My family lost someone a few days ago. And though he wasn't related to us by blood, he was family in every other way. And this chapter is dedicated to him. He was the kindest and gentlest man in the world and it was not fair that he was taken from us.

I wanted to make this chapter epic for him.

And I hope it is.

This one is for you, G. We miss you. You will always be remembered.

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My hands were crossed behind my back, with long metallic strips that snapped close across my wrists. This entrapment was designed to see to it that if I even shivered, the strips would tighten and cut off the flow of blood. It was the stinging punishment I had received for twisting my hands in an attempt to release myself from its hold as soon as it I had opened my eyes. So, I stayed carefully still as I stared down the barrel of the laser gun, my eyes slipping past it to look into the eyes of my killer. The gun staring me in the face quivered slightly and I grabbed onto that little humanity left in my killer and appealed to it.

"Is this is how you want to repay him, after everything?" I asked my killer.

"I just want him back..." my killer whispered, the tear that had been building in her eye, slipping onto her cheek, silently.

My eyes narrowed, "What are you talking about?" I asked.



A few hours earlier...



I was roused by a gentle kiss on my forehead and I opened my eyes, blinking up into deep amber eyes. I stretched before I sat up. Then, everything came rushing back to me and I felt the weight of it weigh me down by the shoulders. I looked up at him. He was already watching me, his eyes solemn.

"I didn't realise I fell asleep." I said, my voice hoarse. I tried to discreetly clear my throat.

"You needed the rest." was all he said.

I nodded, "What time is it?" I asked, "How long did I sleep?"

"Almost morning," he said, "You slept for a few hours."

I let out a breath, pressing my wrists into my burning eyes. I dropped my hands and he saw the determination on my face. He gave me a swift nod.

"Let's go." he said.

I nodded, lifting myself off the bed, pulling my hair up and out of my way into a ponytail. Nerves clenched my stomach at the thought of the unknown, but when Rafe came to my side and took my hand in his, almost absently, as he scrolled through something on his communication device, the nerves just vanished at the face of...him. Just him. Only him.

He seemed to have felt something, because he looked away from the device, lifting the hand he was holding in his to press a kiss to it. I smiled at him, tugging him closer for a hug. He let me take him into my arms, pressing a kiss to the side of my head, before wrapping his own arms around me. I took a deep breath, imagining that with every bit of air that entered me, I was being filled with courage.

I leaned back.

"Let's go." he said and I followed him.

We headed straight to the elevator and down to the main entrance. I watched as he had the doors open so that we could step out. Once we had, I waited for a minute as he brought a Hover motorbike out from behind the building where they were all parked-I presume. I hopped onto it, sliding as close to him as possible, wrapping my arms around his middle and pressing my lips to his shoulder before turning my face into his back and pressing my cheeks against him. My eyes closed on their own.

But when I felt like the tips of feathers brushed against my mind and I snapped my eyes open as Rafe took off, air whipping over us. I settled back in, realising that it had just been Rafe, brushing his mind affectionately against mine. It wasn't a sensation I was used to yet, but I would get there. We rode for what felt like almost three quarters of an hour, before Rafe smoothed the vehicle to a stop. I flexed my stiff fingers, straightening and getting off the vehicle. He let the vehicle hover as he got off, catching hold of my fingers almost immediately. I took a deep breath, deciding to look up at the building that would be the place that would mark the beginning of a revolution.

To my surprise, this building wasn't the usual pearl colour... But a dark grey, almost black, with thick vertical veins of artificial light that ran through it, giving it an almost eerie effect. My eyebrows rose as we stared up at it.

"The DER are known to be quiet... theatrical." Rafe said, with a sardonic twist of his lips.

My brows furrowed, "The DER?" I asked, hearing the doubt in my own voice, as we started towards the building.

"Department for Ethrés Registration," He explained and I just stopped, forcing him to stop as well. He turned to look at me, his own brows raising.

"Is that really even a name?" I asked.

"I did not come up with it." was all he said and when I continued to look dubious of the building, he added, "Sounds better in our language."

I shrugged, because what do I care anyway how it looked or what it was called? I was here because I needed to be here. And I was here, because there were some wrongs we had made that we had to right and this was the our first step in that direction. As soon as we came to the entrance two data pads popped up right in front of us, rather than to the side and at Rafe's nod, I ran my bracelet over it, having to let go of Rafe's hand for a minute to do it.

A computerised voice spoke in the C'Riel language, and I was pretty sure I heard my name. I turned to my ethrés with raised eyebrows, in question.

"An acknowledgements of the couple that has come. The names will go to the Board that waits for us inside." he explained as the data pads revolved back into the walls and the space between where the two data pads separated to reveal a passageway. It looked like a tunnel, lit like the building with straight lines. A flooring raised and we stepped on to it. I took careful steps, mine and Rafe's hands catching onto one another.

"You do realise," Rafe started softly, his eyes trained to the path before him, as I gratefully turned to look at him, happy to be distracted, "That once we do this, you are stuck with me forever."

I raised my eyebrows, "No out-clause?" I asked, "You're serious?"

Narrowed amber eyes turned on me and I let out a laugh that thankfully didn't sound as nervous as I was feeling.

"I'm joking." I said, nudging him in the arm. When he turned back to look away, I'm pretty sure I saw something on his face akin to a pout. I laughed, tugging on his arm, bring his attention back to me.

"Even without this, you're stuck with me forever." I told him with a serious expression.

"You are serious?" he asked, his expression dry and mocking.

"Shut up." I said, rolling my eyes and starting to walk again.

He caught me the time, pulling me back and pressing his forehead against mine.

"I think I stuck myself to you the second I saw you. With your glaring eyes and terrible manners."

I gasped at the last part, but he only laughed, leaning forward to kiss me sweetly. I let him, smiling into the kiss. When we pulled back, our smiles stayed on our faces all way to the white circular room that the tunnel lead to. My smile slipped a little then. I saw three C'Riel men and two C'Riel men sitting on raised platforms with large transparent screens in front of them. And below them, near two well-crafted chairs that looked like something a Dentist would have in his room, stood one C'Riel man and one C'Riel woman wearing white suits. I had never seen white suits before.

I swallowed and held onto Rafe's hand tighter. Even if Rafe had brushed of his mind against mine, I don't think it could have calmed me this time, as my eyes flitted between all the aliens before me. They regarded me with equal wariness, their eyes almost simultaneously dropping to our locked hands, lifting to Rafe's face, then shifting back to mine.

Yes, I'm Human, I thought as my eyes narrowed at their almost disbelieving stare. The women on the 'Board' shared something of a look that reminded me of something my father had when he was humouring me of something when he thought he knew that I was wrong. Anger lashed at me. Rafe squeezed my hand in warning and I dropped my eyes before they could meet it. I blinked furiously. I would not jeopardise this, no matter what, I promised myself.

I took a few calming breaths before I looked back up. This time, I made sure my expression was blank, my eyes giving nothing away, even though I was a bundle of nerves and a pit of angry flames inside.

I took a deep breath as the white suited aliens stepped towards me and my ethrés. Their hands were gloved in a white material, which I realised I was noticing because the woman before me was holding up her hand with something that looked a bit like a headband.

I took it from her and slipped it on the same time Rafe did. It came to rest against the side of my heads, the feeling slightly uncomfortable because it was very unfamiliar. When the woman before me didn't drop her hand even after I had taken the head-band thing, I looked up at her and she said something to me in her language. My brows furrowed. I didn't understand their language. Something that they knew. When one of the Board members said something, again, in their language understanding spread through me.

Ah. They thought to alienate me. To make it deliberately known that I was not one of them. And could never be. I couldn't even understand their language!

Anger. Injustice had a taste that I hated. Embarrassment had a sourness I despised to taste on my palate. A need to prove myself sped through me, even as a part of myself sneered in contempt at the need to prove myself to these aliens.

Rafe tensed beside me, having come to the same conclusion. I took a deep breath and shut my eyes, seeking within me the anger and fear that had helped me bring forth the part of me that wasn't all human. The second I reached out for it, it rushed to me like it had been waiting all this time...like it had always been waiting and I was flooded with a burn that ripped through me and I squeezed my eyes, biting my lip to keep from screaming out. My brain felt like it was dipped in acid. And inside me, all my organs felt like they were scorching away into nothing. I was screaming inside, even though on the outside, not a whisper left my lips.

Too much. Too much.

I just need to understand them. I just need to understand them. I just need to understand them. I just need...Pain. So much pain. I couldn't handle it anymore. I was sure I was burnt from inside out. My skin was scorched from the heat inside me. I was sure of it. I couldn't do this. Not now.

I pushed it all away, trying to raise above the burning fire. Trying to reach the surface...to catch my breath. When everything sped away and I opened my eyes, I sucked in a deep breath, almost crying from relief as cool wind rushed over my skin. How had I stayed on my feet?

I realised that while it had been an eternity inside of me, it had been a bare minute on the outside.

The C'Riel woman before me said something to me again, her impatience a whip in her tone. I blinked when I realised something.

Even though I couldn't understand everything she was saying. I could understand what she wanted, I could understand two words of what she was saying. And though there were no translations I could give for that, a knowing of the words came to me. One meant 'to give' and the other meant something along the lines of ... 'circlet'. But it truly lost something when translated. Even something as simple as a request had something poetic about it.

I let go of Rafe's hand and reached down and removed my bracelet, handing it over to her. I met her eyes and schooled my feature to not let anything show when I was met with gasps and stares from everyone in the room. Their eyes sped to Rafe and he shook his head.

"I did not do it." Rafe said, his tone angry, "And you know this."

"How do they know it?" I asked, as he handed over his bracelet too.

He tossed a dark glare at the members of the Board before turning to me.

"They monitor our brain waves through these," he said, tapping the band whose ends rested perfectly against his temples, "They would know the second we try to exchange any kind of information mentally."

I stared at them, my brows furrowed. The screens still looked transparent to me...but maybe they could see something. A one-way monitor of some sort?

"And, I was not allowed to speak or react until you understood the command." Rafe murmured, his fingers curling around mine.

"I'm sorry, but not only are they insinuating that you somehow cheated to help me, but they are also insinuating that we are lying about having surrendered to one another. Isn't this punishable by C'Riel laws?" I asked.

Rafe's smile spread and I knew someone was going to have pay for it.

"Once we are registered," he said, his eyes slowly lifting to the members that sat above us, "They will be."

A tense silence simmered in the air for about ten seconds, before one of the C'Riel members said, in crisp formal English, "Please take your seats."

We shared a silent look of triumph that nobody could have seen before we took our places beside one another on the seats. We leaned back against the seats, our fingers leaving the company of each other to come and rest on the hand rests on the chair. As soon as we did this, the C'Riel men and women dressed in white came and took our blood. The woman took mine and the man took Rafe's. I watched as they used the same crystal pen-like structure with a circular bob at the end. I had seen this once before when Rafe had taken my blood after the bomb blast incident in his room. I watched a small drop of blood welled from the tip of my index finger, from where the woman had pricked me using the sharp head of the device, and it smoothly got sucked into the device, collecting into the circular bob.

I remembered how as soon as this had happened, Rafe had information on his data pad about my vitals. So, I slid my eyes to my left, watching as the members of the Board looked intently at the screen before them.

"It would seem.." one of the women, blonde haired and blue eyed said, "That there seem to be no alterations in her genetic structure."

"Were you expecting there to be any?" Rafe asked, his eyes trained on the woman.

Her eyes flicked up, "Your situation is an anomaly," she said, her expression hardening, "So, we want to-"

"You want to see if I modified her genetic structure to imitate ours, so that she had greater chances in surrendering to me." Rafe finished.

The woman's lips pursed, "We had to consider it. Given your...inclination to do so in the past."

I watched as a change came over Rafe. An anger that wasn't very typical. It burned with ice rather than fire. And it burned deep. Instead of making him louder, it made him quieter. I almost shivered at the dark edge his expression took. His voice, too, sounded deeper, hoarser. Something that would send a chill down even darkness.

"My...inclinations, as you so eloquently stated, had nothing to do with Human or C'Riel genetic modification." he said and I looked quickly to the members of the Board.

I watched as she was about to open her mouth, but was quickly silenced by the cold warning look by the C'Riel man that sat beside her. Her ethrés? Maybe.

He leaned forward and cleared his throat, saying in a calm voice, "We are just being thorough. We mean no offence."

But the hardened amber of Rafe's eyes stayed and I knew that they'd struck a nerve without meaning to. But despite that, he leaned back as we were instructed to and closed our eyes. Then, I listened to the man tell Rafe something and I immediately felt a brush of Rafe's mind against mine. I didn't know what was happening, so I stayed silent.

A gentle pressure and I saw an image of myself. The first time he ever saw me. I looked...vibrant. I almost laughed. I looked like I was the only colourful thing in a background of dulled out pastels.

"Her brain waves do not indicate that she is...all Human."

My eyes opened and I looked up at the members of the Board. I didn't know who spoke, so I met all their eyes.

"But my DNA does, right?" I said, making more of a statement then asking a question.

"Those were the changes that happened as a result of the constant bombardment of my brain waves against the areas of hers that lay dormant. So, I believe we have to make some amendments in our beliefs. Humans do have the ability to surrender. Their brains have the ability to not only evolve but to also perform like ours." Rafe said, his words come out crisp and cutting. So much that it could have been carved into blades of ice and it would have found its way to its enemies heart and buried itself deep into their hearts.

"You are suggesting this phenomena has occurred organically?" one of the male C'Riel asked, he looked younger than the others, his hair a dark black and his eyes a deep maroon, "Without the interference of...anything?" he asked.

I almost winced at the accusation. I expected Rafe to blow a fuse but to my surprise, he smirked. And if they knew him, they would know that there was nothing good in that smirk.

"Your perception of me is quite flattering. Not only do you think that I have modified her cognitive capacity and functioning, you also seem to think I have done this without the modification of her genes. But I think the highest praise is where you seem to be suggesting that I did something greater, something only the Gods around us have ever been able to do-or so I have been told all my life. I have made a surrendering happen when it was never meant to. Are you going to suggest next that I control the skies and the monsoon as well?" he asked and the fact that he spoke in a tone so well moderated only served to deliver the insult more brutally.

I saw the lips of the younger C'Riel twist with embarrassment and anger, before he schooled his features. It took everything in me to not hold my hand out for a high five to Rafe.

"Imitate the exercise performed by your ethrés, please." the woman said as she stared down at me, her dark gaze part professional and part angry.

I raised my eyebrows. They wanted me to do the image sharing thing?

"I don't know how to yet." I said, truthfully.

"Try." the woman said, her teeth gritting.

My eyes narrowed and I looked to my left, "For people who are so obsessed with things happening organically, you seem to really be pushing me to do things my mind is not yet ready to do."

Another tense silence before the eldest looking C'Riel-who had yet to say a single word-nodded his head at the woman who stood before me. She nodded back, but not before shooting me a quick glare that would've been easy to miss had I not already been staring at her.

I watched as she removed a thin sharp metal instrument from a tray on the table beside the chair I was seated on.

I put my hand up as she came closer with it, "What's this?" I asked.

She seemed to hate to answer me, but she did anyway, her voice colder than ice, "We are checking to see if your pain receptors provide immediate feedback to his."

She looked almost too happy with the instrument, so I narrowed my eyes at her and moved away a little when she came near me.

"I don't really trust anyone else but Rafe with a sharp instrument near me. So I'd rather he do this." I said.

"The procedure-" she started, but Rafe had already gotten off his chair, walking around the C'Riel (who tried to get him back into his chair) assigned to him easily and took the instrument away from her hand.

"The procedure does not proclaim who needs to perform it. It only states that it needs to be performed. Do your research." Rafe said as he stepped closer to me and held out his other hand to me.

I gave him my hand, both of us not even bothering to look up at the 'Jury' for the day. He smiled down at me, "You doing alright?" he asked.

"Need to pee, but I'm alright." I said.

He chuckled softly, holding the instrument above the fleshy palm of my hand, his brows furrowed, "This will hurt for an instant, before I redirect the pain alright."

"Redirect?" I asked, confused.

"My pain centres are already linked to yours, but it will take me a few seconds before I can deaden yours. I cannot do it without a need arising for it."

"But, what happens to the pain? Do you feel it?" I asked, my brows furrowing.

He nodded slowly, and I started to pull my hand back but he held on fast.

"Rafe." I said, glaring up at him, "This is ridiculous! Especially because I don't know how to do the same for you when it's your turn."

Rafe leaned forward, "Amour, taking your pain away is my privilege. It is the sole reason I live. And they know that you do not know how to do it. Which is why you are receiving the cut." he said, holding the instrument up.

"You guys are mental." I muttered, holding my hand straight for him.

He looked at me, "Ready?" he asked and I nodded my head. Ready as I'll ever be.

He made a thin and quick slice and I felt the prick of it for a second before the pain almost slipped away from me. Rafe dropped the instrument back on the tray, removing some clean cloth and the gel that I had seen him use many times. He wiped away the blood with mythological precision with the cloth before applying the gel on it carefully. I watched as skin practically sealed back before my eyes.

Gross.

Rafe caught my chin and lifted my face up so that I could meet his eyes.

"Okay?" he asked.

"I'm alright." I said smiling up at him, blinking a little when he seemed to double in front of me.

What was that?

Then, everything went to hell.

I heard a tone that indicated that a message had come in. I looked at Rafe as he pulled out his communication device, much to the disapproval of the members and the white-suited C'Riel. I watched Rafe's whole demeanour change and a sudden feeling of panic spread through me. I continued to blink, a slight pain starting behind my eyes. I shook it away.

"What?" I asked and he looked up at me.

"We need to leave." he said, pulling me to my feet and removing the band off my head and tossing his aside the next second. He snatched our bracelets off the tray and clutched my hand tight in his as fear beat at me as he ignored all the demands that were made by the Board behind us. He speed-walked, while I ran, down the tunnel and in four seconds we were on the Hover and Rafe took off in break neck speed.

"What happened?" I whispered, my hands squeezing around his middle, shaking a little on the inside. I closed my eyes because I couldn't concentrate on anything anymore.

I didn't expect Rafe to hear me over all the screaming...who was screaming?... but somehow he did.

And all he said was, "Kylee."

Then, I felt like I was falling. I felt like I heard my name, but I wasn't sure.

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When I woke up, my body throbbed with everywhere. My eyes hurt, my vision swam and my the back of my head felt like I had been hit with a bat. I winced as I looked down at myself. I was tied to a chair... in the middle of a room. I sat in the part of the room that had light and everything around me was dark. I twisted my hands to get out of the binds, but cried out a pain when metal cut into my wrists.

"Stay still, or you will get hurt."

Shocked, I looked up. I recognised that voice!

"Help me, I'm-"

She stepped out of the darkness and my voice silenced as I saw the gun she had in her hand.

"Stay. Still. Or I will have to hurt you." she said, the gun stayed still, but her maroon eyes that I had seen fill with kindness before, shimmered with a glassy sheen to it.

The plump woman before me blinked away the sheen in her eyes, her hands clutching tighter on the gun. I tried to discreetly twist my hands out of the cuffs again but winced when it tightened and I felt something wet drip down my hands. I was bleeding.

"The more you struggle the harder those metal strips will cut into your skin. Twist your hands some more and I will not have to fire, you will kill yourself from slit wrists."

"What are you doing, Miesha?" I whispered.

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Vote and comment. I'm sorry about any typos. The song is Untouchable by Taylor Swift. It's an old one, but it still moves me.

Until, next time, guys. *waves*