Olivia's P.O.V.

"Good luck, Oli."

"Thanks." I replied grimly, my jaw set. Crystal's eyes seemed dull and lifeless, and there was a fresh pang of guilt for having to leave her. I didn't want to any less than she did. I'd been looking for her for such a long time, and right when we find each other again, I can't stay.

I have stuff to do.

"We'll meet up again," I try to meet her eyes, but hers are looking at her shoes, the wall, anything but my face. When I'd woken up in the same little apartment, Crystal had apologized over and over again.

"I'm not mad. I swear." I grab her hand and squeeze it reassuringly.

"I know." Crystal is fighting tears, I know it. No matter how she acts like she's the tough soul of our duo, I know she's not. She's deeply sensitive. How this must be killing her?

I grimace, and pull her into a hug. "I'll see you."

"I'll be waiting," And like that, she's gone. Closes the door, and instead of a wooden door, it feels like an ocean separating us.

I sigh and stretch as I turn away. There are still scorch marks all over the walls, but thankfully the guy who owns the motel was very sympathetic, or maybe it was because of Crystal's generous amount of money (how she had gotten it, I didn't feel like asking). I catch a sight of a piece of glass and picked it up-probably Crystal's doing.

For the first time in a while, I study my face in the thin, long shard of glass. Narrow, almond-shaped brown eyes, a ski-slope nose, and my face looking unnaturally white and pale. Your typical Asian college girl. What have you.

I pocketed the glass. Pathetic as it was, I needed some piece of Crystal to hang on to. I attempted to mist-dash again, but my powers petered out. Right. Forgot I was completely, entirely drained. I certainly felt like it.

Scuffing a pair of Crystal's old sneakers against the carpeted floor, I walked quickly, trying to look as normal as possible with a baggy old blue varsity jacket and jeans. There was nobody to stare, anyway, but I breathed a sigh of relief as the cool, city air hit my face pleasantly. Nothing like a dose of historic-city-breeze to perk you up.

I thumbed the wad of cash Crystal had given me as a parting gift. Another stab of shame honed in, and I walked more briskly, keeping my head down.

The scent of black coffee trickled into my nose, and I looked up to see the friendly green Starbucks mermaid smiling down at me. Eh, why the hell not?

I sidled into the store. College kids with thick, black-framed glasses typed away at laptops while sipping their drinks, and a group of rowdy high school students, fresh from their Friday school day, were chatting away and attempting to push each other off the seats. Ah, good old Starbucks.

Two people caught my eye as I went to join the line. One guy and one girl, looking around my age, were sitting next to the counter. The girl had dirty blonde hair, sharp green eyes, and was leaning back in her seat, feet kicked up on the table, ignoring the dirty looks from surrounding customers and Starbucks workers. She had her hands stuffed into the front pockets of her blue parka, though I couldn't imagine how she wasn't sweating in this warm environment. Her ripped jeans accented her toothpick-thin legs, and I watched as he slipped her hands from her pockets-her right hand reached for her phone, while the other reached for her green tea drink.

The boy had messy black hair, with a fringe that tickled his eyebrows. He had deep brown eyes and was hunched forward, clicking away at his laptop. He wore black glasses that were identical to Eugene's, pale skin, and had on a green hoodie and jeans. It was a typical scene-two regular teenagers hanging out. But for some reason, there was a twist in my gut when I looked at them. Maybe it was because of wistfulness, or whatever they called it. A normal life seemed extremely appealing, especially now.

I shook my head and walked briskly to the counter. As I did so, I could hear snatches of the boy and girl's conversation. The girl sighed loudly and looked up from her phone screen, glaring at the guy.

"Seriously, are you just going me to make me wait 'till you're done with your game?" She demanded, clearly annoyed. However, I could detect and underlying tone of affection. Evidently they were close, or even dating. But why did I care? Wait-I didn't. I shook my head and joined the line, but my ears still perked to hear the boy's response involuntarily.

"We're at their base. I'll be done in, like, five minutes. Ten if they respawn quicker than I think-oh no, they're all down for at least 30 seconds or more. We can finish this." The guy replied back so fast I had a hard time catching it, and even then, it all sounded foreign to me. Eugene woulda loved this guy.

"You said that twenty minutes ago." The girl rolled her eyes, taking another long sip of her drink.

"Mmm." The guy was clearly distracted, clicking madly on his keys. The girl rolled her eyes and sighed, leaning back and picking up her phone again. The corner of my mouth quirked. Cute.

"Hey, did ya hear the news?" The girl piped up again. I stiffened, halting in my actions. Please don't say it, please don't say it-

"About those two Conduits?"

Damn it.

This time, the guy looked up. "What?" But this was obviously a mistake on his part, as I could hear loud noises from his laptop. The guy looked back to his screen, startled, and then groaned loudly. "Godammit, why did you distract me? I got killed! They're probably gonna swipe the dragon now."

"Pity," The girl said unapologetically. "But you heard, right?"

The guy leaned back and ran a hand through his hair, his undivided attention now on his companion now that the distraction of his game was sparse. "Yea. Is there an update?"

"No, but there's this rumour around that Delsin Rowe is after them." She leaned forward, lowering her voice. "Apparently, all these newspapers and blogs wanted to interview Augustine, ask her about it. But the jail guard flat-out refused. "We got enough of that last time, crazy Korean girl trying to drown her." he said." The girl replied, sounding amused.

I pressed a hand to my lips and pinched my cheek, trying to suppress the growing smile. Huehuehue.

But I continued listening as the line began to move up.

"Know who that sounds like?" The girl's voice was suddenly different, pinched with reminiscence and something like regret.

The boy flinched, as if physically struck. But he nodded anyway.

"Wonder where she's at now." The girl said slowly. I paused as I was going up to the counter. The people behind me gave me strange looks, and the waiting barista was calling for the next person in line.

"Yeah. It's just...she saved us, you know? But she still ended up going to that place," The girl sighed. My heartbeat quickened, my eyebrows raising. The barista was calling to me, "Miss? Miss, are you next in line?" But it sounded muted. The guy's next words sounded crystal-clear.

"Well, that was in the past. After Delsin Rower freed all the prisoners from the D.U.P., I'm sure Hana's happy wherever she is now."

Hana. Hana.

The barista was still calling me, but I whirled around and marched straight out of line. There were some protests from the barista and the people waiting, but I ignored them as I went right up to the girl and guy's table. They looked up at me, but before they could react, I barked out,

"What are your names?"

The boy blinked at me. Glancing at his computer screen, I could see his game character was back alive (and he was possibly losing now), but all interest was lost in his game as he stared at me. I knew he was familiar...

"Why do you wanna know?" The girl cut in. She was glaring at me, probably for so rudely interrupting their conversation.

"Because I'm..." I opened my mouth. I'm Hana Choi. But the words wouldn't come. It was like they were physically stuck in my throat, causing my eyes to burn and my throat to contract painfully. I swallowed hard. The pair was still glaring at me.

"I'm..." I gave up on words. Instead, I did the stupid thing-I showed them my power. I raised a hand, and the melted water from the bottom of an iced bucket filled with drinks rose from the container and into the air. There were exclamations of shock, and then everything went silent as the water curled around my wrist. I flicked my fingers, and the water mimicked a wave motion, sweeping over a lamp in the corner that was giving off a reddish glow. The lamp went off immediately, and the water dissipated. I lowered my arm and looked back down at them.

"I'm Hana Choi."

Disbelief.

Shock.

Anger.

Their faces were a portrait of mixed emotions. I was trembling now, but I held my chin up. I looked them in the eye. An image flashed through my mind-a bright young innocent girl with blonde hair on my right arm, and a black-haired smiling boy on my left.

"Hi Kiana. Hi Caden. Long time no see."

"H-Hana?" Kiana's voice was barely a whisper. The whole restaurant was quiet, giving the moment a very drama-like feel. It was unnatural for a café to be so quiet. I squirmed in my skin. I turned around and began heading straight to the door.

But as I was walking, someone grabbed my shoulder and turned me around. I looked around, glaring defiantly into Kiana's tear-streaked face, before she pulled me into her arms and hugged me.

It took me completely by surprise. Sure, I hadn't exactly planned it out, but I was expecting a stormy exit. I just wanted to face my past and get it over with, but evidently it wasn't over.

"Hana, Hana, Hana." Kiana repeated over and over again, muffled into my shoulder. I was stiff as a statue.

"Get off," I said coldly, but my voice wavered. Kiana obliged, wiping her tears with the heel of her hand. My whole body was shaking, but it completely stopped when Caden stood.

His face was unreadable, and he only stood at his seat, staring at me. I took another deep, shaky breath as I slipped my hands into my pockets, trying to appear more casual then angry. It would be easier.

"Well. You, uh, got taller." I commented as nonchalantly as possible.

Blank stare.

"Yeah." I nodded as if we were having a casual Sunday conversation, despite the fact that I had just shown my Conduit powers and everyone in the café was watching like it was the Hallmark Movie of the Week.

Deep breaths. Don't be afraid.

"So, um, I just wanted you to know," I began slowly, taking a hesitant step forward, keeping my eyes zeroed in on his face. Probably the last time I was going to see it-might as well try and remember it. "That, you know, I'm a different person now. I'm not just that crazy, Korean girl who tried to drown Augustine because I got a little too pissed while I was questioning her. And yes, that was me."

Caden still said nothing, but I heard a person near the window mutter, "What?"

"And, um, I didn't really want to see you again like this. Ya know, I always hoped our big reunion moment would be all cool and me being all tough and walking away, or you know, never happening in the first place. But since it's happening, like, right now..."

I bit my lip, trying to garner any display of emotion or reaction on his face. Nothing. Just a blank face, staring at me.

Always staring.

"You know, I made a really good friend during my time in prison-a time I shouldn't have even served. Her name is Crystal, and the thing is, she understands. She sticks up for me. She doesn't just stand by and let those who don't deserve it get punished. In fact, she definitely doesn't stand by if someone does something right, but they're condemned anyway." My lip began to tremble, but I caught myself quickly and gave Kiana a pointed look before averting my attention back to Caden. "You both could learn a thing or two from her."

There it is-the slight twitch. Caden quivers slightly, but goes back to his stone-still form. Still, it's enough. I've got him.

"I'm going to keep this sweet and short, so I'll just say-I've changed. I'm not that same girl who was crying as she was led into the D.U.P. truck. I've grown up, I've been subjected to things you can't even dream about-but I'm moving on." An image of Delsin, Fetch, Abigail, and Crystal pops into my mind, and for once, I finally smile. "And I have people I can trust."

I look around to the wide-eyed stares from the onlookers, then execute a mock bow to the little audience. "Thank you." I throw one last icy stare in Caden's direction. "And that's all."

I wheel around and begin marching towards the door.

"Hana."

I glance over my shoulder. Caden's voice is choked, and his face is now twisted with regret, guilt, shame. I smile sympathetically, but I turn my eyes back to the front of me.

"The name's Olivia." is all I say as I push open the door and march out into the brisk outdoors.

Maybe I should have given them a chance to speak, have a cup of coffee with them. These thoughts loop through my head as I begin walking quickly through the winding cobbled streets, towards a bus station. Maybe I should have talked with them. We might've become friends again.

I shook my head, dispelling these fantasies. I had faced what had haunted me for many years now. I had tried to forget it, and learned my lesson. I had become wrapped up in those memories, and learned my lesson. I had learned to do neither-remember my past, but don't dwell in it.

And now, it was time to move forward.

I grinned, insides feeling positively electrified, despite not even buying a coffee. I turned the corner to a shadier alley, but I couldn't care less. Today would be a good day-

A hand suddenly encircled my wrist and an arm wrapped around my throat, the breath gettingsqueezed out of me. "Gotcha, you filthy Bio-terrorist." A deep voice hissed in my ear.

Or, maybe not.