"Do you have any idea on just what you have done?" As Siem was firmly growling at us, my head didn't lift from staring at the suddenly fascinating carpet under my feet. Fuck my life. "You could have very well jeopardised yourselves and in turn everyone else."

"Nothing happened. We got some takeaway and went to the park. The end," Seth replies back lazily.

"It's not 'the end'. You could have been targeted and now there might be more substantial evidence for the city council to look into Kae's existence and start asking me questions."

"Pssh. Oz would have seen and deleted the evidence if there were any. Besides, just do what you usually do and bullshit your way through Yue's questions. You are staring to offend me with your lack of faith in me. We were careful, Kae got some much needed fresh air, what's wrong with that? You put me in charge of his wellbeing and I did just that."

Siem went into stone cold silence and I sneak a peek at his face and saw the frosty glare aimed straight at Seth's nonchalant one. "You went out without permission, Seth."

"Not like it's my first time doing it and besides you wouldn't have given us any in the first place. 'Tis easier to seek forgiveness rather than permission' as they say. Now if you'll excuse me, I gonna go look for a nice quiet corner before Oz comes looking for me to grill my hide. Seeya, kid." Seth makes for the door as if nothing was wrong.

"If you knew it will piss off your brother and myself, why don't you avoid these very situations?"

"Where's the fun in that?" and with that, he disappeared behind the whoosh door, leaving me alone with the angry bear.

Siem flops down tiredly in his chair before looking up at me, "At least tell me you enjoyed his so called excursion."

"It was ok." For a flying car joyride around a futuristic city and holograms, I mean.

"And are you feeling refreshed?"

"I wouldn't say 'refreshed'. But it was better than been holed up in your basement for the last few weeks."

Siem actually grins and for once I could see just how tired he is, "The city does not have the functionality to process anything different from what it has. This technologically heavy city is its wonderment and its crutch."

"Are the other Cities like this one?"

"Yes and no. One thing that is different is that no matter what time of year it is, the weather patterns remain stagnant like it cannot move on from the feeling of monsoonal summers. The humidity is irritating. It's kind of a metaphor in a way. The city cannot get over itself....and if anything major happens, well 'panic' is too subtle to describe it."

"Hence the reason why you hide away anything 'weird' or anything that doesn't match its tastes?"

"Sort of. Yue is the Bolin's Leader. She asks way too many questions and favours of me. Of us, I should say. I need to always be a step ahead of her, making sure that the out of her box problems don't appear too quickly on her radar."

"Why?"

"She is he public image of Bolin. She needs to appear as though nothing out of the ordinary is happening. That can only be done if she appears 'clean' to the population."

This is going above my head and my care-factor levels. "So basically you do the dirty work and she can continue the wear white dress of virtue."

"Pretty much. She isn't the only one playing this game and won't be the last. I guess that's politics in a way."

"Sounds boring."

Siem chuckles, "Dangerous and tricky, actually. Which is why we are here and why you aren't in a lab somewhere being dissected for the very thing that makes you usable and twisted into making weapons out of it."

"Thanks for the reminder."

"You are unique, Kae. You are not a Hexer but neither are you completely human. You have the unique background of the Outsiders but your abilities and their manifestation doesn't match the trend."

"Then what am I?"

"Hanna has some theories. Her current favourite one is that you are a Miasmic Beast that just happens to look human."

"...If that's true, my dad has some explaining to do."

Siem shrugs, "It's just Hanna and her wild fantasies. She's currently in a tizzy because Oz let the cat out of the bag that he's scanning for any signs of your family." he sighs.

The mention of them pricks at my heart, "I said I don't want them to be-"

"Used. I know. Hanna is just doing her usual, she won't harm them. She is merely fascinated by how much you all look alike...and the varied effects the Lunar radiation had on you all despite all being directly exposed...also being directly related to one another and how it varied in its manifestation...You get what I mean when I say it's endless. She only wants to understand the how's, who's, where's, why's and what's...believe me, I know how infuriating she can be when she's on one of her knowledge crusades. It makes her blind sometimes, but she isn't one to misuse the information she finds. She just simply needs to know. She is the walking embodiment of curiosity. And won't stop even if she drops dead one day."

I honestly could believe that.

"My point is, even though Oz and Seth are good at their jobs, it only takes that one off focused shot and the masses will panic. You were able to destroy a Queen before it took root in the city, yes. But could you imagine what would happen if Bolin itself knew that not only did something from the Outside slip in but that there is something from the Outside that can destroy it and was allowed in."

"Then how do you explain the airship coming and going all the time?"

"...We don't. Yue does."

And cryptic answer number forty thousand has taken the stand Ladies and Gentlemen. Gotta love the indirect way of being told that I don't need to know.

Just then a hologram flared up in Siem's face and I actually hear him click his tongue, "Speak of the devil. Kae, you are dismissed." He then added as an afterthought, "Don't go out again."

And with that, I found myself outside his office door that was suddenly locked with an 'access denied' voice going off because I was too close to the scanner.

Fucking rude.

I give up and slowly make my way back to my underground lair. Maybe Lady has better news than this lot. As I reach to open the elevator, the door open onto my awkward nightmare.

You've got to be shitting me!

It was the green-eyed monster himself, Rain. And the buffer Mist who immediately smiled when she realised it was me.

"Good afternoon, Kae." She basically pulls me in while her brother avoided me to get off the elevator.

"You won't get Siem at the moment, he's gone and locked himself in his office." I call after him because my mouth was too quick to stop myself form shutting up.

"I'm aware of that." He snaps but then he did something that made my jaw drop in disbelief, just as the doors close. "Thanks...Kae."

He said my name. He. Called. Me. "Kae". Why am I happy? It's like I finally got a response from an un-cute racoon that's been trying to give me rabies for the last few months while stealing all my snacks. I wanted to cry. All it took was saving the sucker from death. Wait. Why does this feel like it's becoming a trend?

"I've been wanting to talk to you for weeks," Mist brings me back from the afterglow of being a sucker for some form of niceness from the asshat. I also realised that she's pressed for the underground tunnels like she knew where I wanted to go.

I look down at her big fairy-green eyes that were identically to her brother's but less mean-looking. "Um, sorry about that."

"No-no, I just want to thank you," she immediately gets to the front of my and bows her head, her soft cloudy brown hair falling over her head and it's the first time I've seen it out...it was normally behind a tight bun pressed against her skull. "Thank you. I don't know what I would have done if I lost Rain. And you did the impossible and got him back and I-I, I don't know what to do to repay." She looks up and was basically in tears and I put my hands up in a defenceless act to try and calm her down. A crying girl makes me really awkward. Someone help! "He told me that you took not just the Hexer away but you took on most of the injuries. He's really thankful, he's just really awkward and I now he needs to say it himself but I can't just leave it to him."

"Um...no worries?" Smooth one, Kae. You're an idiot. "I uh..." I look away and want off this thing. "To be honest I don't remember much and uh...I wasn't completely in control..." I was but wasn't it was like that...other me was there. I remember the eyes that stared directly at me from that footage that Hanna kept from the first time they found me. It sent shivers down my spine even now.

"It doesn't take away from what you've done for him. For us. You still saved him and I know he's a dickhead."

That's putting it nicely.

"But he's my brother and you saved him. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

Just then the merciful doors open up into the dark underground. Thank fuck. "You don't really need to make up for anything, Mist." To be honest it would be your shithead brother but I ain't gonna poke that bear. I've poked enough bears for one day. "I'll uh see you around. I guess. Uh seeya," I couldn't get away from there fast enough.

She also said her goodbye and the doors close, taking her back up.

I need to lie down.