The thing about time is, it's both merciless and ruthless. It passed by, uncaring of the wounded it left behind. Of the people it took away with it or the pain it allowed to grow. Unaware of the pain it sometimes dulled too. It only cared about one thing.

Not stopping.

And that's what I realised when I opened my eyes the next day. I stared at the ceiling for a long time, my eyes tired, my heart even worse. There wasn't a single second of having forgotten what happened the previous day ... or was it night?

I couldn't tell anymore.

It was almost as if the grief stayed with me all through the night, a familiar heavy hand on my shoulder. Something that I couldn't ignore even when I got used to the feeling.

Another tear slid down my face as I sat up, my hair falling around me like a curtain. Kylee may not have been perfect, but she tried to do all she could to survive. She fell in love. Twice. Once with a man who was never by her side ... And the second time, with a child, that stayed and left with her as if it had been here just to hold her hand the whole way back.

I wouldn't say her choice of person to fall in love with was wrong. Then I would have to negate the greatest sacrifice she was ready to make for her baby. I wouldn't insult it that way. I wouldn't insult her that way.

When I looked up, I saw Rafe, leaning against the wall, his arms crossed. He had a sober expression on his face and when I held my arms out to him, he walked to me and took me in his arms.

"How long was I asleep?" I asked, my voice coming out thick and throaty from sleep and crying.

He just leaned back and pressed a kiss to my forehead. Then, he held out his hand and when he uncurled his fist, I saw something akin to a locket.

I took it in my hands, running my thumb over the smooth metal finish.

"What's this?" I whispered.

"Kylee's ashes now cushion a sapling and a tree will grow in her memory." He said, before gesturing to the locket in my hand with a small tilt to his head, "We save some of the ashes for a dear one to hold with them for as long as they wish to have it."

I looked down and it, blinking away the tears that threatened to slip through. While a part of me was sad that I hadn't witnessed the planting of the sapling, I knew I wouldn't have been able to handle it. I wasn't ready yet. And when I was, the plant that grew for her would be there. It would be a representation of her life. I would go see her.

I curled my fingers around the locket and smiled as I looked up through at him, tears blurring my vision.

"Thank you." I said, reaching behind me to unclasp my chain and add her locket to it. Rafe waited patiently until I was done and when I was, he took my hand in his.

"We need to go somewhere," he said.

I looked at him. I didn't want to go anywhere. I just wanted to stay still and not move. I wanted to stare away in space and have my thoughts show me mercy by getting lost.

"I know it is hard. But I need you to do this for me." He said, squeezing my hands.

I took a deep breath, rubbed my free hand against my face, then nodded. I looked at him.

"Okay." I said.

I thought he would immediately usher me out of the room, but he made me bathe, something I did mechanically and only because he was asking me to. Right now I couldn't care less.

Then, he tried to get me to eat. But my stomach revolted. I don't know why I thought he would give up, but he gave me a steely eyed gaze and had me drink some broth, his eyes flashing in satisfaction as the broth stayed in my stomach and didn't threaten to come out—something I felt he had some play in.

Then, he took me out of the Resting Station, already having a Hover bike ready and waiting for us. I clicked on after him, pressing my cheek to his back and concentrating to breathing evenly when my memories threatened to overwhelm me.

She may not have been family in blood, but I saw her as one of my own. I still remembered the day she stood crying with Jasmine.

My heart constricted again.

Jasmine wouldn't remember her mother or her father... And now her aunt.

I was all she had left.

I bit my lip, breathing sharply through my nose. I felt Rafe's hand land on one of mine, his thumb rubbing gently against the back of my hand and I turned my face into his back, squeezing my eyes shut, but his tenderness sent me over the edge and tears slipped free.

Would they ever stop?

I let out a shaky breath through my mouth and opened my eyes, trying to distract myself from what I was going through by looking at everything around me.

But today I just felt numb to the beauty of nature around me. I could see it. But I didn't have it in me to appreciate it. Just...not now. Not today.

I stared idly at everything that passed by, despite it. The colours swirling and whizzing past us. When Rafe finally stopped, I looked up at the building we had stopped by and my brows furrowed. It looked normal. Like any other building.

I got off the bike, my hand automatically reaching out for Rafe's—who caught my fingers in his grip and entwined them.

"What're we doing here?" I asked, my brows furrowing.

"Settling scores." He said and tugged me forward. I didn't get a chance to ask him what the hell he was talking about, because by the time Rafe had already slid his bracelet over the data pad that had popped up and when the door opened, I stared dumbstruck at who was inside.

Her dark hair was disheveled for the first time in all the times I had seen her. Her eyes were angry and seemed darker against the contrast of her skin. Her jaw was hard and her chin was tilted up in defiance—something that was an achievement given that she was made to stand in the middle of an empty white walled, white floored room with her hands tied to her back.

I assume tied.

"Wha..-"

I couldn't even finish the question. Her eyes snapped to me as Rafe pulled me forward and into the room. I almost shivered at the hatred that glowed in her eyes. I turned my head to look at Rafe, but his expression was wiped clean.

I looked back into her eyes and I realised there was someone else standing a little to her right. Unbound and very much put together. But still angry. Very angry.

The girl was a spitting image of Rafe. My breath caught and my eyes widened.

His sister.

This was the first time I had ever seen her. My eyes flit back uncertainly to the woman who stood in the centre of the room and noticed, now that I was closer that she had a bruise on her right cheekbone. It was only the beginning of the bruise and I winced when I realised that it was going to be bad as time went by.

Rafe stopped and so did I, a good ten feet away from her and her daughter. His mother.

His. Mother.

I didn't think I had it in me to feel anything today. But I did.

Just what ...

"Your...mom?" I asked, my voice sounding timid even to my ears.

He just squeezed my hand in response and I knew this had to be hard on him. I wanted to leave. I wanted to take him far away from this. What were we doing here?

As if he had heard me, he answered, "When one violates the most basic law that stands true for a C'Riel, which is to jeopardise the right of any C'Riel to claim recognition of their Ethrés in society—essentially by placing your life in danger—the prosecution of the criminal is allowed to be taken up by the victims." He said.

I sucked in a breath. He had to persecute his mother. We had to prosecute his mother.

"Which means, we have the right to submit her to any punishment we see fit and the law will abide by it and so will she." He said, then he added as if he knew all the questions I had, "The criminal has the right to the presence of one family member during the time of the prosecution, but they do not possess the right to appeal for the criminal due to the breaking of the Code Law by the criminal. Their sole presence is allowed only as a witnessing of the prosecution and a bid of farewell if so be our punishment."

I stared at him open-mouthed, not even realising that his sister had snapped something at him in their language until Rafe replied to her in a cool time edged with broken glass—in English.

"If we see her punishment fitting to it, then that is what we will punish her with." He said simply.

I swallowed four times, before I looked at his mom. She was staring at her son, but I couldn't read her expression. I spoke a few seconds later.

"Why... Why did you try to kill me?" I asked.

Her eyes snapped to mine and I saw the extent of her disgust with me. I almost shrunk away, before I realised that I had no reason to. She had no power over me. My eyes flit to Rafe. Or did she?

"I do not answer to you." She said, almost spitting the words out.

I licked my lips, trying to collect my thoughts when Rafe spoke.

"Answer." He said, his voice so detached that I would have never guessed this was his mom had I not already known before.

His mother gritted her teeth as she met her son's eyes. Her whole stance softened and I saw the love she had for him shine through. But it didn't move a single cell of sympathy in Rafe. He stood tall and angry, his eyes looking at her only as an offender and nothing more.

She spoke to him in their language and I didn't even bother to try to listen, my thoughts reeling. My eyes slipped to his sister, as my brain tried to grasp the fact that Rafe was talking—in English for my benefit—but I couldn't hear what he was saying.

"How come your father isn't here?" I asked her.

She glared at me. "Facing his prosecution." She said, after a good few minutes of tense silence.

I looked at Rafe. "For?" I asked.

"I did what you humans would call ... Suing?" He asked and I raised my eyebrows.

"You sued him?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper now. It was a wonder he even heard me.

"Illegal authorisation of materials." He said.

Why did their law sound so much like ours? Obviously, more ... Personal in some ways, given that we were allowed to choose her punishment. But ... Still.

"What?" I asked.

"He handed out my serum without my consultation or permission." He explained simply.

"Why didn't you do this before?" I asked.

"I did not have proof before. Not until Kylee ..." His stopped, not wanting to say the word, "Until they could test for the presence of the drugs. Some of the residue of the drug stays in the gamete of the recipient of the drug and is specifically identifiable in males because their gametes needed artificial motility. They found traces of the serum present in the blood of the ..."

He trailed off again, watchful of my response and feelings.

"Baby." I finished for him, closing my eyes and breathing slowly. They had done a postmortem of the child.

"I had to get it done," he said softly, his words only for my ears, "That was the only way for me to prove Freze had administered the drug. I was counting on Freze to confess about my father's involvement in search of a less severe prosecution and he did."

I was running my hand hand over my mouth as I heard his sister yell something at him and his mother cut her off with a sharp reprimand. My head was reeling again and confusion spiralled around within me.

"I need to sit down." I said, leaning against the wall behind me and sliding down to a seating position with my knees folded and pressed to my chest. He came to kneel before me, catching my fingers in his.

It was only when the ringing in my ears subsided that I realised he was talking.

"I am sorry," he murmured, "I am truly sorry."

I caught his face in my hands immediately.

"You didn't do any of this. You understand?" I asked him. His eyes remain resolute to talking the blame and my own narrowed in response.

"This wasn't your fault, Rafe."

"Debatable." he said to me, after a slight pause.

I narrowed my eyes, "I've had a crappy few days. Don't piss me off."

A grin slipped out at that.

"You never were a morning person." He said.

A small snort slipped through as my eyes dropped to my knees, my hands to his. I thought of everything we'd been through the past few days and I realised something.

The one thing we had, that existed even when we entered the world and would remain even after we were long gone was family. It was the only binding that makes you look past everything even when you have no reason to do so. You don't even need to like the person, but you would stand up for them if it came down to it.

Your family could be the worst thing that happened to you, but you would seek their love even then. It was an intrinsic need, because a kind word from them would mean more than a lot of other benefits in life. An arm through yours and a shoulder to lean on in a time of need was more than a blessing. It was ... God himself disguised as one of your own.

I looked up at the man before me and saw someone who was ready to sacrifice that for me if I wish it be ... And I didn't want him to have to do this. I didn't want our start to be tainted by a sad beginning. I'd rather it were lit up with second chances.

Besides, no one should choose between loved ones, because there never is a comparison. Love for one and a love for another are never the same. They are all pure and true and to make someone choose is to put that purity to shame.

Yes. She had made a mistake. But we were family. We accept one another's mistakes and failures. As terrible and ugly and drastic and unreasonable as they were.

I nodded. "I know what I want to do." I said, holding my hand out for him to pull me up.

I held his hand as he moved to my side so that I could see his mother and sister and they could see me.

"I have decided your punishment." I said and continued because I didn't expect a response and didn't get one, "Effective from tomorrow, you will spend every waking moment with me. Every second that you are conscious will go into you realising and accepting that I am your son's ethrés and like it or not, I am family. I want you to get to know me and give me a chance to do the same with you. I want you to get to know us." I turned to look at Rafe, catching his gaze with mine, "And I would like for you to realise that our relationship may not be perfect ... But it's damn near close."

"Also," I added, "The C'Riel you employed to hurt me you will turn over to the Health Care Centre. He needs help."

That man was psychotic. It was there in his eyes, they reflected that he had long past slipped the rope between rationale and insanity.

I watched the surprise flash in his mother expression when she realised I was done, before it smoothened to a blank mask, but his sister was outright shocked and did nothing to hide it.

Rafe spoke then and I looked to him, "You are sure of this?" He asked.

I nodded.

"She is the woman that sought to end your life for the sole reason that she claims that no grandchild of hers would ever me part human."

I just smiled, "Then wouldn't it be a joy to watch her fall in love with the same child she had wanted to reject?"

"If you are doing this for me, do not." he said, warningly.

"I'm doing this for us," I told him, "Our future can't be like this. Without a family. We need people, Rafe."

"Why, so they can plot your death?" He asked, tossing a dark glare his mother's way, before looking back at me.

I shook my head, "We are the beginning of a revolution. If we don't start things right, there's no hope that anyone else will have faith in what we are trying to say."

"Do not expect me to forgive her." He said finally, his jaw still hard.

"I don't." I said smiling and placing a hand on his heart, "But I know you will anyway. Eventually."

He growled something in his language and stalked out, not bothering to close the door behind him.

I looked at the two women in front of me and my smile dropped slowly.

"I know it's hard," I said, slowly, "Rafe and I stand for a lot of things that many of you will maybe never be happy about. But that's something I don't have the power to control, so I can only hope you start to see things differently."

I started to leave when a voice stopped me.

"You have hardly shown mercy on me. Spending every second with you is hardly any better a punishment than anything else."

I turned around to smile at her sadly, "Maybe in time, you won't think that."

I walked away, acting as if I hadn't heard her derisive snort. It hurt that she tried to kill me. It hurt than any child I would ever have—if I could—would probably never be loved by the her the way it was meant to be. But at least, this way, there was a bit of a chance for it to happen.

I climbed onto the Hover bike, lost in my own thoughts as Rafe drove back to the Resting Stations.

When my thoughts led me back to my questions, we had reached. I got off the Hover, waiting for him to stash it back in its place before joining me again. His expression was dark and I knew he needed some time to come to terms with what had happened. Until then, I would steer his thoughts away.

"What did they do to your dad?" I asked.

An almost sadistic smile lifted his lips and I rolled my eyes.

"Stripped of his post and Kitchen duties until he proves himself worthy of being promoted to a higher post."

"Don't sound so happy," I muttered, narrowing my eyes at him.

Rafe shot me a look, "I will be joining him in Kitchen duties. Hardly anything to be happy about."

I stopped walking and faced him. "What? Why?"

"Because I am not District Leader anymore." He said, easily.

My brows shot into space.

"What!?"

"I did create the serum, Amour." He said, smiling sardonically, "Have to be punished for it."

My jaw dropped. "You serious?"

He nodded.

"So nobody knew you created that?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Except my father and some of his men, of course."

Jaw dropped further.

"Like a secret mission?" I asked.

He just shrugged in response while I stared at him.

"Who the hell is District Leader now?" I asked as he linked his fingers with mine again and we walked towards the building and into it.

He made a face, "Ace." He said and I laughed.

"He got away without any punishments?" I asked and Rafe grinned.

"Was not going to get him into trouble, was I?" He asked.

"Why not?" I asked, confused.

"Because when he becomes the District Leader, he gets my room. And I know he will not misuse all those folders of information I have about you. Rather him than anyone else."

"You have to delete that." I said, slapping my free hand against his arm. He just snorted in response and I almost slapped myself.

"I'm serious!"

He tossed me a sly look, "We'll see." He said.

As we entered the elevator and he clicked the digit that lead to my floor, I sobered up, asking the question that was annoying me the most.

"What about Freze?" I asked.

"Isolated imprisonment. He will not see a single ray of light for a long long time." He said.

I stayed quiet, until we reached my room—that he opened—and entered and I settled on the bed with him beside me.

"Will we ever be able to have children?" I asked him.

He seemed surprised by the question. "I assume so, yes."

"But Kylee..." I trailed off, letting out a breath.

"It was different with Kylee. She was poisoned and her child was being turning into a whole different species. That will not be the same with you."

He must've seen the worried expression on my face, because he caught my chin between his thumb and forefinger and tilted my face up to look at him.

"Hey," he said and caught my eyes with his beautiful jewelled ones, "When it happens, we will be ready. I just know it."

I smiled at him, it was slow to come, but it was no less happy. I sighed after that, running my fingers over the small locket that still had a piece of Kylee in it.

"So," I said, looking up at him, "I assume we got our recognition from the DER."

He smiled and nodded, "While my mother had originally planned to have them humour us so that you could be kidnapped, they really did conduct the tests as part of the ruse. And the results showed that we weren't lying. They had no choice but to admit to the truth. They are the ones that found me and revived me from my stupor."

"You were knocked out too?" I asked.

He smirked, "I may have figured out how to stay away when you faint, but I have not yet mastered remaining conscious when you are drugged. Your biofeedback is harder to redirect then, because the effects of the drug on you have already started to affect my senses by the time I can try."

"So they found you ... And they told you that your mom ...?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No. They just told me I needed go find you immediately."

"How did they wake you?" I asked.

He grinned wryly, "Electrocuted me. Luckily you were drugged or you would have probably felt that."

"This time, it is a mark I carry with gratitude. I was glad I found you when I did."

He pressed my fingers to his shoulder when I asked him where they had left a mark. I felt the raised skin and sadness creeped into me. It was unfair that this happened to him. All that he had to go through ...

"Miesha wouldn't have done anything." My eyes flicked up to his and away as I dropped my hand and wrung my fingers together.

He caught them and I looked up at him, stilling.

"Maybe. But she still received her punishment."

I bit my lip. "What was that?" I asked.

"She got information about her brother. But she would never get to see me again."

I pressed my eyes closed. This was what I was hoping to avoid.

"Her brother ... At least she has him." I said.

"Not really. A long time ago, he sought to overthrow my father, having hacked into a large database and learned some well guarded secrets. He wanted to prove that my father was not as indestructible as everyone believed him to be."

"He's not ... Dead is he?" I asked, almost fearfully.

Rafe shook his head, "No. His memory was wiped. He has no recollection of who he was and has started a new life for himself in another District. Meisha gained only to lose."

"Why are you doing this? Rafe? You're punishing yourself." I whispered.

"It was the punishment that I deemed right." He said, his eyes staring right into mine, before he added, "Both for myself and her."

When I opened my mouth, he pressed a finger to my lips. "I did not question your punishment. You do not get to question mine."

We both stayed silent for sometime, our thoughts the only thing filling the spaces between us.

I knew our path wasn't an easy one. It wasn't even one that anyone knew existed. It was one we barely knew existed. But it was still ours. And we would pave the way for our future. For the future of everyone. For my people and his people ... Until they saw themselves as our people.

I looked up at Rafe and remembered something I had heard somewhere. Or maybe I'd thought it up? Or dreamt it? But I always heard it in my mother's voice. Or what felt like my mother's voice would've sounded like had I ever gotten the chance.

You don't need those three words to reassure someone loves you. You can see them in their eyes. In this words. In their silence. In their acts. You just know. And then, the spaces you think you need to fill inside yourself with those eight letters, brim over and flow through you, leaving no part of you empty and untouched.

"You still have to introduce me to your father." He said, breaking through my perfect pearly thoughts and I groaned at the thought, slapping my hands over his face even as a smile spread across my lips—hidden well beneath my palms—from his delighted laughter at my mortification.

God, he was an asshole.

But, what can you do, right?

THE BEGINNING

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*pulls off hat and bows*

Don't know when I'll come back to Wattpad after this. Maybe in another year!

Until then, my Unicorns!

Farewell!

Also. I hope you liked that. Typos? Maybe. Meh. Sorry :P

A very unexpected way to end things I thought. But the Voices do what the Voices want. They wanted to show you that love was possible even at the face of the most terrible hate. And that that's how graceful love was. There are no bounds to its values.

I will always love you.

Thank you for giving me the chance to share Rafe and Amour with you. *passes kisses around*

Stay happy, okay?

And miss me.

XOXOXOX, Me.