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I felt the coldness of a wet cloth on my forehead. It relaxed the pain that bounced from side to side in my head. I could hear whispers from hushed voices. My back was stiff and cold from laying on the transport for who knows how long, I bet Leon does. I try to sit up but the pain in my head spreads down to my back. I wince and lay back down. I place my hand onto the top of my head and feel the heat rise into my hand. What type of drug would do something like this? I want to ask but my throat feels dry and about ready to tare like paper. I blink a few times and try to see what is around me. I see the grey metal walls, the seats, and Leon and Merida. Leon looks a mess with his black hair slick with sweat and his green eyes no longer filled with the youth that I had first seen when he was 'awarded' with being my Keeper.

He doesn't notice my staring as he is in a deep conversation with Merida. I can hear snippets of their conversation.

"You have no clue what they did to her"

"Leon, I get that,"

"Do you? I watched her for the last five years. They treated her like a guinea pig. Making her do whatever they wanted and I had to just stand there and watch them do it. I had to be ok with it," Leon says

I want to interrupt, to stop them from fighting over me. I knew what it was like. I knew how they treated me. Leon had known me since I was eleven. He hadn't even seen half of it. Only five years, not the first eleven. Not the whole sixteen. Leon must have been sixteen when he started with me, so that makes him twenty-one. He doesn't look his age at all, more like an eighteen-year-old that has gotten no sleep and most likely won't get any, anytime soon. I slowly rest my elbows on the ground. Leon looks over at me and I smile wearily. He crunches his back over and sits down beside me.

"How are you doing?" He asked placing his hand on my forehead.

"Fine," I lied, I felt like every organ was being ripped apart then sewen back together, " What type of drug did you give me?" I asked, trying to sit up more. Eventually, I got to a place that was comfortable. 

"Well, it wasn't really a drug I guess? Merida, you come and explain it," Leon says, huffing.

I looked over to Merida, who smiled and somehow walked over here. "Oh honey, calm down. It isn't that hard to explain to the young lady." Merida sweetly rubbed Leon's back with a smile. "It wasn't a drug necessarily more of a tracking device. After your mother passed away the Empire attacked and stole you. Your father had all of the Enclave Intelligence make up different tracking devices that he made every parent put in their child so if the EMpire had attacked again then they would know whose children had been stolen." She paused. " Sadly he couldn't give you one because you had been stolen, he thought that if he couldn't save his daughter then he would try to help save other fathers daughters, and sons." Merida finished.

I kept my mouth glued in a straight line. No one moved, they expected a reaction out of me. All I had ever wanted was to leave the Empire, I never thought about the fact that there even were parents out there for me to have. I wasn't mad at the parents that I kept in my head, from what the Empire had told me about. They said that they were ruthless and abused me when I was a baby so they saved me from them and my payment back to them was for them to experiment on me. They saved me and as a two-year-old that couldn't remember anything it sounded like a fun idea. That was until they started cutting into me, that was until they branded me. That was until they found something they were looking for and decided to take it. 

Tears threatened to flow like rivers down my face but I held them back. "Oh honey," Merida said in a soft voice; wrapping me in a tight hug. I let her cuddle me, I couldn't move anything else. I had a father who actually cared. Even only knowing Merida for a few hours, I could tell she would be my favorite person on this whole ride, besides Leon of course. I felt that Merida just had a special connection with me. Or maybe she is a mother and I never have been 'mothered' before so I can't exactly tell what it is like.

I watched Leon from behind glazed eyes. He gazed over at me and I shrunk back into Merida's tight grasp. I don't know what had happened, I just felt vulnerable and I didn't like the feeling. It's not the Leon was a bad person to feel vulnerable around, just after sixteen years of being held in a prison, you get to picture what you think the outside world looks like.

It was weird having actual colors all around me. The inside of the transport was black, Leon was now wearing a blue cloak over his white Empyrean clothes. Merida with her red hair, green eyes, and blue cloak. I had no clue what I looked like though. Then the realization set it, only hours ago I thought Leon was going to have me killed, and all I wanted to do was see my reflection. And now I finally escaped and somewhere passed death at the moment and all I want to do is see what I look like. It was my one request. The only thing I would ask for. But I don't because I am afraid I won't look like anything I imagined. I could have warts or wrinkles or bruises. I could only have one eye.

Merida pulls away from the hug and now I can breathe. I take a few big gulps of air before I lean back down. I place my arm by my head and watch the two as they smile at me and then return to the conversation they were having before I interrupted them. I wonder what my name was before I was taken, I wonder what my mother's name was and what my father's name is. I wonder what they both look like.

The ride continues and lasts for hours.

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Chapter Question: Who is your favorite character so far?

Opinionated Question: Why do you think the Enclave and the Empire don't like each other?

( Not a question ) Tag three peeps that you think will enjoy this book.

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Word count: 1,154

Started: Feb. 8th, 2021

Finished: Feb. 10th, 2021

Edited: ###########

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