Because, deary. You should know by now why she won't."

Aiden shrugged. "Are you sure you want to do that to your daughter?"

"Do what? I'm just going to come up with a sap story about how I had to give her up for adoption as a baby because I was terminally ill, and am now better and want to start over with her."

"Hmmm...doubt that will work, Kimber."

She patted his leg. "And that is exactly why I found you in a hotel room, in the bathroom tub. You're paranoid about everything. You don't have to be anymore, lovey. We have your sister back. Now I just need to get my daughter back, and we need to find your parents." She lowered her voice. "Wherever they decided to run off to this time." She paused to think for a minute. "You should get some rest, deary."

Aiden crossed his arms. "Nope, not tired. Also I don't care how much you don't want me to worry, I'm going to." He sighed. "Whose idea was it to split up again?"

Kimber laughed. "That was yours, lovey."

Aiden thought for a minute. "Yeah...you're right. It was."

Kimber smiled. "Well you should still get some sleep, dear. I won't be sleeping tonight. I need to be focused, so I'll be heading out-"

Aiden put a hand on her arm as she was getting ready to stand up. "Be careful." He gave her a look of concern.

"Don't worry about me, love. I've made a mental map of all the places I can go."

Aiden kept a hold of her arm. "Well...before you go then," Before he could even pull her back down, Kimber was leaning down to give him a hug. He was tense at first, but loosened up as she hugged him. While in each others grasp, he asked in a low voice, "What are we going to do about..." He looked down at her stomach.

"Only time will tell, love. Until then, we need to focus on right now." She paused. "And that, is getting you to get some sleep, and me heading out." She slowly moved him down to lay down on the couch as she talked, and when he went to protest, she placed a finger over his lips to hush him. Accepting defeat, he laid down, and allowed her to place a blanket over him.

Kimber waited for Aiden to be finally asleep, and as the morning sky lit up, walked out of the house. After walking for a little while, she stopped briefly to look back at the path behind her. In that moment, she considered turning back, but refused, knowing her daughter was in the hands of someone who could use her for every wrong reason possible. Kimber continued walking, stripping off certain articles of clothing until she was barely covered. Once she was down to her bra and undergarments, she stopped, and closed her eyes. As she relaxed her body, her arms began to transform, slowly spreading bright, ember colored feathers from her fingertips to her shoulders, then reaching all the way down her back to her tailbone.

As the feathers began taking form, the skin on her arms started being replaced fully by the brightly colored feathers until a full wingspan was seen. Eventually nearly the entire back side of her body stretching towards the front side was replaced by a phoenix type form. During the entire transformation, she felt eyes watching her, but in a non threatening manner. When Kimber finally opened her eyes, she was standing on a pile of ashes, and standing face to face with a young woman who looked shockingly similar to Marianna, yet had what seemed like the sort of attitude Kimber remembered having as a child and teenager. They stared at each other for a moment, until finally the woman spoke up.

"What are you doing here?"

Kimber smiled. "I was about to ask you the same thing. I'm sure your mum is worried about you. There isn't a single home for two miles."

The woman stared Kimber down for a moment. "How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

She pointed at Kimber's wings. "That. And why?"

Kimber shrugged. "I don't know why. I suppose I was just born this way. Don't you have something unique that you were born with?"

The woman frowned. "Yeah, a tumor in my head that is going to kill me if I stay out too long. I have to go." She turned and started running down the path. Kimber went to run after, only when she went to touch her, learned the hard way that the woman was merely a hologram, which flickered away. Before a trap could close in on her, she was swooped up by a net. Rushing into a panic, Kimber's human form returned, leaving a half naked woman being carried off in a net. Moments later, she was lowered to the ground far off from the path, and caught a glimpse of what grabbed her. And the what, became a who.

"You shouldn't be here!" The woman panicked. "You need to get as far from here as you possibly can. I'll distract them."

Kimber found herself stunned, as the same hologram that had tricked her the first time, was talking to her again. Only when the young woman actually touched her, and picked her up, she got a closer glance of her. Only the eye contact was broken by the woman pushing her up the hill.

"Go!" She ordered, as she slipped on black shorts and a tank top. When Kimber refused to move, the woman pressed down hard on an unusual spot on her body, forcing it to go back to her ultimate form. Seeing cars driving up in the distance, Kimber rose up, and made her way back to her home. By the time she got there, Aiden was already lugging the essentials into the plane, a shirt and pants in hand for Kimber.

"We need to go-"

"I know," Aiden interrupted. "The animals gave me a clue that there was something coming." He hinted at all of the squirrels, chipmunks, and other animals, running up the mountain for safety. Kimber put her clothes on, and helped Marianna into the plane, glancing at Aiden.

"Is it out?"

Aiden nodded. "Yep. Checked this morning, and chucked it off the side of the mountain."

"Good." Kimber sat down in one of the pilot chairs, and waited as Aiden shut the door behind Marianna, and started up the plane. As they took off, Aiden noticed an odd haze begin to shroud over the sky, but before he could say anything, Kimber hit a button which launched them into the sky past the haze and a good few hundred feet in a matter of moments.

"Keep going, love. They were just trying to trap us in."

Without asking questions, he kept the plane at turbo speed for the next half hour, until they were eventually far away enough where it was safe enough to slow down and look for a landing space. Marianna stared out the window, trying to piece together everything, but it was doing nothing but frustrating her. Except for one thing, which was Ryan, and the look in his eyes. It wasn't him at all. Kimber walked over and distracted Marianna from her thoughts by placing a hand on her shoulders.

"Everything alright, deary?"

Marianna nodded.

"Don't worry, we'll figure everything out eventually. Right now all we need to do is figure out where your parents are, and then we can go from there. All that matters at this very moment, however, is finding somewhere to stay for the night."

Aiden cleared his throat. "Kimber, you need to call Nate, he has a place a couple states away that's big enough to hide this thing."

Kimber nodded, taking out her phone and calling the number. At first, she wasn't sure if he was going to answer, but then he finally did.

"Hello? Can I help you?" He answered.

"Hey, it's Kimber. We've only met a few times in the past twenty years, but we need your help. We're a few states away from you, and need somewhere to stay for a while."

"I know. You dumb-asses are right on radar. You better get that turbo speed going before you get yourselves any deeper under their scope."

Before Kimber could say anything, the line went. The rude man had hung up on her.

Back in the path they left far behind, Leilani awaited Rye as several groups of burly men and women searched the grounds. The sun was starting to set, as she waited, sitting atop a large boulder. Little did she know, but a young man from one of the many families against Rye's rule was slowly creeping behind her. That was, until he got within a foot of her, and gave himself away by stumbling back for a split second. The brief moment gave her an opportunity to pull him off of the boulder and down on the ground.

"I suggest you get away from me before I rip your nasty balls out," she ordered in a threatening tone.

For a moment he seemed stunned, but then he carelessly tossed her off of him, and started walking away from her. "You're obviously not her," he mumbled under his breath, as he walked away.

Leilani stood, now angry. "Hey! Get back here!"

He paused for a moment, glancing momentarily at her. "I suggest you run back to daddy, Leilani. You aren't ready for what his cruel world has in mind for people like you."

"Excuse you?!" She ran over to him, as he was starting to walk away again, and forced him to turn and face her. "What the hell do you mean, people like me?"

He laughed a bit. "You wouldn't understand. What are you, twelve, thirteen maybe?"

Leilani turned red, flustered and angered. "What the hell does that matter?"

He turned away again, and moments before vanishing before her, said, "Go back to daddy. Until you really know, you won't last a minute in our world."

Leilani stood in shock, until she found Rye standing behind her, with a hand on her shoulder. "I think you've had enough excitement for one day. You've almost missed your medication, Leilani." He held a small plastic cup out to her with two large pills. She hesitantly took the cup, but when she didn't immediately take the pill, he nudged her to. "Come on, Leilani. You need them to stay well."

She nodded, and regrettingly put the two pills in her mouth.

Rye nodded, and handed her a bottle of water, which she took a sip out of to swallow the pills down. When he was satisfied that the pills were taken, he walked her to the car. About ten minutes later, while they drove back to their home, Leilani began throwing up in the car. Rye shook his head in dissapointment. "I'm so disappointment in you, Leilani. How long have you been avoiding taking your medication?"

Unable to speak, she continued throwing up, gasping for air each time she heaved.

Rye chuckled. "I suppose based on how much your body is rejecting it, you've never taken your medication. You're such a reject, I don't even know why I put so much effort towards keeping you alive all these years."

A few minutes later, the car stopped, and Rye opened the door, allowing two men to carry Leilani out to a building she had never seen before in her life. As they carried her away, they left a trail of vomit and blood behind them. They brought her into the building, where they released her on the tiled floor. Once she was finished spilling her guts on the floor, she crawled over to the small bed in the room, and curled up on it. A few moments later, she caught a chill, and re-adjusted so she could pull the blanket over her.

Eventually she fell asleep, not aware that the rude man from earlier was watching out for her from a part of the room where he was perfectly hidden. A few hours later, he cautiously approached her, and hovered his hands just above her shoulders, only she jerked awake. He hid in the shadows of the room, and sent out a few guards to ensure that even if he left or fell asleep, she would be safe. As much as he knew she didn't understand how the world worked, he was ordered to find and relocate her. Didn't matter where, so long as Rye got his greedy, selfish hands off her.

Leilani turned her head, and found herself face to face with a pair of grey, almost illuminating eyes. They seemed to be observing her, but only for a brief moment, as the creature they belonged to became distracted with something else. The door was opened, followed by the sound of several necks and limbs, snapping. Before she could so much as squeak, a hand went over her mouth, followed by a whisper:

"Save your energy...we're bringing you home."