Big shout out and thank you to @SEIKAGE for the fanart! I love it and it really made my day to receive your message. So I'm dedicating this chapter to them!

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The second I felt unfamiliar hands on me, I shot to my feet. My eyes locked on the man who tried to attach something while I simultaneously took in the many exits in the room. There was only one and the man was blocking it. The man who'd just tried to do something to me. My eyesight from before was back and I let my eyes trail over this man. He was dressed in a way I found familiar. And he looked quite familiar too.

Doctor, my mind whispered, Doctor Stevens.

My mind took in the similarities between the nurse that stood behind him and himself. They were both alike in a very fundamental way. But different in all other ways. My head tilted, wondering what it was. My hair slid over my shoulder and my eyes were caught on it. I took a deep breath.

It wasn't just red. Curiously, I could see a number of other colours intertwined with the red that made it almost luminous even in the light. It looked like how the water had looked.

Movement caught my eye and I snapped my head back up to look at the Doctor when he shifted a little, his eyes flitting to whoever was behind me and back. I didn't have to turn to know who it was. I was very much aware of where he was as soon as I woke up. I trailed phantom fingers of my mind over his, smiling when his own opened up so that I could get in and snuggle.

He came to stand beside me and I felt my whole body hum. Something about his presence was very pleasing to me. His very real fingers caught onto mine and I locked my own around his. Fire shot into my veins and I could almost feel my cells expand with health.

"I told you not to touch her." He said, his voice hard.

The Doctor before me narrowed his eyes, "She is my patient. I needed to check on her. You have no right to dictate who I-"

Anger so strong I had never felt it before burned my blood and I stepped forward. I didn't like the way this man was talking to my ethrés.

When my ethrés brushed his mind against mine, I immediately settled, forgetting what I had been upset about and looked at the Doctor...and the nurse beside him. What was it about them that was so similar? Their similarity didn't make sense to me, it seemed almost..alien.

When my ethrés laughed, I looked at him, riveted at the sound that burst electricity in my veins, sending tingles up my spine.

His eyes, a warm amber, caught on mine. "They are Human." he said, answering the question that had been annoying me all this while.

I blinked. I tasted the word on my lips, "Human." I said.

When my ethrés came to stand behind me and gently turned me around to face the wall, I stayed still, wondering what he wanted me to see. When the wall shifted to shimmer and transform into a reflective surface, I saw what he wanted me to see.

"So are you." He whispered in my ear.

Shock had my black eyes widening. I was Human?

Pain shot a bullet through my brain and I lost consciousness, the last thing I saw was my black eyes turning green, before darkness pulled me in.

--

--

I woke to the gentle whining of what sounded like a dog. I opened my eyes to the Ryx's kisses and I laughed when he yipped as soon as he saw that I was awake. I sat up, rubbing my fingers over his ears and snout. A shiver sped up my back and over my neck and I looked up at the entrance. A second later, Rafe entered, leaning his shoulder against the threshold, his eyes flitting over me. I smiled at him, cocking two fingers at him, coaxing him to come closer. He smiled, but stayed where he was.

"Do you have any memories of today?" he asked.

My brows furrowed, "What do you mean? Of course, I do." I said.

"Tell me then."

I huffed, annoyed that he wouldn't come closer. I crossed my arms and thought back.

"I woke up, had a panic attack for God knows what reason right in the middle of the Common Cabin, Wolf and Freesia came to get me," I tossed him a hard look at that, "Then I woke up and went to the pool room and Wolf, Freesia and I had some fun." I said.

An ache that usually came when you strained a muscle too much started up at the back of my head. I frowned, closing my eyes and reaching back to rub the back of my skull through my matted hair.

Why was my hair matted?

I had combed it in the morning and it only became this way if I washed it and slept on it. I sighed, then winced when the pain intensified.

"Amour," he said and I looked up. He had stepped closer, his legs brushing the edges of the bed now.

"Look at me," he said.

A spark of irritation ignited in me, "I am." I grumbled at him. Then, I blinked, surprised at my own snappy tone.

But Rafe just laughed. "Your temper is as bad as mine." He laughed again, seeming to enjoy some inside joke with himself.

"I don't have a temper," I muttered, disgruntled, still rubbing at my head.

"Said no redhead ever." Rafe murmured, dropping one knee onto the bed to lean towards me. I tilted my head up, thinking he was going to kiss me, but all he did was remove something-that I hadn't even realised was on me-from my temples. He quickly stepped away and I tried not to let that sting. I didn't succeed.

I got up to follow him out of the room, Ryx at our heels.

My eyes narrowed as he walked into the room that I remembered was what I fondly referred to as 'Scientist Room'.

I watched as he placed two white, button-sized devices-that I presume was what had been on my temples-onto the counter. Immediately both the devices projected an image right in the air. My brows raised.

It didn't need a medium for the projected image to fall on?

Why am I even surprised? I asked myself with an internal eye roll.

I had no idea what was being projected, it frankly looked like nothing I had ever seen before. It looked like a bunch of glowing lines, criss-crossing, bunching in places in absolutely no pattern at all. And in some spots the glow dimmed before brightening again.

"What is that?" I asked,

"Brain waves." He said simply.

I came to stand beside Rafe, our arms brushing, and looked at his face. He seemed riveted with whatever was being projected. My eyes narrowed, "What are you looking at?" I asked.

His eyes didn't move from the screen, seeming so fascinated by it that if it hadn't been my brain he was staring at, I would've been jealous.

When he continued to stay silent, irritation sparked at me.

Then a flash of a memory overtook me.

I heard a familiar voice in my head. "Because once I tell you this, there are better chances I will live."

An image of a red-eyed broken man came to me.

Ace!

"Ask him about Operation S."

I opened my eyes, heart beating fast. How had I forgotten this?

Just as I was about to speak, I heard another voice, another memory slipping free.

"So, did Ace find his accommodations comfortable?"

Pressed against a wall. Sinister smile. Blue. Slow swinging of my feet. Heat pressed against me.

Pool.

My eyes snapped open and I didn't even bother wondering when I had closed them. I had recovered another memory. Why had I lost it?

I caught Rafe's arm and tugged it and to my utter surprise-and his-I had made him turn. I had made him do it. I've never been able to move him without his wishing it so, his kind being stronger than mine.

I looked up at Rafe, but he didn't seem surprised, if anything he looked a little pleased.

I dropped my hand, swallowing. Maybe he'd been distracted and that's why I was able to do it.

I cleared my throat, "What is Operation S?" I asked.

Rafe's whole expression cooled, "We have more pressing matters to address." He said, his tone hard.

I glared at him, "What is it, Rafe?" I snapped.

"Would you prefer to speak about that which does not matter or of things that do?" He asked me.

I refused to be derailed, "Don't lie to me, Rafe."

"I am not." he said, his jaw hardening.

"There's nothing you can tell me th-"

"You have another personality inside you." He said, as if he were talking about the weather.

This time the shock that filled me was so unexpected that the pain at the back of my head intensified. I cried out and held on to my head. My ears buzzed, my eyes tearing.

Suddenly, everything became quiet. I snapped my eyes open, light that was too bright filtered in. I narrowed my eyes a little, automatically adjusting my eyes to take in lesser light to keep them from harm. When I widened them again, the light didn't hurt me anymore.

My ethrés stood before me, his arms were crossed. I smiled when I realised that he had cocooned my mind with his; I was basically inside his mind. I ran my fingers over the walls of his mind and his hard expression softened.

"Look who is back." He said softly, his eyes lightening.

I beamed at him, then frowned, "But I didn't go anywhere." I countered.

"Those say differently." He said, tilting his head to the side, his eyes staying on mine though. I looked in the direction he was indicating and my eyebrows raised.

"You lied," I murmured, walking around the counter to get closer to what was actually a depiction of a brain.

"About what?" he asked, following me.

"You said you were looking at brain waves. But that is not what you're doing." I said, my eyes trailing over the neurons that depicted that various parts of a brain.

"You remember what happens when you are asleep?" He asked, seeming surprised.

I threw my ethrés a confused look, "Does anybody remember what happens while they are asleep?" I ask.

He blinked, his eyes narrowing soon after. I stilled, wondering what I had said that had caused such a reaction in him.

"You do not sleep like she does?" He asked.

I shook my head, then frowned, "I don't understand. Who are you talking about?" I asked.

His eyebrows raised, "I am talking about Amour."

My forehead creased further, "I am Amour." I said, searching my ethrés eyes for some kind of hint of what he was trying to say. Something started to take root in me, an anxiety of sorts.

His mind caressed mine and I settled.

"You..are Amour?" He asked, letting out a deep breath.

I blinked slowly, "Yes.." confusion had me continuing, "Who did you think I was when you surrendered to me?"

A slow smile split his face and I looked away, a smile of my own forming in response to his. My brows furrowed as I considered the data that was presented before me.

"These readings are incorrect. Your device is faulty." I said, my eyes going over the areas of the brain that deviated from normal.

"The readings are correct..." Then he looked at me, before adding, "Amour."

I pointed at the parts of the projected image that were abnormal.

"These are not typical of a C'Riel's brain. I don't recognise these structure-" then I stopped, "No, wait. I do recognise them, but they're primitive..." I leaned closer to take a better look, "Underdeveloped."

I looked at my ethrés face and asked, "Is this an infant's brain?" I asked.

My ethrés burst out laughing, "If you could hear yourself." he said.

I stared at him, "I can hear myself."

He just continued laughing and I crossed my arms, tapping one foot on the ground in impatience.

When he finally calmed down, I raised an eyebrow. A chuckle slipped free, but he remained silent otherwise.

I looked back at the imaging before me and sighed.

"This really isn't an infant's brain?" I asked.

He pressed his lips together, then shook his head.

"This is your brain." he said.

"This brain is not C'Riel." I said, tossing aside his statement with confident knowledge.

"Yes, and neither are you." He said.

My eyes flashed to him, "I am C'Riel." I said.

"I might believe it myself." he muttered and my eyes narrowed.

I crossed my arms, defiant.

My ethrés reached behind us to lift off the two button shaped devices, then he attached one to my temple and the other to his. It continued to project images, except this time it made two. One of my brain and other of his. And the difference was clear. Anger sparked at me.

"This is no joking matter. Your device is faulty." I snapped, my hands fisting at my side.

"The device is working perfectly. Would you like to exchange-"

Anger sparked disbelief.

"You're lying. You have to be." I looked at him.

Why would you betray me?

His expression faltered and he held his hands out, "Listen to me, Amour." he said.

I was already filled with fear, betrayal and anger to listen to anything. I pulled the device off my temple and cast it aside, then I turned around and smashed everything on the counter to the ground. It crashed with a loud sound, some of the spilled materials smoking against the ground and leaving marks.

The fumes caught my attention and I tilted my head, staring. They seemed to twirl in a very specific direction, given that there wasn't any wind in the room. I leaned towards it when my ethrés caught me. My head snapped up and my eyes narrowed.

"You are trying to fool me." I said.

He shook his head, his expression solemn. "I am telling you the truth."

"You have no proof of it." I said, straightening.

He raised an eyebrow, "And you do?" he asked.

I let him know I did with a smile of my own.

"Fight me and I'll prove it to you." I said.

He raised his eyebrows, "I've fought you before." He said.

"We have not fought before." I said.

He paused, "When did we meet Amour?" he asked.

I smiled, "Yesterday. You saved me from drowning."

Then, I frowned. Why had I been drowning? I knew how to swim.

He rubbed a hand over his face, "You are human, Amour."

I crossed my arms, exasperated, "Then how did I identify the structures in the human brain as abnormal? If I were human, I shouldn't have known that."

His lips pursed. "When were you born?" he asked.

I smiled, "I was born on the seven hundredth and thirty second cycle of Xe'Krein."

Shock followed by confusion lit ethrés' eyes. A few minutes later, his eyes widened with understanding and he let out a breath. A small laugh later, he asked me, "Do you have any scars on your body?"

My expression darkened, "Yes. I have one right next to my belly button."

A slow smile spread on his face, "How did you get it?" he asked.

"My father electrocuted me." I said, my eyes narrowing, wondering why he was smiling.

He raised his eyebrows, "Why did you father electrocute you?" he asked me.

I sighed, "When I was seven years old, we had a cook called Miesha. She was young then, and reckless, She stole my mother's identity bracelet so that she could enter my father's room to gain some information about her brother. When my father accused her of the act, I took the blame."

Shock spread on my ethrés' face, "And how did you know it was for her brother?"

I threw him an incredulous look, "I asked her of course. I caught her in the act and she explained."

"What did she say?" he prompted.

I sighed, tugging on the strands of my hair, "He had gone missing for sometime. She was then told that he'd been found and arrested. She wanted to know why. She tried asking my father but he shut her down, so she took to stealing."

He murmured something then and I looked up, "What did you say?" I asked.

He had a curious expression on his face, "Did you understand it?" he asked.

"Repeat it." I demanded.

He did. It was in the C'Riel language. I tilted my head, "A little." I said.

He raised his eyebrow, "A little?"

I nodded, "I understood some of it." I admitted.

"If you are C'Riel, how come you do not know our language, but you know the Human language fluently?" he asked.

I had no answer for that so I pressed my eyes closed. Pain split my head in two and I clutched my head.

"I don't understand what's happening." I said, when pain travelled up my knees, I realised that it was because I'd dropped to my knees.

Arms around me had me relaxing, "Sleep. I will keep you safe."

"I can never sleep early. The dreams are always bad if I do."

A sharp breath from my ethrés and then nothing.

Blackness.

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How many of you understood what was happening?

I feel like a craftsman whose carving is finally staring to look like an art and not just a hot mess.

Hopefully your minds will blow next chapter? Maybe? Idk. Did your minds blow in this chapter?

Love ya'll . And the song is Arms by Christina Perri. <3