I sat in my cell. It was completely dark which I appreciated. There were no bars, it was a solid room. The only thing in the room was a dark clock that glowed an erie green. I sat against the wall, one leg bent the other straight. I slung my arm over my knee and leaned my head against the wall. I closed my eyes. My mind was spinning. "No, you're not insane. You just aren't alone." My mind had told me. What does that mean? Surely it should be easy to figure out, considering it was my brain. Was it my brain? How come it was so easy to act like Night? Surely this should all be obvious! My thoughts were interrupted by the metal door swinging open. Light poured into the room and I pulled my hood over my head. I saw the silhouette of a man, but couldn't make out any details.

"Why do you guys always do that? Pull your hood further over your head, I mean." The man asked. I shrugged.

"Force of habit, I guess. This way we always have a shadow to find comfort in." I replied. The man snorted.

"Never heard of a shadow giving comfort." He said. I shrugged again. The man cleared his throat.

"Anyway, uh, Night. Day would like to speak with you." He said. I groaned.

"I told you guys, I am not Night! I'm just a normal Shadow Warrior!" I insisted.

"Well, Day wants to make sure." He said. I got to my feet, my sword clinking against the metal floor. The man eyed it.

"How did you get that back?" He asked. I looked down at the sword in my hand.

"Oh. When I sat down my weapons appeared again. It was weird." I said. The man grunted and I put the sword away. He led me down the bright hallways. We passed hundreds of men in golden armor.

"How do you afford all this gold?" I asked the man. He glanced at me and laughed.

"It isn't actually gold. That would be silly. It's iron dipped in the Sun." He said.

"Because that is so much easier than gold." I said sarcastically. To my surprise, the man put his hand on my shoulder, laughing.

"You know, I hope they don't kill you. You're okay. For a Shadow Warrior." He said, nudging me with his elbow. I rolled my eyes. "That's a pretty stupid name. Shadow Warrior." He said. I pushed him, lightly enough that he would know I wasn't attacking. I barely even moved him.

"Because Daytroopers is the most amazing, most original, most creative name in the whole world." I said, my tone dripping with sarcasm. The man laughed again, but stopped abruptly when we came to a double door. He turned to me.

"You have to convince him you aren't Night." He said. I nodded.

"I'm not. Not consciously, anyway." I said, thinking back to the argument I had with myself and how easy it was to act like Night. The man bit his lip.

"Just try. I've never been in favor of the killing of the Shadow Warriors, but...." He trailed off into a sigh. "When Day wants something, he gets it." He finished.

"Tell me about it." My mind said. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and nodded at the man.

"You know, I still don't know your name." I said. The man smiled.

"Austin. And yours?" He asked. I looked away. I never tell people my name. No one has ever asked.

"Shadow." I replied. He nodded. And gestured to the door.

"Good luck, Shadow." He said. I smiled at him and opened the door. When I closed the door behind me, I was instantly grabbed by another group of Daytroops. They took my sword and pulled back my hood. They cuffed my hands behind my back then shoved me forward. I stumbled and just barely stopped myself from falling over. I looked up and my jaw dropped. It was Day. His eyes were a glowing gold, his hair was gold as well. He wore golden armor and a golden crown. His entire being seemed to glow. He also wore a look of disdain on his face.

"Night." He snapped.

"Day." I snapped back. Wait a minute, I didn't say that. I shook my head. "No, I'm not Night!" I said. Day pursed his lips.

"Well, we will find out for sure in a minute." He said with a hint of malice in his eyes. He got to his feet and began pacing. "Night hates to be defeated, trapped, restrained." He stopped pacing and looked at me. "Humiliated." He spat. Anger flared within me. Anger that wasn't mine. I clenched my fists, my wrists rubbing against the metal cuffs. Day began pacing again. "Something else Night cannot stand is, well, daylight. I have the perfect way to determine wether you are in fact Night or not." He said. The Daytroops moved forward and tried to grab me, but I twisted away.

"That's hardly fair! Every Shadow Warrior hates that stuff!" I exclaimed. Day raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, is that so?" He asked. I nodded quickly. He laughed.

"When I say daylight, I mean DAYlight. As in, my light." He said. I gulped. "There is a difference. My light doesn't effect a regular Shadow Warrior as much as it effects Night, so if what you say is true, then you will be fine." He said. I should have felt relieved, but I didn't. My insides felt like they were on fire. My stomach seemed cold, and my heart was beating way too fast. I was dragged over to another room and strapped to a table. I struggled and punched whenever I could, but I was outnumbered. I was strapped to the table and the Daytroops fanned out before me. Day walked over to me. I didn't look at him. I could see the light already, even though I wasn't looking at him.

"If you aren't Night, then look at me." Day crooned.

"Yea, coward, look at him!" One of the Daytroops shouted. I could see where this was going. I closed my eyes tight, trying to take deep breaths. I heard Day walk around the table.

"So small, so weak, it's really rather pathetic." He said.

"Small!"

"Weakling!"

"You are pathetic!"

I bit my lip, trying to suppress the rising anger within me. Me? Were they calling me weak? Small? Pathetic?!?

"We are strong." My mind said.

"They are wrong." I thought.

"They need to be taught a lesson." My mind agreed.

"One they won't forget." I thought.

"LOOK AT ME, NIGHT!" Day shouted, grabbing my chin with one hand and forcing it in his direction. His hand was glowing and it burnt me. I let out a scream of rage, my eyes snapping open, my restraints flying across the room. I jumped to my feet, sword materializing in my hand, black flame dancing across my free hand.

"I am not NIGHT!" I screamed. I threw the flame at the Daytroops feet and they were thrown backwards. I turned on Day and swung my sword at him. Darkness shot out the tip and Day was catapulted across the room. Before he collided with the wall, he stopped himself and hovered in the air for a second before sending a ball of fire flying at me. I jumped out of the way, skidding across the polished floor. I scrambled to my feet and came face to face with Day. He looked angry, but then his face relaxed. A smile crept onto his lips.

"Are you sure about that?" He asked. My insides were still churning, hot then cold, hot then cold. I felt sick. My vision was hazy and I felt like I was going to fall over. I leaned against my sword.

"I....I'm....but....not.....Night....how...." I struggled to make sense of anything. My thoughts were all over the place.

"Attack him!" A voice in my head said.

"No! Get out of my head!" I thought. I didn't realize I had said that out loud until I felt Day's hand on my shoulder.

"Are you okay?" He asked. I shook my head vigorously. Not in a reply to his question, I could hardly hear him. My head was throbbing and my heart was beating out of rhythm.

"Let me take control!" The voice in my head said.

"No! Leave me alone!" I cried. The voice laughed.

"The one Shadow Warrior in history to not gladly host me, and she is the last one." The voice said. My vision blurred and the moon flashed across my eyes. When I blinked, though, I was looking at Day, his face full of concern. The pain in my chest had subsided and I could think and see clearly again. I took deep shuddering breaths.

"Night?" I thought to myself, careful not to say it out loud. The voice in my head chuckled.

"Took you long enough."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Things did not go the way I thought they would. I thought that once they learned Night was inside me, they would kill me. But quite the opposite happened, in fact. They took me to the hospital and healed my wounds. My right wrist was throbbing and if I moved it it hurt. I felt sick to my stomach when I looked at it. The doctor took my wrist gently, clucking his tongue.

"Broken. From breaking the restraints, I'd say." He said. I looked away as he fixed it up. I rubbed the thin fabric of the hospital bed between my fingers. I was silky and soft to the touch. The Daytroop facilities were way more enhanced than any of ours. Ours had more of a monastery feel to it. Stone and things like that. After the doctor finished putting a cast around my wrist, he injected a needle into the soft part of my arm just below my wrist in between the veins. It had sharp burning sting to it.

"Ow! What was that for?" I snapped. "Sorry," I amended, "it scared me, that's all." The doctor smiled.

"Not to worry. It will speed up the healing process. You are free to go, now. Summer will show you to your room." He said, waving me off with one hand. I slid off the table and looked at the door. A girl my age opened it. She had long, blonde hair, tied up in a braid. She had forest green eyes and a sort of nervous smile on her face. I fought the urge to pull up my hood and walked over to her, getting used to the added weight on my arm. I smiled at her and she seemed to relax a little.

"Summer." She said, holding out a hand for me to shake. I raised my hand to grab it, but there was that awkward moment when we both realized that I couldn't shake with my right. We quickly switched hands, laughing a little, and shook.

"Shadow. Night." I said. I made a face when Night contradicted me.

"This is my body, let me talk." I thought to her. She snorted.

"Nice to meet you Shadow." Summer said. I smiled to her in thanks for understanding my predicament. She led me out the door and down the hallway. As we walked, I heard someone call out my name.

"Hey, Shadow!" It said. I turned around and saw Austin, running down the hallway towards me.

"Hey, Austin." I said, looking away. He moved so he was looking at me.

"So.....how did it go?" He asked. I rubbed my neck, glancing at Summer.

"Well....I didn't get killed...uh.....Day seems to believe me.....and.....well.....we learned that I am, not on my own accord, a host for Night." I said hurriedly. Austin blinked a few times.

"Uh...um...huh?" He stumbled. I gazed at him apologetically, searching for words to describe the predicament I was in. It didn't help that Night was screaming inside my head.

"That dumfounded fool should be ashamed of himself! Why he...." Night was shouting. I tried to block her out. Summer came to my rescue.

"We need to get going, Shadow, so Austin, if you could excuse us...." Summer said, motioning with her eyes for him to move. Austin snapped out of his trance and jumped out of the way. I pulled my hood up so that it covered my face and rushed after Summer. She led me to a room and motioned me inside. I walked in and took in a sharp breath. The minute my feet crossed the threshold, darkness spread from where my feet were to the rest of the room, turning everything white black and tinting the windows so the light wouldn't come in.

"Whoops." I said, glancing at Summer. She let out a laugh.

"No kidding. At least you don't have to wear your hood in here." She laughed. I gave a timid smile and walked around the room.

"Uh, Shadow?" Summer asked. There was a hint of fear in her voice.

"Yes?" I asked, turning to her.

"Um, the trainer was wondering if...um... when you are better, of course, if you could, well, if you could show the kids....uh....what Shadow Warriors wer- I mean uh, are like." She stammered, avoiding my gaze. She was afraid I would attack her. Night wanted me to. Badly. And for once I agreed with her. I was going to be some training dummy, a relic from the past that the kids could study. I swallowed my anger and forced myself to steady my voice.

"Of course, Summer. The moment I am healed." I said, straining to keep my voice level. Summer looked at the ground and nodded before leaving the room. I sighed when the door closed. It wasn't Summer's fault, she was just relaying the message. The Daytroops were trying to heal me, and I guess if they weren't going to kill me they might as well get as much out of me as they could, right?

"You got me on your side, Shadow. They are going to fear Shadow Warriors more than ever." Night snarled. I didn't say anything, but I agreed and she knew it. My grip tightened around the hilt of my sword materializing in my hand. They wanted to know what Shadow Warriors are like? So be it.