Hey everyone! Last time, Ren activated her Fire Shackles for the first time, but she's still living in fear of Redwood, especially after yelling at Rosalie in front of everyone! But fortunately, she has new friends who want to help and encourage her. In this chapter, she finally learns how to use her powers, and she learns more about Katelyn. What will happen next?

Chapter 35

To Be Free

"This was a bad idea." Ren said flatly, staring at the pile of scrap in the middle of a forest clearing with dread. Following Ren's decision to embrace her new abilities, Harley and her friends had taken her to a clearing in a forest on the edge of Oakworth, Nathan's home village. Nathan was busy leaving the clearing, coming back a few seconds later with an armful of junk and dumping it on the ground then going back to get more, while Tom helped and Past Katelyn eyed the junk with just as much apprehension as Ren.

"Why do you have all this, Nathan?" Past Katelyn asked, nudging the pile with her foot.

"Katelyn, this is me we're talking about." Nathan said, dumping more metal on the pile and taking off his gloves, satisfied with the pile. "The better question is why wouldn't I have it?"

"Oh, yeah! Your father is a mob boss." Tom remembered, also taking off his gloves.

"Nah, that's my uncle. My dad does all the number crunching and business stuff."

"Same." Harley said. "Our dad is teaching me how to run businesses, and Ren is learning about leading a village." Harley looked down at Ren. "Right?"

"Huh? Oh, um, uh huh." Ren nodded, momentarily distracted from the ominous, gleaming pile of scrap metal. Did it have to be so shiny? And dangerous? And sharp? And shiny? Wait, did she think that twice?

"'Course, it'll be a miracle if we get back on our feet. What with…you know…" Harley trailed off, looking away with sadness and frustration on his face. Ren had a similarly downcast expression.

"Hey, chin up! You could easily turn things around." Past Katelyn said happily, trying to keep optimistic.

"Sure." Ren mumbled in agreement, but anybody could tell that she didn't sound the slightest bit sincere.

"Right! That's everything!" Nathan dusted off his hands, changing the subject. "I grabbed some junk from my dad's shelter so you don't have to worry about breaking anything."

"But what about breaking us?! Some of this stuff looks sharp." Past Katelyn protested.

"It'll be fine, I've got goggles." Nathan said dismissively, already wearing a pair of skiing goggles.

"That's not going to help at all!" Past Katelyn exclaimed angrily, while the present Katelyn and Toshiro looked on.

"What made Nathan think this was a good idea?" Toshiro asked Katelyn, baffled at what was happening.

"I have no idea." Katelyn said with a shrug. "Being friends with Ren has taught me to never question anybody's logic. Though it wasn't until Ren became a teenager that her thinking really took a change. Here, she's…" Katelyn trailed off, indicating the meek and nervous Ren.

"A wallflower, yeah." Toshiro agreed. Even though he had long accepted that this was Ren, it still felt like he was staring at a stranger rather than the past version of one of his friends. Sure, the weirdness was there, but where was the rest? Where was the snark? The unnatural energy? The confidence? Is this what Redwood did to her? Every time Toshiro thought about this, he couldn't help but feel less and less sympathy for Redwood. While their destruction was awful, in Toshiro's opinion, it was definitely deserved.

"So um…what do I do?" Ren asked, cautiously approaching the pile.

"Well like we said before, you might be telekinetic." Nathan explained

"Why do you think that?" Ren asked, curious on what they're basing this on.

"Don't think I didn't notice how that fist stopped the other day." Tom said. "You wanted it to stop, and it did. They couldn't move a muscle. You must have a power to move things without touching them."

"That and you destroyed your room with a sneeze yesterday." Harley quipped in.

"Right." Ren looked away, embarrassment clear on her face and regretting her curiosity.

Now that sounds familiar. Toshiro thought, remembering this was how his Ren discovered, or rather "discovered", she had powers. Altair must have been very thorough when altering her memories; no normal person would forget doing something like that before.

"So, all you gotta do is move this…" Nathan pointed at the pile. "Without touching it."

"Eh?" Ren blinked.

"And I'll be over here." Nathan said, suddenly several feet away and adjusting his goggles.

"That's not very encouraging." Tom said bluntly. "Ignore him, Ren. We believe in you."

"I've got spare goggles!" Nathan yelled, waving an arm holding extra.

"I need some!"

"Me, too!"

"Gimme!"

"?" Before Ren could react, her friends and her brother were in the distance, trying on their goggles.

"We're ready!" Past Katelyn shouted at Ren, waving at her to begin while wearing some heart shaped sunglasses.

"You can do it!" Tom cheered, wearing a pair of science lab goggles.

"Why do mine have a snorkel?" Harley mumbled, adjusting his diving goggles so that the snorkel wouldn't go in his mouth.

Oi, oi, oi. Ren thought, sweat dropping.

"Okay..." Ren slowly approached the pile as though she were expecting something to jump up and stab her. "Moving it without touching it..." Ren took a deep breath and held the palms of her hands over the pile. She glared at the metal and junk, willing it to move with her eyes, and picturing what she wanted them to do. Like there were tiny arms shooting out of her eyes, grabbing onto that big shard of metal sticking out of the middle of the pile and lifting it up. Suddenly, the pile moved.

"Eek!" Ren squeaked, flinching away from the pile.

"What's wrong, Ren?" Harley shouted.

"It moved!" Ren answered, making herself shout from her brother being so far away. "Are you sure there are no animals in here, Nathan?!"

"Positive!"

"So…" Ren looked back at the pile. "I did this?" There was a silence as Ren stared at the pile again. When Ren looked closer as she concentrated, she thought she saw some white stars shining around the metal. Or maybe that was a stray sunbeam peaking through the clouds and catching the metal. Yeah, that's probably-

"Look, it's working!"

"Huh?" Ren blinked herself back to Earth after hearing Past Katelyn's voice. Her eyes widened. Without realising it, she had made a shard of metal levitate out of the pile and float in front of her face. Ren waved a hand underneath the shard. Then above it. Then below again just for good measure. The stars weren't sunlight; they were magic. She was doing it. She could use magic!

"She really is magic." Tom whispered in awe. Harley, while used to Ren being "special", was just as amazed at this supernatural act.

"I knew you could do it, Ren!"

"Yeek!" Ren squealed, startled by Nathan's yell. The shard went rocketing towards Nathan, and he ducked with a yell just in time for the shard to whistle above his head and lodge itself into a tree trunk, making a TWANG noise very similar to flicking a ruler on the edge of a table.

"We should probably work on your control next." Harley said.

"Agreed." Nathan said, his voice cracking from the near-death experience.

"…" Ren said nothing, too distracted by what she did to notice what they were talking about. Should she try it again? She looked at the pile, specifically a red porcelain shard. Ren pointed her palm at it. It wriggled and lifted out of the pile, hovering in front of Ren's face again. Ren beckoned the shard to her right. It moved an inch. She indicated to her left. It moved again. Seeing this, Ren's face went from nervous to awestruck. Ren glanced at the pile. She pointed her palm at it again. But this time, she wasn't focusing on a single shard. Instead, she lifted half the pile up, and they, along with the porcelain shard, started circling around Ren in a trail of scrap and white stars like electrons rotating around an atom.

"Huh. Guess she already has it." Harley said matter-of-factly as though this was normal, while Ren's friends watched in amazement. Even Past Katelyn found herself lifting up her heart shaped sunglasses for a better look. Ren, meanwhile, was starting to get more confident in herself as the debris flew around her, and she wore a confident smile to match. She opened out her palms so they pointed to the sky and slowly…slowly…raised her arms up. As her arms got higher, her feet started to leave the ground until Ren was levitating off the ground. Her body was shining with the white telekinetic stars, and the force of her magic was so powerful, it was starting to shake the leaves of the trees surrounding the clearing.

"…" Toshiro silently watched Ren float higher into the trees, stopping when she was about ten metres in the air. He couldn't see much of her face from where he was standing, but even then he could see the awe and joy on Ren's face at discovering her talent. Or maybe it was the fact that her friends had given her the confidence to do this.

"Hold on." Toshiro realised something after thinking about Ren's friends. He turned to Katelyn. "Didn't you tell me you had no idea about her abilities?"

"Yeah?" Katelyn said, confused.

"And you said you didn't know Ren had her hair cut off, yet earlier we saw you knew the whole time."

"And your point is…"

"My point is you lied!" Toshiro almost exclaimed

"Hey, hey, I had a good reason for lying. We all did." Katelyn said defensively, bringing her hands up in a placating manner. "We couldn't let Ren know we already knew about her powers; we'd risk her remembering everything if we did. So we all agreed to keep it a secret. But now that Ren is aware of her abilities, we don't have to pretend anymore. To be honest, it's a relief."

"I guess that makes sense." Toshiro agreed reluctantly.

"And as for the hair thing, I couldn't tell the damage was that bad from the photo. Seriously, camera phones were terrible back then. Plus, in my defence, I've been lying about all of this for so long, it's almost second nature. Just ask any of Ren's friends, and they'd all agr-"

"Alright, okay, I get the message." Toshiro interrupted, pinching the bridge of his nose. All these secrets were giving him a headache. He had completely forgotten how this conspiracy could affect those involved. It must have been stressful for Katelyn, Harley and Ren's other friends to keep all this from her. They were just kids! Toshiro couldn't imagine how hard it must have been to keep something this huge a secret for this long. He removed his fingers from his eyes and looked directly at Katelyn. "But we're alone in the past together, and if I want to find out what led to Ren's amnesia, I need you to be honest with me from now on."

"Fine by me." Katelyn shrugged. "What exactly do you need to know? I mean, besides the Blank Fortnight."

"There is something that has been at the back of my mind since I met you."

"And that is?" Katelyn questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Why did you follow Rosalie's orders to bully Ren? And how did you get away from the Thornton's?"

"Because of my sister." Katelyn answered straightaway, but with a touch of sadness in her tone.

"Your sister? Isobel, was it?" Toshiro asked. Katelyn nodded. "What happened?"

"You'll find out soon enough. If that diary …" Katelyn pointed at the pink fluff poking over the edges of Toshiro's jacket pocket. "…is accurate, then I'll be telling Ren soon enough."

"Which date is that?" Toshiro took the diary out of his pocket, flipping through the pages to reach the current date. "Can you show me?" He walked up to Katelyn to hand the diary over.

Snap!

"Eh?" Ren looked off to her left after hearing that sound. Unfortunately, that distraction broke her concentration, and Ren and her floating debris wobbled in the air. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA!" After some flailing and yelling Ren fell towards the ground, along with the pieces of the pile. Harley, acting fast, leapt over the log, ran towards Ren and caught her in his arms. He quickly jumped back to avoid the sharp debris from falling to the ground, some sharp enough to actually become embedded into the mud.

"And that's why we should wear goggles." Nathan said, gesturing to his own

"Goggles wouldn't help them there!" Tom exclaimed, slapping the back of Nathan's head.

"Are you alright, Ren?" Harley asked, setting Ren back onto her feet and taking off his goggles.

"Somebody's here." Ren said fearfully, clinging onto Harley's shirt.

"What? Somebody saw?" Past Katelyn took of her sunglasses and looked at the trees, wondering where the intruder is.

"I heard something." Ren said, raising a hand up. "Over there." Ren pointed in the direction she heard the sound. And Toshiro immediately realised that Ren was pointing straight at them. This wasn't good. Did something make them visible? Could Ren hear their conversation?

"Here?" Tom walked over to where Ren was pointing, and where the time travellers were standing. Tom stopped on the edge of the trees, looking left and right and glancing in all directions, while Toshiro and Katelyn didn't move a muscle for fear of making a sound. Eventually, Tom's guard relaxed and he announced to the rest of the group "I don't see anything."

"But I heard a twig snap. Somebody walked by here!" Ren insisted.

"It must have been a rabbit or a squirrel. There're loads here." Nathan quickly waved it off.

"Nathan's right. Whatever was there is gone now." Harley said, placing a hand on Ren's head to calm her down.

"Yeah, I…I guess you're right. Sorry for worrying you." Ren apologised quietly, feeling foolish.

"Hey, don't worry about it." Tom accepted the apology, walking back to the group.

"Phew!" Katelyn sighed. "That was close. What a coincidence that an animal walked near here, right Toshiro?"

"Yeah. What a coincidence." Toshiro half-heartedly agreed, distracted by his thoughts. This was all giving him a bad feeling.

Ren heard something in this direction. Toshiro thought. He looked around him. There's nothing in sight. So what could have…? Toshiro stopped his thoughts when he looked down and noticed a dry twig underneath his shoe. He moved his foot back. It had been snapped in two. Was that always broken? Or maybe… Toshiro thought back to when he was going to hand the diary to Katelyn. He had to walk a few paces to do so. Could he have…?

"…" Toshiro looked at his hand. It still looked ghostly. And Katelyn looked transparent, too.

Could it be that Ren's Cielvian energy clashed with mine? Toshiro theorised. He remembered how Ren activating her Fire Shackles made his hand solid temporarily. Right now, Ren's energy is immature and unstable, but it's definitely stronger than mine. Somehow, her energy is overpowering my own, making Katelyn and I solid. The more energy she uses, the more solid we become!

"This isn't good." Toshiro muttered to himself, realising that Ren using her Cielvian abilities could potentially expose him and Katelyn to everyone in the past.

"Huh? What was that?" Katelyn asked.

"Oh. Nothing." Toshiro said dismissively.

I can't let Katelyn know yet. She'll only panic. But at any rate, we'll have to be more cautious than ever.

"I think we can call it a day on this." Harley decided. "Ren and I have some crafting to do."

"I have to head home and help my parents with some…things." Past Katelyn trailed off at the end of the sentence.

"And I have a PlayStation at home begging to be played." Tom looked to Nathan. "Nathan, you in?"

"Are you kidding me?!" Nathan exclaimed, backing away from the group. "I just found out my best friend is magic!" Nathan paused. "Wait…that means magic is real." Nathan went silent, a blank stare on his face. He pulled his goggles off his eyes and dropped them on the ground. "Oh, my God, magic is real." Nathen muttered. He turned around and began to stiffly walk away. "If anybody needs me, I'll be in my room rethinking everything I know." The rest of the kids said nothing as he ambled away silently.

"He'll be fine." Ren said eventually. "Maybe."

"He didn't pick up his junk." Past Katelyn pointed out.

"Meh." Tom shrugged, taking off his goggles. "Not our problem."

"We should at least clean this up." Past Katelyn bent down to pick up a shard.

"I got it." Ren pointed her palms at the debris. In a heartbeat, all the shards shimmered before rising off the ground and spinning in a brief spiral before landing in the middle of the clearing in a neat pile. The kids silently stared at the pile, except for Ren, who stared at her hands instead.

"How did you do that?" Tom asked, amazed at how easily a novice used her new abilities like it was nothing.

"I don't know, I just thought I…" Ren trailed off. "I mean…I really felt like I could…and I did." Ren looked at Tom. "Is this what "confident" means?"

"Pretty much." Tom answered with a smile.

"…" Ren looked at her hands again.

Sweet. Ren thought, and Toshiro could clearly hear that one thought, along with seeing a hint of a smirk on Ren's face. There it was. There was the sign that the real Ren was in there, just waiting to come out.

"Listen, Ren." Past Katelyn said, getting Ren's attention. "Meet me by the tunnel behind your house tomorrow."

"Sure, but why?" Ren asked.

"There's something I have to tell you. Or rather…to show you." Past Katelyn said cryptically.

Oooo, cryptic. Ren thought, intrigued.

"You know about the tunnels?" Harley said. "But that's something only the head families know about."

"Rosalie told me about them." Katelyn explained, a dark expression on her face from mentioning Rosalie's name.

"Oh, that makes sense." Harley accepted the explanation easily.

"Meet me there at half twelve tomorrow afternoon. I'll explain everything to you."

"Everything?" Ren repeated, puzzled.

"Everything." Katelyn nodded.

"…" Ren was silent, contemplating what exactly that could mean.

"Do you still have that diary handy?" Katelyn asked Toshiro

"Right here." Toshiro held up the diary, his finger between the pages to save finding the date again.

"Let me see." Katelyn reached out to take it, and Toshiro placed the diary in her hand. Mentally noting how tacky the diary was, Katelyn skimmed through the writing.

"So you can read that?" Toshiro asked.

"No, but I can make out enough to get the jist of it." Katelyn glanced at Toshiro. "Do you have a hard time reading it because you're Japanese?"

"What? No." Toshiro answered. "Well, a little bit, but it's not my fault Ren's handwriting is terrible." Katelyn snorted at that comment.

"Can't argue there." Katelyn gripped the corner of the page. "You need to go to the next day. Then you'll know why I did what I did." Katelyn turned the page. Silence. She looked around, expecting the scene to change, but nothing. They were still in the forest with the Conner's and their friends as they started to leave to go home. "Nothing's happening."

"It must only work if I do it." Toshiro said, taking the diary from Katelyn and turning the page.

"There we go!" Katelyn said with relief at seeing the forest scene go white. "I was starting to think it was broken."

"The diary is fine, but my Cielvian energy can be interfered with. We saw it with that Feather that appeared in town; it cancelled out my abilities somewhat and made us visible to it."

"Oh, so THAT'S why you made us hide!" Katelyn realised.

"Precisely. We don't know if that'll happen again, and there's no telling what could happen if we become solid here."

"Yeah, but there's no way of that happening." Katelyn brushed Toshiro off casually. "Unless we see somebody in the past with a crazy amount of Cielvian energy, we'll be fine!"

"Right." Toshiro agreed reluctantly, not wanting to panic Katelyn about how he was made solid briefly earlier. If being exposed to strong Cielvian energy for a minute solidified him long enough to snap a twig, then how long would he and Katelyn be solid for if the exposure was longer and stronger? Toshiro couldn't help but feel a chill go through him at that thought. For some reason, he just got a bad sense of foreboding about this whole time travelling situation.

"Hey." Toshiro felt a nudge on his side. "We're here." Katelyn gestured to a house standing in the middle of a row of several houses, all of them looking pristine. But, when Toshiro looked closer at this picturesque house, he couldn't help but recognise it.

"This is…" Toshiro started.

"Yeah. It's my house. You saw it when you went to Redwood."

"So we're in Redwood before…" Toshiro stopped himself from finishing that sentence, unable to say "Before it was destroyed". Just glancing at Katelyn's expression was enough to show that she couldn't even stand to think about it, much less hear those words. Toshiro surveyed his surroundings. All the houses looked well-kept and clean, and on each one, he saw signs of the Thornton family's symbol. On some buildings, it was engraved on door frames or fence posts. On others, there were statues or ornaments with roses on them. Or, they had roses growing in the gardens. Everywhere he looked, there was some kind of rose on their property. Toshiro scowled to himself. On the one hand, it was a nice change to see Redwood before it was destroyed, since the last time he went to the village it was full of burnt ruins and dead bodies, with a foul smell to match. On the other hand, after learning what one village did to one little girl, Toshiro wanted nothing more than to see the damn place burn for their sins. He knew it was a dark thought, and a large part of him was ashamed to think it, but the other part of him didn't care. They had hurt somebody he cared about, and he wanted them to pay for it.

"And here we come now." Katelyn pointed out the past version of herself peering out from an alleyway and looking left and right.

"All clear." Past Katelyn said to the alleyway behind her before stepping out, and following here was a very nervous Ren. While her hair was in braids again, her outfit was different than the other day. This time, she wore plain blue jeans and a red long sleeved hoodie zipped up to hide the shirt underneath, and the hood was pulled over her head to hide her face, but left her braids hanging out the front.

"Uuuu, I don't like this." Ren whined nervously, looking left and right for any Redwood citizens.

"It's Sunday, Ren. Everyone's indoors by now." Katelyn reassured. She smirked. "And besides, you look more suspicious with your hood up than down."

"It's so they don't see my face." Ren said, tugging the edges of the hood to make sure it hid her identity.

"…" Hearing this, Toshiro glanced at Katelyn's clothes. She was still wearing her blue hoodie from earlier today. And Toshiro knew he was still wearing his hooded cardigan. Now that he knew becoming visible was a possibility, at least they were both prepared for that scenario and could hide their faces in case anyone they knew saw them; he hadn't seen many time travel movies, but he knew that if they were seen in the past then it could spell disaster.

"Would you rather people see Ren Conner or a chav?" Past Katelyn asked. Pause.

"Down it goes." Ren instantly pulled her hood down revealing her face. "Those guys are scary."

"Katelyn, what's a chav?" Toshiro asked, still not used to some of the slang used here.

"Ask Ren." Katelyn said quickly, not wanting to go into that topic.

"Hey, don't avoid the subject!" Toshiro exclaimed, realising he was being brushed off like he were a child asking his parents were babies came from.

"This isn't something I should explain to a kid." Katelyn said, thinking this would placate him, but hearing the word "kid" seemed to tick Toshiro off even more.

"Oh, and I guess puberty is!" Toshiro yelled sarcastically, a very prominent anger mark throbbing on his head.

"Uh, hey, something's happening!" Katelyn very quickly changed the subject, pointing out Past Katelyn and Ren opening the gate to Katelyn's house. Toshiro looked from the kids to Katelyn, stammering incomprehensibly, before giving up with an exasperated sigh and letting his arms flop to his side. Why does everybody have to treat him like a kid? He's a captain, damn it!

"Which finger is it again? This one or this one?" Ren asked Past Katelyn, pointing at two different fingers.

"It's this one." Past Katelyn indicated, pointing out the second finger on her left hand. "Think of it like the vowels. The thumb is A, the next finger is E…"

"So these are I, O and U!" Ren caught on, pointing out the remaining fingers before finishing on the little finger.

"That's it!" Past Katelyn confirmed. "Oh, but remember to have your palm face her when you do that part otherwise it might confuse her."

"Ah." Ren said, looking at her palm then the back of her hand and back again. "Does it have to be the left hand?"

"Whichever makes you comfortable. Again, all that matters is she can see the palm."

"Got it." Ren nodded before fiddling with her hands, a look of concentration on her face. She didn't even look up when she heard the front door open. But, she did after hearing a small voice say:

"Sissy!"

"Eh?" Ren looked up. All of a sudden, a little girl with wavy black hair was on the front step, still gripping the door handle with both hands. Her hair was loose and she wore a simple blue dress and light pink cardigan. Toshiro could tell from a first glance that this little girl must be Katelyn's little sister, since she looked just like a mini Katelyn, save the hair being long and wavy instead of short and straight like her elder sister's, although it was still shorter than the current Katelyn's hair. The only noticeable difference was that the little girl's eyes were an almost hazel colour in contrast to Katelyn's green eyes. The little girl ran forward and Past Katelyn knelt down to give her a hug.

"Katelyn, is that your sister?" Toshiro asked, wanting verbal confirmation.

"Yep. That's Izzy." Katelyn confirmed, looking anywhere but the past version of her sister.

"?" The girl, officially known as Izzy, looked behind Past Katelyn and saw Ren standing there, looking very nervous. "Who's this?" She asked.

"Go on. Like we practised." Past Katelyn said in an encouraging voice.

"Huh? Oh!" Ren snapped back to reality, remembering what she had to do. "Um…" Ren started, hesitating when she saw the way Izzy looked up at her with those big beady eyes, waiting patiently. "Hello." Ren said stiffly, raising her right hand up to the side of her head with her thumb tucked in before moving it away in an equally stiff gesture.

"?" Toshiro raised an eyebrow, confused. Why was Ren saluting? Was Katelyn's family from the military?

"My…" Ren placed a fist over the centre of her chest. "Name…" Ren pointed her two index fingers to her right temple before twisting them out so the palm faced forward. Ren looked at Past Katelyn, uncertain, who nodded with a smile and mouthing "You're doing great" as encouragement. "…is Ren." Ren continued, making a hook shape on her palm, then pointing at a finger, followed by placing two fingers on her palm. Ren's hands quickly returned to her side and she gave Izzy an awkward smile.

Did I do it right? Ren thought. Did I call myself Ron by mistake?

How would she call herself Ron? Toshiro thought, trying to figure out what those hand signs were.

"Ren." Izzy said with a little smile.

"Uh…Yes." Ren nodded, surprised she did something right. "Yes that's right. I'm-Oof." Ren got cut off when Izzy ran up and hugged her around the waist. "It's er…nice to meet you." Ren patted her head awkwardly, not quite sure what to do.

"Okay, Izzy." Past Katelyn stood up and placed a hand on Izzy's shoulder, getting her attention. "Go inside. It's cold." Past Katelyn said, also making gestures with her hands, finishing up with a shiver.

Now she's making hand signs, too. Toshiro thought, still confused about what those strange gestures were about.

"Alright." Izzy said, running back up the path to the front door. When she stopped to wipe her feet, Toshiro saw a flash of colour on the side of her face. Looking closer, Toshiro noticed that underneath her black curls, there was some pink plastic on the helix of her left ear, with more clear plastic leading to inside the ear.

A hearing aid? Toshiro thought. So…Isobel is deaf? That means those gestures earlier were sign language! No wonder I didn't recognise it; they must use a different version here.

"Can she really not hear?" Ren asked once she was sure Izzy was gone.

"She can hear a little." Past Katelyn said. "Although it wasn't until she got that new hearing aid that she was able to properly communicate with us. It's early days to see if the hearing aid is better than the last ones, so we're using sign language just in case." Past Katelyn became a little saddened. "She's the reason we stayed in Redwood."

"Huh?" Ren looked at Katelyn, taken aback by that sentence.

"And she's the reason we're leaving."

"What?" Ren gasped. "You lea-"

"Adashh." Past Katelyn stammered, placing a hand over Ren's mouth. "Not out here. Come inside my house. I'll explain in there." She whispered.

"Okay." Ren agreed, her voice muffled by Past Katelyn's hand. She removed it and took Ren's hand, quickly leading her inside and practically slamming the door shut, breathing a sigh of relief afterwards.

"There. We're safe." Past Katelyn said more to herself than to Ren, not knowing about a see-through Toshiro and Katelyn literally walking through the door.

"Katelyn, what did I tell you about slamming the door?" A woman's voice scolded pleasantly.

"Sorry, Mum. I panicked." Katelyn apologised. "I didn't want anyone to see my…my friend." Katelyn said, hesitating before calling Ren her friend, but when she saw Ren react with a smile, the feeling of dread went away. At least Ren truly did consider her a friend.

"?" Ren looked around the living room while she and Katelyn took off their shoes. It didn't look very…homey to her. No photos, no knick-knacks; none of the little home comforts she had at her own house. Instead, she saw brown boxes and dark square patches on parts of the walls. Were they redecorating? Or were the really leaving like Katelyn said earlier?

"Oh, yes. You said you were bringing somebody over." The woman's voice grew louder, and in walked a woman wearing a purple tunic and blue jeans and shoulder length brown hair with blue eyes. She was too engrossed in wrapping a glass in bubble wrap to notice who that friend was. "Is it somebody from your form group?"

"Not exactly." Katelyn answered, looking away while rubbing the back of her neck. She looked at Ren and tilted her head in her mother's direction, expecting her to say something.

"I er…Hi." Ren said quietly, giving the woman a small wave. Mrs Doss looked up to greet her, but stopped herself after seeing who it was. The woman and the girl stared at each other in a silence that was somehow both tense and awkward. "Why is she looking at me like that?" Ren whispered behind her hand to Katelyn.

"Do you remember that article in the Village News that was published after you attacked me?" Katelyn asked.

"What article?"

"Oh, er, never mind. Say, is Dad gardening again?" Past Katelyn immediately tried to change the subject.

"Sweetie, it's okay." Mrs Doss said gently, raising a hand up to quiet her. "She deserves to know."

"O…Okay." Past Katelyn went quiet. Mrs Doss placed the half bubble wrapped glass on a coffee table and approached Ren, who looked up at her while fiddling with her hands.

"Um…I'm er…I'm Ren." Ren stuttered out, overcome with shyness. "I live at er, um, Hazelford. You know, the uh, the uh, the one with the wolf, because, well, the head family's last name is Conner, and family history traces the origin back to when it meant "lover of hounds" or "wolves" which is where the wolf symbol comes from. Heheh, I've been learning about village history lately so sorry about that random fact and I'm going to stop talking now because I've just realised I've been rambling." As soon as she stopped rambling, Ren noticed how Mrs Doss was reaching out towards her. "Eep!" Ren flinched and closed her eyes tight, expecting a beating as punishment for whatever they think she did wrong. But, when Katelyn's mother placed a hand on the side of her face instead, she opened her eyes and looked at her with an almost wide eyed innocence.

"…" Toshiro frowned at Ren's behaviour, but said nothing. The fact that Ren had been conditioned to accept harsh treatment from anyone in Redwood, even those who are related to her friends, showed just how much the village had damaged her. He was sure he'd heard about it somewhere. Learned helplessness was probably the term. It angered Toshiro because of the unfairness of the whole thing, and at the same time, it made him sad that being shown kindness from a stranger was probably a new concept for this younger version of Ren.

I have no idea how to respond to this. Ren thought, indirectly confirming for Toshiro how this was a new experience for her.

"Oh, good. Your eye's healed." Mrs Doss said with a relieved smile.

"My eye?" Ren repeated. "Oh, right. That photo."

"Now…" Mrs Doss straightened up and clapped her hands together. "Can I get anyone a drink? We have water, squash, coke, diet coke and orange juice but the glasses are packed up already, so you'll have to bear with us."

"Mum, you need to take it easy." Katelyn stepped in front of her mother before she could start to go back to the kitchen. "You shouldn't be doing this in your condition."

"?" Ren perked up after hearing that word. She looked at Mrs Doss and visually scanned her body up and down. Seemed quite young for a mother. Hair was perfect. Skin was clear. She didn't look ill. But she did look a little fat around the stomach area, though it seemed too round to be …

Ooooooohhh… Ren thought, figuring out what the "condition" was.

"Look, you stay here and talk with Ren. I'll get the drinks." Past Katelyn looked at Ren. "Ren, do you drink regular or diet?"

"Um…regular please." Ren answered.

"Be right back." Katelyn darted out of the living room and into the kitchen. After a second, she poked her head around the doorway to ask "Where did you put the glasses?"

"The box by the fridge."

"Thank you." And with that, Past Katelyn was gone.

"Oh!" Mrs Doss picked up the glass she was wrapping up. "I forgot about this one." She placed a finger on her chin and looked up at the ceiling absent-mindedly. "Now that I think about it, we need glasses for this week too. Guess I shouldn't have packed away every single one."

There's something about this woman. Toshiro thought, squinting at her a little. Especially that look on her face.

"That's my mum for you." Katelyn remarked, shaking her head with a fond smile. "A great journalist and an amazing mother, yet she's still carefree and easy-going."

So that's what it is. Toshiro thought, sweat dropping while picturing a free spirited lieutenant in his mind that could definitely be classified as easy-going, especially when it came to avoiding paperwork. And it seemed like Katelyn did a lot more parenting than the parent herself! She was a lot more mature than most human girls he knew. Then again, he didn't exactly have many girls to compare her to; Ren was even more reckless and irresponsible than Ichigo and Rangiku put together.

"What's the condition you mentioned earlier? Is your mother ill?" Toshiro asked, wanting clarification since he wasn't entirely sure what Ren's mental "Oh." was about.

"Can't you tell?" Katelyn pointed at her mother's stomach, and sure enough, when she turned around to pick up the glass again, Toshiro could see a small yet prominent bump on her belly.

"Oh." Toshiro said, almost echoing what Ren thought earlier. Now he understood Past Katelyn's behaviour; the mother was a few months pregnant. And if what Katelyn said about her mother being ditzy had any truth to it, it's no wonder her past version was so fussy over her.

"So…" Ren started, getting Mrs Doss' attention again. But, as soon as she had her attention, Ren had no idea what to say next. Really, she just said it to fill the silence, and realised she probably would have been better off not saying anything. She tried to speak again, but all that came out was a long "Uuuuuhhhhhhh"

"You don't have to be nervous with me. I'm not like them." Mrs Doss said the last word while casting a glance out the window with a hint of disdain in her tone. But, that was quickly masked with a smile. "I'm just happy that you and Katelyn have become such good friends."

"Thank you, Mrs Doss." Ren said with a polite smile.

"Oh, please, that's my mother's name. You can call me Harriett."

"Um…okay but…isn't Doss your married name?" Ren asked, confused. Silence.

"Aw, I guess that joke doesn't work." Mrs Doss, now known as Harriett, whined, frowning that her joke fell flat. "Well, my husband has always been better at jokes." She immediately perked up, and went back to smiling.

How is Katelyn related to this airhead? Ren and Toshiro thought at the same time. Toshiro looked at Ren, stunned that they had the same thought in that moment. He quickly shrugged it off, although he did turn away from Katelyn so she wouldn't see the smile that appeared on his face. While he wasn't expecting Ren's thoughts to match his own, it was further evidence that his Ren was coming through. And now that he knew how Ren's thoughts would match his own, he couldn't help but feel happy hearing that. It made him feel less alone in a world that he didn't understand as much as he'd like.

"Are you…Are you really leaving Redwood?" Ren asked Harriett.

"We are." Harriett nodded in a somewhat grave tone. "For too long we've been doing their bidding. My husband was their lawyer, risking his career so they wouldn't face legal punishment. I made sure nothing slanderous was published about them in the village paper, or write stories that made them look better. I even had to publish articles targeted against their foes. Head families. Villagers that angered them. Even a child who was just standing up for themselves." Harriett cast a glance to Ren as she said the last sentence, who listened with sad eyes. "But we had to do it. We had no choice. But now we've found something better, we can leave their prison. We can live in peace and rebuild our lives."

"…" Ren said nothing, too enthralled with what this mother was saying to interject. Although, she was curious about what this "something better" was.

"Well, better late than never, I guess." Harriett said with a carefree shrug. "But at least we're doing it now. I don't want my girls to grow up doing what one family says. And I don't want that for this little one either." Harriett rubbed her pregnant belly subconsciously.

"Um…congratulations." Ren finally said. "I mean, for the baby."

"Thank you." Harriett said kindly.

"Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?" Ren asked, wanting to avoid the subject of Katelyn leaving. She'd hate to lose another friend.

"You don't have to hide your feelings, Ren. I know you're worried about us leaving."

"You do?" Ren asked, surprised. Had she really been that transparent? "But, I didn't say anything."

"You didn't have to. It's written all over your face."

"Uuuu…" Ren blushed from embarrassment.

"Don't be embarrassed. We're only moving the next village down. We may be moving to Millsdale, but the Thornton's can't use us if we don't live in Redwood. It's just like Alex said." Harriett cleared her throat, raised a finger up to a stern face and said in a gruff tone "Not my village, not my problem." This impression made Ren giggle behind her hand.

Alex? Toshiro thought, recognising the name. A photo of a balding man on a file popped up in his head. Right. He's Rosalie's father. Unfortunately, an image of Alex's dead body decided to come up as well. Toshiro winced at the sudden change of thought. He shook his head, putting that image in the back of his mind where it belonged. Don't think about it. Stay focused. He mentally reprimanded himself.

"At least now I won't have to wear this ghastly brooch." Harriett pointed at the brooch she wore on her left breast as she said this. That brought another realisation to Ren's mind.

"Katelyn doesn't wear the brooch." Ren said. "And neither does Izzy."

"That's because Katelyn stopped wearing it when she started big school. After what you did, she decided not to do what they said anymore. Not that they cared. They still had my husband and me, after all. Plus, little Izzy is too young to do what they want, or even to understand it." Harriett looked away briefly, clearly uncomfortable.

"Mrs Doss?" Ren said. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, of course. It's just…I never really apologised to you for what I did."

"Huh?" Ren said, confused.

"The article?" Harriett reminded. Ren gave her a blank stare that Toshiro recognised all too well.

"Why are you apologising, Mrs Doss? I didn't even know that article existed until today. And you clearly did it against your will" Ren fiddled with her hands. "But at least I know why everyone was looking at me funny after what happened. But um…if it makes you feel better…I forgive you."

Even though I didn't know I had to forgive her. Ren thought. Why am I always the last to know these things?

"Thank you." Harriett said gratefully. "I'm glad we could talk that out. And also…" She went up to Ren and placed her hands on her shoulders. She smiled at Ren, who looked up into her eyes. "Thank you for being friends with Katelyn."

"Um…You're welcome." Ren said, looking away and breaking eye contact.

"You can come out the kitchen now, Katelyn." Harriett spoke up to the doorway Past Katelyn left through, and sure enough she wandered back into the living room, holding two glasses of soda with ice cubes and looking defeated.

"How did you know I was eavesdropping?" Past Katelyn asked, handing a glass to Ren.

"A mother knows her children." Harriett said in a teasing tone, giving Past Katelyn a tap on her nose playfully.

Whoa, maybe this lady isn't so dense. Ren thought, not expecting Harriett to display the usual "eyes at the back of her head" instincts that a mother had.

"Why don't you girls head upstairs, Katelyn? I've got a lot of packing to do down here." Harriett suggested.

"Alright, but remember to-"

"Leave the heavy lifting to Dad, I know." Harriett interrupted with an affectionate eyeroll. "Now, off you go." Harriett beckoned the girls to the stairs with a shooing gesture.

"And don't bend over, or you won't be able to get back up again." Past Katelyn called as she went up the stairs and vanished from sight. Ren hesitated, looking up at Past Katelyn and surprised that she was giving orders to her own mother.

"Aye aye, captain" Harriett saluted.

"Um…It was nice to meet you." Ren said politely before following Past Katelyn upstairs.

This family wasn't what I expected. Ren thought. They've been in the Thornton's control for who knows how long, but they don't seem broken up about it like mine. They almost seem…normal. Ren stopped when she reached the top of the stairs. She looked at her hand, recalling how she made things float just by pointing her hand at it. I'm definitely not normal. Then again, being abnormal IS normal to me. But…I wonder…What does it feel like to be normal? She looked up at the wall in front of her, spotting a family portrait of Harriett, Katelyn, Isobel and a man with black hair, who she'll assume is Mr Doss, since he looked pretty similar to Isobel. Can my family ever be normal? Maybe if the Thornton's never bothered us, or…or if Redwood never existed. Ren's eyes went wide at that thought.

"What am I thinking?" Ren muttered to herself. "I don't want that to happen."

"Wait, what doesn't she want happening?" Katelyn asked Toshiro, wondering why Ren was talking to herself.

"I've told you before, Katelyn, Ren doesn't say what she thinks here. You have to place your hand on me." Toshiro reminded, joining Katelyn on the top of the stairs.

"Okay, so what was she thinking?" Katelyn asked.

"She was thinking about having a normal family." Toshiro answered briskly, deciding that Ren's very brief intrusive thought about Redwood not existing was better left unsaid. She did end up wiping it out, after all.

"Hey, Ren."

"Huh?" She turned to her right, spotting Past Katelyn peering around a door frame and waving a glass of brown soda around.

"Come on in, your drink's getting warm.

"Be right there." Ren trotted off to the room, the time travellers following her.

"Next time you want to know what people are thinking, place your hand on me and you can hear them." Toshiro told Katelyn.

"Alright, alright, geez. It's not like I forgot, I just don't like looking into everybody's private thoughts."

"And you think I do?"

"You seem to do it pretty regularly."

"I don't know how to turn it off!"

"Okay, chill." Katelyn said, bringing her hands up in a surrender position. "How was I supposed to know?"

"Just…Just try and remember to listen in." Toshiro ended the argument with that.

"You got it." Katelyn saluted, and with that, they came into Past Katelyn's room

Geez, this guy's temper is as short as he is. Katelyn thought.

"I can still hear you." Toshiro said, irritated.

"Oop." Katelyn squeaked, biting her bottom lip nervously.

"…and I hope we have enough paint in the garage to do my new room this colour."

"Wow, it…" Katelyn started, listening in on what her past self was saying and looking around her old room. "It feels strange to be back here again."

"…" Toshiro said nothing, surveying the room. It had a bed, a nightstand, a dresser, a wardrobe and a writing desk and chair littered with papers and books, along with a lot of boxes scattered around the room. The walls were painted a light lilac, and the bedsheets were also lilac with a big white heart on the duvet and the pillow. She was clearly almost done packing for the move, as he couldn't see any other clothes or Past Katelyn's personal belongings, save for a photo frame on her desk, but he couldn't quite tell what was in the frame from where he was standing.

"You really are moving." Ren commented, clutching her glass with both hands.

"Yeah…" Was Past Katelyn's response. She glanced at the floor before placing her glass on her desk and sitting on the chair, facing Ren. "You're probably wondering why we're moving."

"Now that you're asking…" Ren said trailing off at the end of her sentence.

"It's okay to want to know. After all, everybody moves for something. Or someone."

"You mentioned that earlier." Ren remembered. "Are you moving because of Izzy?"

"We're moving for us. But, yes, we're mainly moving for her. Everything we did, we did for Izzy." Past Katelyn could see from the expression on Ren's face that she was filled with curiosity. "Like I promised yesterday, I'll explain everything to you. I owe you that much."

"You don't owe me anything." Ren disagreed.

"Yes. I do." Past Katelyn said assertively. "When I say "everything we did" that includes why I was so horrible to you." There was a silence as Past Katelyn saw Ren's expression change ever so slightly. Now she had Ren's full attention. Past Katelyn gestured to the bed behind Ren. "You'll want to sit down. It's quite a long story."

"…" Ren didn't even bother talking Past Katelyn out of her story, and sat down on the bed, placing her drink on the nightstand and listening to Past Katelyn.

"Let's see..." Past Katelyn muttered to herself, trying to decide where to start. "My parents met when they started year seven at the same school we're in now. My mum was born in Redwood. This was before Alex took over. The village was more prosperous than the others, and the villagers were just as arrogant as they are now, but the previous head was kind and respected. He kept them in line, and Redwood was a nice place to live and visit. Not like it is now." Past Katelyn said the last sentence through gritted teeth before continuing like that never happened. "My dad, though? He was different. He wasn't from here. He was from far away. Very, very far. His family had moved here in the summer from Boston, including his grandparents. Apparently his grandparents have wanted to move to this country for a while but never had the opportunity until then, so they all decided to go together. Maybe they wanted something better, or a change of scenery, or-"

"Boston?" Ren interrupted, unfamiliar with that name.

"It's in Massachusetts." Past Katelyn explained.

"Mass…a…where?" Ren asked, confused.

"You're not very good at Geography, are you?" Past Katelyn smiled, amused.

"Uuuu, I can't even read maps." Ren admitted, embarrassed.

It's not my fault Geography is so boring. Ren thought, pouting.

"It's okay." Past Katelyn reassured. "Massachusetts is a state in the USA. It's near New York, if that helps."

"Oooh." Ren finally understood. "Oh!" Ren suddenly realised what this meant. "So, you're…"

"Half American." Past Katelyn confirmed.

"I had no idea."

"Well, I never picked up my dad's accent." Katelyn reasoned, writing something on a piece of paper. She showed it to Ren, and revealed that there were two names on there, one saying "Katelyn" and another saying "Caitlin". "And my name is written like this." Past Katelyn pointed at the first name. "But it's usually written like this…" Past Katelyn pointed at the last name. "…in England."

"I always wondered why your name was spelt differently."

"Mystery solved!" Past Katelyn said cheerfully, screwing the paper up into a ball and tossing it onto her desk. "Anyway…" Katelyn got back on track. "My dad and his family had passed their citizenship test and were legally UK citizens, but as soon as my dad started school, it was clear he wasn't from the same parts as everyone else. His accent was strange to them, and his slang was different, and let's be honest, Elijah isn't exactly a common name here. People had a hard time understanding him. Plus, not everyone in the villages was as welcoming as the rest. I mean, you know what the older generation is like towards foreigners."

"Yup." Ren agreed.

Stupid old codgers. They're such a pain. Ren thought. Toshiro cleared his throat to disguise a snicker. That's one thing he and Ren can agree on.

"But my mum wasn't like them. She befriended him almost right away, and her own friends followed suit shortly afterwards. She helped him learn the slang here, taught him our customs and rules, and they played or did homework after school. They did everything together. In fact, I don't think my grandparents can remember them ever being apart. Everywhere they went, people would go "Oh, there goes Harriet and Elijah.", so much so that they'd get teased about whether they were dating or not. But they would insist they were "just friends"." Past Katelyn made air quotes for the last couple words.

"So, when did they stop being friends?" Ren asked, figuring out that at some point, they stopped being friends and started going out.

"About year nine." Past Katelyn answered. "I mean, that's what happens when you turn into a teenager, apparently, I'm not sure." Past Katelyn shrugged. "They started to notice each other in a different way. In year nine, their friendship turned into a crush. In year ten, the crush turned into love. They would always describe that period as one of the most romantic times of their lives. My mum and dad were so happy together. But then, when they reached sixth form, that love turned into me."

"You?" Ren repeated. Past Katelyn nodded, letting Ren put the pieces together. "Your mom got pregnant at seventeen?!" Ren exclaimed. She quickly put her hands over her mouth, realising how loud she was. "Sorry." Ren whispered an apology. "I didn't mean to say that out loud."

"I don't blame you. That's how everybody else reacted. They hardly ever…did it." Past Katelyn said, finding the right words. "When they did, they were careful. Maybe something went wrong or, or the thingy was broken, I dunno."

"No wonder Mrs Doss looks so young." Ren commented.

"She gets that a lot" Past Katelyn agreed. "Anyway, it was a shock for everyone, especially them. They were getting their A Levels in a year or two, and they both wanted to go to university. But having a child at the same time would make things difficult. They couldn't bring themselves to get rid of me, and they decided to continue their education and raise me at the same time. So, they did. I was born a few months later, and my parents managed to juggle their schoolwork and me without any problems. Their parents even helped them out quite happily. After all, they had a grandchild to dote on now. Eventually, they finished high school, and they both got accepted into the same university. My dad went to study law, and my mum did journalism. They wanted to take me, but their day care couldn't have me until I was old enough, so I stayed here while they moved in together to study in college. I was living with them by the time they started their second year, being dropped off at the day care in the day, and spending time with them at night."

"Your parent's sound amazing." Ren said. "They worked so hard to fulfil their dreams, and they raised you at the same time."

"Yeah. They are pretty great." Past Katelyn said with a smile. "I don't remember their life when they were in college. Then again, I doubt anybody can remember their life when they were a toddler. Unless…" Past Katelyn looked at Ren with a raised eyebrow.

"Mm mm." Ren shook her head.

"Thought so." Past Katelyn said. "But my earliest memory is this." Past Katelyn picked up the photo frame sitting on her desk and showed it to Ren. Toshiro also took the chance to take a look at the photo. It was a bride and groom holding the hands of a five year old girl wearing a pretty blue dress and a cute blue ribbon in her black hair. It didn't take long for Toshiro and Ren to realise that the couple was a younger version of Katelyn's parents, meaning that the little girl was her.

"Is that their wedding photo?" Ren asked.

"Yep. At their graduation party, my dad proposed to her. She said yes, and a year later, they were married. They moved back to Redwood after graduating, and got married at the church in your village." Past Katelyn tossed the photo frame into an open box on top of some cuddly toys. "But between finishing university and looking after me, it was difficult for them to get a high paying job. I didn't really notice at the time, but apparently they were both pretty stressed for a while. They even had moments when they thought they were in over their heads. But eventually, they had stable enough jobs for them to move into this house." Past Katelyn gestured around her room. "We weren't wealthy, but we weren't poor either. We were happy. Even when Mum got pregnant again, we were excited. We could share the happiness with another baby. Plus, I was really looking forward to being a big sister."

"Izzy…" Ren realised. Past Katelyn nodded.

"Unfortunately, this was when our problems started." Past Katelyn's expression turned downcast as she remembered Izzy's infancy. "It started out normal at first. There was feeding and changing and a lot of crying, and I won't lie, I was a little jealous of the attention she was getting. But, I helped them out as much as a seven year old could. I played with her, I fed her, I even changed her a few times. Though I think I put it on backwards several times. Still, I got points for trying. That's when we noticed something wasn't right. She didn't look at us when we spoke. She wouldn't wake up unless I poked her. One time, I tried banging some pans together just to get a reaction."

"And?" Ren said.

"Nothing. She didn't look at me. She didn't cry. She didn't even blink. She just sat there in her high chair like nothing was happening. I thought she was just ignoring us, but my parents were worried. One day, they took her to a doctor while I was at school, and after a screening test, they were told Izzy had profound hearing loss. For a few days, my parents were in shock. They just went through the motions of booking an appointment with the audiology department to get hearing aids, and everything in between, while trying to convince themselves it was just a phase that Izzy would grow out of. I was stunned too when I was told about Izzy's condition. Mum and Dad couldn't bring themselves to tell anyone she was deaf just yet; not until the hearing aids arrived."

"It must have been hard for you." Ren said sympathetically.

"Of course it was. It meant that her life up to that point was in silence. She didn't know what we sounded like or what we were saying. It also meant that all the times I sang lullaby's to her, or read stories to her, or told her I loved her…She didn't hear any of it!" Past Katelyn practically yelled that last sentence, but quickly quietened down after seeing Ren flinch. She gave Ren an apologetic look before she continued. "Mum and Dad were especially concerned. Sure, we were entitled to free hearing aids, but Izzy was constantly growing. Her childhood would be filled with appointments to get new ear moulds for more hearing aids, and the batteries would have to be replaced all the time. They didn't know what to do. That's when the Thornton's stepped in."

"…" Ren said nothing, but she did scowl when she heard the name of the family that made her life miserable.

"My parents had already advanced quite far in their careers, far enough to not have any money problems, but that meant they couldn't dedicate as much time as they would like to Izzy and I, especially Izzy. So, when the Thornton's heard about our situation, they offered a deal. They will take care of Izzy's needs instead. She would have the best doctors, and they could pay for batteries and hearing aids and anything else she might need. They could even get us enrolled in sign language classes so we could still communicate with Izzy if her hearing aids broke or ran out of batteries. All they asked in return was the complete obedience of the Doss family." Past Katelyn leaned back in her chair and folded her arms, looking away from Ren.

"It was a very generous offer. Too generous. Now, Alex had just recently taken up the mantle of village head. We heard rumours about how different he was from the last head. How he was ruthless and manipulative. How he looked out only for his own interests. How the only similarity he had with his father was his appearance. But we thought they were just that; rumours. We never listened to gossip. Not after what that did to Dad and his family, and to Mum after she got pregnant with me. So, like fools, we didn't listen to the rumours. And like desperate fools, we actually considered the offer."

"Don't be so hard on yourself." Ren reassured.

"But it's true. We were desperate. Mum and Dad didn't know what to do about Izzy and me. And as far as they were concerned, Alex was handing them everything they needed on a silver platter. They'd be idiots not to take it. Then again, I think if they refused, Alex would make them agree eventually. That's the kind of man he was. In my opinion, it was one of those "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situations. So, my parents agreed.

"It seemed great for a while. Izzy had new hearing aids, and she could hear us clear as day. She started talking to us, and was reacting to sounds and things we said. We learnt sign language as a family so we could always communicate. She was happy. I thought that made the deal worth it. I saw my parents with these weird looks on their faces every time I told them how great it was that Izzy could hear us. I didn't really understand why they looked so…so…" Past Katelyn trailed off, scratching her face while trying to think of the word.

"Apprehensive?" Ren suggested.

"Yeah, that's the word." Past Katelyn said, pointing at Ren.

Being a bookworm does have its perks. Ren thought to herself in a very confident tone.

"I didn't see any problems with this until about a year passed." Past Katelyn continued, standing up and going to her window. She looked out across the village, where she had a perfect view of the Thornton's house, looking modern and pristine in comparison to the rustic houses of the village. "Then I learnt a valuable lesson." Past Katelyn narrowed her green eyes at her reflection. "Everything comes with a price." She said bitterly.

"This is when you met Rosalie…isn't it?" Ren realised.

"It was." Past Katelyn nodded, opening the window just to give her something to do; this whole conversation was making her very fidgety and uncomfortable. She moved away from the table and went back to her desk, and she started to pick up a random book from the shelves or table, inspecting the title and chucking it into a random box as she spoke. "It was after the summer holidays when Rosalie approached me. She was starting secondary school that year, and she told me about the deal my parents made with her family. Turns out that when they said they wanted obedience from the Doss family, they meant everyone, including me. Therefore, I was just another one of her lackey's starting that day. She told me that my task was to keep an eye on a girl she'd been keeping in line during her time at primary school. After all, she wouldn't be able to do it now she was moving on to a new school. Somebody had to do it, and she decided it was me. I refused, of course, but she reminded me that I had no choice in the matter; I belonged to her." Past Katelyn saw Ren's expression become shocked out of the corner of her eye. "Her words, not mine." Past Katelyn said, raising her hands up defensively.

"Okay." Was Ren's response.

Yeesh, that's dark. Ren thought.

"Plus, if I didn't obey Rosalie, she promised that she would treat me even worse than she already did."

"Huh?" Ren raised an eyebrow, confused.

"Didn't you know?" Past Katelyn asked, surprised. "Rosalie bullied me, too."

"But…why?" Ren asked. "There's nothing wrong with you."

"Can't you tell?" Past Katelyn pointed at her green eyes. "My eyes are green."

"So?" Ren shrugged.

"My parents have dark eyes."

"Uh…I'm sorry, but I still don't understand." Ren apologised.

"Rosalie would spread rumours that because my eyes weren't the same as everyone else in my family, I wasn't really their child. She was saying Mum cheated on Dad!" Past Katelyn shouted.

"Eep." Ren flinched.

"Sorry, sorry, it's not you, I promise." Past Katelyn apologised quickly, forgetting that Ren would flinch at raised voices. "I still get mad about it sometimes."

"Oh. Okay." Ren accepted the apology, relaxing her guard. She grabbed her barely cold cola and took a long drink from it, glad for the distraction.

"I didn't want Rosalie to bully me anymore than she already did, so I agreed to her demands. And that year, I became the new Rosalie at your school."

"…" Ren didn't say anything, many unpleasant memories coming through her mind. Toshiro could tell without looking into her mind how upset this made Ren, since she was now clenching her drink so tightly, he could hear the ice cubes rattling against the glass. He didn't know what exactly happened to Ren to warrant that reaction from her, and frankly, he didn't want to know.

"And so, for four long, painful years, I would bully you and torment you every day you were at school. Unfortunately, the way Rosalie treated me in the past provided me with techniques I would use against you. Tearing you school books. Dropping your school bag in mud. Insulting you in the toilets. You name it, it was done to me, and I did it to you." Past Katelyn laughed bitterly. "Isn't it funny? The bullied became a bully with the same techniques used against her."

"I…" Ren started, trying to find the words. "I'm so sorry you went through that."

"Thank you." Past Katelyn smiled gratefully. "I had plenty of days where I would regret it. Of course I would. I didn't see why Rosalie was so obsessed with you. Sure, you didn't talk much, and preferred books over people. And you weren't interested in the same things other people were. And maybe your appearance was a little strange by their standards. But from what I saw, you were just a normal little girl like me." Past Katelyn smirked. "Well, besides the whole healing thing."

"Yeah." Ren agreed with a little laugh, glad that Past Katelyn was able to lighten the mood.

"Several times over the years, I would refuse orders from Rosalie about new ways to torture you. I'd even try and beg her to give me a new job. But every time, she would dissuade me from rebelling by saying "Izzy's counting on you" or "Don't you care about your sister?" or something like that, and that would always shut me up for a while. I was just a coward." After Past Katelyn said this, Toshiro noticed Ren open her mouth, probably to reassure her again, but since she closed her mouth after a second, he figured she must have realised that her reassurances wouldn't work this time. "I was angry at myself for stooping to her level. I was scared, not just for me, but for Izzy. I was a little grateful that Izzy was in a special school so she didn't have to see me like that. But most of all, I was sad. I was sad that every time you saw me, you'd flinch before I even did anything. I was sad that you'd try to run away from me when you saw me coming. And, I was sad that if I was different…If I wasn't forced into this…Then you and I could have been friends sooner."

"…" Ren said nothing, saddened by the thought of how things could have been better for her. Better for both of them. If only Rosalie hadn't got to Katelyn first.

"But that all changed when we were both in year six." Past Katlyn turned away from her desk, now cleared of books, and looked back at Ren. She ran a hand up and down her left arm uncomfortably. "But er…I think we both know what happened there."

"Eeyup." Ren agreed, looking away awkwardly.

"I wasn't really paying attention to what was happening that day. I was so tired of all this, I was just going through the motions at that point. A mean word here, a shove there, a random belonging ruined, et cetera et cetera." Past Katelyn trailed off with a wave of her hand. "And then you broke my nose."

"…" Ren winced at that. Not for the fact that she had actually broken somebody's nose, but for how casually Past Katelyn said it. And this wince didn't go unnoticed by Past Katelyn.

"What's up?"

"Did I actually break your nose?" Ren asked.

"Yyyyes?" Past Katelyn said slowly. "You were there."

"Yeah, but I er…I don't exactly remember what happened." Ren admitted, rubbing the back of her head. "I guess I blacked out or something. It's like, one minute you're insulting me, and the next, I was on top of you and there was blood on the tarmac around your head."

"Hm." Past Katelyn hummed, not blaming Ren for being so enraged that she wouldn't remember what her outburst did. "Whatever the case, after you punched me on the nose, you looked shocked at first. Then you got this look on your face before you screamed and pounced on me. I don't think I've ever seen anyone look so enraged. The next few minutes were nothing but pain and you yelling what was probably meant to be words but just sounded like noises to me."

I'm surprised Ren's Fire Shackles weren't Summoned if she was that enraged. Toshiro thought to himself, stunned that this Ren had as much of a temper as his Ren, maybe even worse. Actually, I'm surprised Ren is even capable of getting that angry. Toshiro looked over at the past version of Ren listening to Past Katelyn's perspective of the beating with an expression that was mixed with shock and horror. I guess even the nicest people are capable of violence.

"It was so bad that I ended up being sent to the hospital. It all looked worse than it was, but I left the hospital a couple hours later with my face covered in plasters and bandages.

"I er…I know I said it before, but I'm sorry I did that to you."

"I'm not."

"Huh?" Ren said, confused. Why would Katelyn say that? She beat her face so badly she got suspended for the rest of the week, and the victim was saying she didn't regret it?

"You wanna know why? It gave me an out. I was sent home to recover for three days. That's three days I didn't have to torture you. Plus, you had to stay home as punishment, the one place Rosalie couldn't get to yet, so as far as I'm concerned, what happened to me was a win-win. And besides, since I had a healing factor like you, I was all better the next day." Past Katelyn gave Ren a thumbs up and a grin. But judging from the deadpan expression on Ren's face, Past Katelyn realised that her thumbs up must have made her look so corny. "Ahem, well…" Past Katelyn cleared her throat, pretending that never happened. "My point is that the attack helped me out a lot."

"Oh! You did say the other day how what happened saved you." Ren said, remembering what Katelyn said to her when they met in the field that night.

"Exactly." Past Katelyn nodded. "Like I said, I was meant to stay at home until next week so I could recover, but all the damage vanished overnight. I couldn't very well go back to school yet unless I wanted everyone to know I could heal. At the same time, my parents still had jobs to do, and Izzy still had pre-school. So, I had to be left alone for a couple days. That gave me a chance to investigate."

Investigate? Toshiro and Ren thought at the same time. Ren drank some more cola without looking away from Past Katelyn, who took the silence as an opportunity to pick up her drink and gulp it all down in five seconds. She slammed the glass down on her desk, making the ice cubes rattle around, with a relieved sigh, wiped the excess from her mouth, and carried on telling her story.

"Now that I knew the Thornton's were using the deal against me, I wanted to find out just what it was doing to my parents. I may have been too young to understand what they agreed to at the time, but I was eleven years old; I was old enough to handle it. And if they weren't going to tell me, I would find out myself. One day, when I was sure both my parents were gone and my grandad was distracted, I snuck into my dad's office. Fortunately, Dad was careless enough to leave his password lying around on his desk, so getting onto his computer was no problem. There was a file with the Thornton's name on it, so I clicked on it. There were a bunch of documents on there with words I didn't understand. Stuff like "Non-disclosure" and "affidavit", so as you can imagine, most of my time in Dad's office was spent looking up what these words meant."

"And what did they mean?" Ren asked.

"Nothing good." Past Katelyn answered gravely. "It turns out Alex was using my dad to forge witness statements and force anyone the Thornton's wronged to not tell anybody about what they did under threat of breaking a deal and being sued or worse. And that was only the stuff I understood! Who knows what else Alex was making my dad do?! He could have got in trouble for this, but I guess Alex found a way to make everything look legal, or he bribed a few people; any of those seem likely to me. He did things like harass the women who worked at his companies, and blackmailing any rivals he had. Then there was his wife and daughter, who used and manipulated people for their own selfish desires, and ticked people off just for fun. Whatever that family did, Dad made sure they never got in trouble."

"That's awful!" Ren exclaimed angrily, sharing in Past Katelyn's outrage.

"And that's only the half of it." Past Katelyn said, subconsciously taking note of Ren's outburst. Ren hardly ever raised her voice like that. This was seriously rattling her. "I took the chance I had to go to my mum's computer. It didn't take long to get onto her computer, since she never used a password; she always forgot them, so she stopped using them. I saw she had tonnes of articles that she written and published. Some of them were stories about fetes, school charity events, gardening tips, just the typical village newspaper stuff. But mostly, it was a bunch of articles about several people in the village, and some people who owned businesses in the city. And they were more like gossip than news. There were stories about having affairs, or weird hobbies, or anything else that could defame a person. And they were targeted at people whose names I recognised. They were the same names I saw on those papers I found in Dad's office!"

"What are you saying?" Ren asked. Of course, she already knew the answer, but she didn't want it to be true. Not until Katelyn confirmed it.

"I'm saying the Thornton's were using my dad to cover for them when they did something wrong, and my mum to write slanderous stories to cover their tracks and make sure everyone saw the Thornton's as the victims!" Past Katelyn punched her wardrobe door in anger, taking that moment to calm down.

Guess that confirms it… Ren thought.

"I was furious. But, I didn't know who to be angry at the most. The Thornton's for doing this? My parents for going along with it? Or me for being too naïve to see what was really happening? In the end, my anger went towards my parents for doing all of this. I didn't want to be mad at them, but it happened anyway. All because I found a brand new article my mother wrote. One about an unprovoked attack against her daughter."

"That must be the article your mom mentioned!" Ren gasped, putting the pieces together.

"According to the story, you attacked me unprovoked, and put me in the hospital for days. I knew that was a lie. I was threatening you before it happened, and you didn't beat me up that badly. My face was good as new the next day, after all. And my mother knew all of that, yet she still wrote it. Something inside me broke when I read that article."

"Did you confront your parents?"

"Of course I did!" Past Katelyn exclaimed. "I was enraged at them! Why did they hide all this from me?! We're family! You don't keep secrets in family! So why…Why…" Past Katelyn trailed off, and there was a silence broken by Past Katelyn's heavy breathing while she calmed down. Ren was silent, too, realising that she had kept several secrets from her own parents, mainly about what Redwood was putting her through. They didn't find out about her hair being cut off until recently. Only Harley and Nathan knew the true extent of her suffering. Ren hated lying, but she hated telling them what was happening even more.

"For the first time in my life, I actually yelled at my parents. No, I did more than yell. I screamed and shouted at them. I revealed everything I'd learnt and everything I did to you and demanded to know why they didn't tell me. I accused them of being selfish. And they just stood there and took it. I didn't know why, nor did I care. I just kept shouting at them. I was so mad I can't even remember half the things I said. I don't know how long it was until I stopped, but however long it was, my throat was raw by the time I was done. When I looked at my parents, all my anger vanished. My mum was crying, and my dad looked so sad. They apologised and told me that everything I said was true. They were helping the Thornton's get away with awful things, and they knew that made them awful, too. But, what choice did they have? Izzy's hearing aids had to keep being refitted, and the batteries had to be replaced so many times they stopped counting, not to mention the fact that some were broken and had to be replaced. Sometimes it was when Izzy was careless. Sometimes it was because some kid wearing that damn brooch pulled them out and stepped on them. Other times, they stopped working due to a malfunction. And then there's the school Izzy was sent to; all their staff have been trained to provide the best care and education to disabled children. The Thornton's were the ones providing that support to Izzy, and if we stopped serving the Thornton's, then the help would stop too." Past Katelyn sank into her desk chair with a very exhausted sigh. "We were powerless."

"…" Toshiro glanced at Katelyn to see her reaction to seeing this all over again. She looked frustrated and tired; exactly the same as Past Katelyn. She may be in a better place now, but it was clear to Toshiro that the wounds of the past were still very much there, and they were painful.

"We'd need a miracle to get out of this. And we got one three months ago."

"?" Ren blinked, intrigued.

"I'm sure you remember how it started snowing in December."

"I do." Ren nodded. "It was on December the Tenth."

"That's a great memory you've got there." Past Katelyn remarked.

"It is tricky to forget almost getting a literal white Christmas." Ren said with a joking smile. "Plus, it's my birthday, so, heh, that was a pretty great birthday"

"Yeah, that makes sense." Past Katelyn nodded. "You'd have to be pretty dense to forget your own birthday."

"Totally!" Ren agreed, and Past Katelyn and Ren shared a laugh together. But, Toshiro was barely even paying attention to their jokes after hearing Ren's birthday. At that moment, he had realised several things. One; he has no idea how long he'd been here for in his time. He left in late summer, maybe early autumn, and it's been nearly three months now. What day is it back in his world? Whichever day it is, it probably wouldn't be long until it was December there, and his own birthday was on the twentieth; ten days after Ren's. He also subconsciously realised that Ren shared a birthday with his former captain. While one part of him was wondering where Captain Shiba disappeared to, for the most part, he was thinking about his other revelation. He realised that up until now, he didn't know when Ren's birthday was. For that matter, he knew next to nothing about Ren. Sure, he knew her personality and her friends and all that, but after that? Nothing. He didn't know if she had any hobbies. He didn't know what her favourite food and drink were. He didn't know about her dreams and ambitions for the future. Hell, up until today, he didn't know her fears or even when she was born!

"Some friend I am…" Toshiro muttered to himself.

"Hm?" Katelyn looked down at Toshiro, suddenly hearing him talk after being silent for so long. "You say something?"

"N-No. I didn't say anything." Toshiro quickly answered, not realising he spoke aloud until Katelyn pointed it out. But still, the fact that he barely knew Ren bothered him. Not just because he genuinely wanted to get to know her, but because if he really didn't know her that well, then how was he going to be able to get her out of her room? No wonder his past attempts never worked. There and then, Toshiro made a silent vow to himself to not just get Ren to re-join the living world, but when she does, he will do everything in his power to be there for Ren when she'd inevitably need him. More than that, he will be somebody worthy of being called Ren's friend.

"Now, where was I?" Past Katelyn said after finishing laughing with Ren.

Wow, never seen Ren laugh before. Past Katelyn thought, making Toshiro sympathise with Past Katelyn about how even he was surprised to see Ren laugh in that moment. Too bad he was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to really pay attention.

"Oh, yeah!" Past Katelyn remembered. "As I was saying, it was snowing that day, which is pretty rare here as you know. Schools were closed, so we were essentially stuck at home. By this point, I hadn't been bothered by Rosalie after what you did to me, probably because we had started secondary school, so she picked up where I left off."

And made my life even more unbearable. Ren thought bitterly.

"And this wasn't just any snow day. This was Izzy's first snow day." Past Katlyn sighed nostalgically, smiling wistfully. "Oh, she was so excited. So, we all bundled up and went outside to play in the snow. We built snow men, made snow angels and had snowball fights. Dad even dug out a sled from his shed for us to go down the hills. And when we went inside, we warmed up by the fireplace with hot chocolate. That day, we forgot about our problems. We were like a family again. It was one of the happiest days of my life. The next day, however, was the inevitable consequence of playing in the snow."

"And that is?" Ren asked.

"Izzy caught a cold." Past Katelyn said. "She woke up the next morning sniffling and sneezing, and her forehead was on fire." Ren's eyes widened. "Not literally. It just means she had a fever."

"Oh."

Boy, am I glad I never caught one of those. Ren thought to herself.

"I was fine, mostly because, you know, healing factor. But my parents were understandably very protective of Izzy. So, they got us in the car and drove to the Riverside Surgery in Portsbury. It went pretty normally. Doctor took her temperature, diagnosed it as a cold and gave her a prescription for medicine. We were finished after only a few minutes. But when we stood up to leave, she spotted Izzy's hearing aid and asked about it. She was our regular GP so she knew about Izzy's deafness, but never dealt with it directly. Until that day."

"What happened?" Ren asked.

"It turns out our GP had a friend who worked in audiology, so they kept in touch about each other's work. Out GP contacted them if they had any issues which could cause deafness, so she knew quite a lot about their work and equipment. And as it turns out, she recognised the type of hearing aid Izzy was using."

"?" After hearing this, Toshiro heard Katelyn's breathing become heavier, and when he glanced at her, he noticed how Katelyn's fists were clenching in rage. Looking back at Past Katelyn, he could also see a hint of fury in her green eyes.

"The hearing aid Izzy had was a model that had been almost completely discontinued. This is because that model was prone to breaking easily and draining the batteries much faster than other types. At that moment, I realised exactly what the Thornton's were doing. They were giving Izzy faulty hearing aids on purpose, and would get other children to pull them out and break them, all so they could keep using us." Past Katelyn's fists clenched so hard they shook. "They were sabotaging my little sister's future just so they wouldn't face any consequences for their actions!"

"Katelyn…" Ren whispered, not knowing what else to say.

"If we didn't hate them before, we despised them now. Our GP gave us the number of their friend so we could call them and make an appointment. She said they weren't connected to Redwood or any of the other villages, but we didn't care. Now, we knew there was a better deal out there. My parents wasted no time in contacting them. And just like that, we were free." Past Katelyn smiled "We had no reason to obey the Thornton's. I had never seen my parents look so happy before. I was happy too. Izzy was happy, of course, since she could hear us clearer than ever, but I don't think she truly understands why we were so happy. And Izzy's school may be a special school, but it was still a public school, and they were too concerned with Izzy's wellbeing to stop her support, so we knew her education wouldn't be affected. Our Izzy is a very smart girl, after all. Basically, everything was over and taken care of, all because of a cold.

"A few days after that, Mum discovered she was pregnant again. We took it as a sign. A sign to move on from this dark chapter of our lives. A fresh start. So, we decided to move. We'd be in the next village over, but the Thornton's can't reach us if we don't live in Redwood. It's just like Alex always said…"

"Not my village, not my problem." Past Katelyn and Ren said at the same time, and they both giggled after realising what they just did.

"We can't go public about what my parents did. Not completely. But, my mum is planning to find a way to expose their schemes and crimes to the other heads. We probably won't be able to do much, but it should be enough to discredit them. Until we move, though, we have to tread carefully. So, for the last month, we've been packing our things and moving them to the house we bought at night so the Thornton's or anybody else won't know what we're doing until it's too late. And Izzy's too young to understand why we can't tell anybody we're moving, not to mention people are bound to notice her hearing aids are different, so we've been keeping her at home under the pretence she's ill with the flu or a cold or whatever it is my parents tell everyone. It wasn't too hard, since the heads don't even know she exists. Not even Altair knows about her. If they did, they'd know how she was being used by the Thornton's. Izzy's getting restless, though, since she can't play outside as often as she'd like or see her friends at school, but she likes to read, so that occupies her for now." Past Katelyn frowned a little. "Though I'm not sure how I feel about Izzy playing practical jokes almost every day. She's always been a trickster, and while I love that about her, heh, it does get a little annoying sometimes." Past Katelyn shrugged. "But it won't be for much longer now. We're packing up the last of our things this week, and by March 8th, we'll be starting our new life together."

"…" Toshiro and Katelyn mentally winced at that date. March 8th. The day after Redwood fell. And they both knew that the day before the move, Isobel, the reason the Doss family did terrible things for the Thornton's, and the reason why they were leaving, was one of the many victims in the destruction of her home village. And this fact was now a very cruel irony to them.

"And that's the whole story." Past Katelyn finished.

"…" Ren said nothing, speechless.

"Are you…okay?" Past Katelyn asked, feeling unnerved by Ren's silence.

She hates us, doesn't she? Past Katelyn thought. Oh, God, I shouldn't have told her.

"Yeah, uh…" Ren stammered, struggling to find the words. "I'm okay…I guess…" Ren picked up her cola and sipped it, recoiling afterwards. "Bleh, it's all watery."

"That's what happens when you let the ice cubes melt." Past Katelyn said with a small smile.

"Not gonna lie; I completely forgot this was here." Ren admitted sheepishly. "Eh." Ren shrugged dismissively and drank the rest of the soda, not wanting to appear impolite. There was a silence for a few seconds until Ren finished and placed the glass back on the bedside table with a sigh. Ren wordlessly stood up and went to Katelyn's window, staring out across the village that caused her so much pain. And now that she knew the pain it caused Katelyn and her family, she loathed it even more.

"You can think whatever you want about us." Past Katelyn said, standing up and watching Ren's back, while she tried fiddle with the latch to open the window, and before she could stop herself, Past Katelyn found herself rambling. "I know I did terrible things to you, and even though I have it, I don't deserve forgiveness. I was a coward who looked out for herself more than anyone else, and I was too scared to stand up to them. We all were. And if Izzy found out about any of this, it would break her heart, and I never want her to be hurt by Redwood again. You should be angry at us. You should hate us. It's the normal thing to-" Past Katelyn got cut off from her rambling once the window finally opened and a little breeze came into the room.

"Ah, that's better." Ren said, relieved. "It was getting stuffy in here." Ren wandered away from the window and unzipped her hoodie, revealing that she was wearing a navy t-shirt with a white silhouette of a wolf on it. Toshiro recognised the wolf head, and when he got out his ID that Harley gave him, realised that Ren was wearing a shirt of her family crest. Ren took off her hoodie and tossed it on Past Katelyn's bed. Ren closed her eyes, took a few seconds to take a deep breath, before she opened them.

"Katelyn…" Ren started. "I don't hate you or your family."

"You don't?" Past Katelyn said, looking a mix of relieved and confused.

"Of course not." Ren shook her head. "In fact, everything makes sense now. You did all those things and went through all that pain for Izzy. It takes an amazing amount of self-sacrifice to be able to pull that off, and not many people are strong enough to do that. It proves to me that you're not terrible people like everyone else in this village." Ren narrowed her eyes and looked over her shoulder at the village. "I thought everybody from this village was as rotten as the Thornton's…" Ren looked back at Past Katelyn, all traces of hatred gone. "But now I know that at least one family from here is decent." Ren smiled at a stunned Past Katelyn. "You were protecting your sister this whole time. You're a good person."

"!" Past Katelyn gasped, the last few words ringing through her head. Even though Ren now knew why she did what she did, she still didn't hate her or think any less of her. Ren could still smile one of her rare smiles at her, even though anybody else in her situation would have lost the ability to smile a long time ago. Hearing Ren say "You're a good person" put all of Past Katelyn's fears to rest, and she felt it being replaced with relief. She also felt a stinging in her eyes, and saw her vision get blurry.

"Eh?" Ren blinked, noticing how there were tears welling up in Past Katelyn's eyes with a few escaping to roll down her cheeks. "Why are you crying? Oh, no! Did I say something wrong? I'm so sorry!"

"No, i-it's not you. I'm just…" Past Katelyn wiped her eyes dry with her fist. "You don't know how much that means to me." Past Katelyn looked at Ren with watery eyes. "Thank you, Ren. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Ren said gently. Ren rubbed her arm uncomfortably. "It's unfair that you and your family got caught up in the politics of the families. So, I'm sorry for the pain that caused you" Ren's hand went to the wolf crest on her shirt. "Whether I like it or not, I'm a Conner, and they are Thornton's. We can't help but get others caught up in our dumb feuds. Unless something changes…" Ren's hand clenched the fabric of her shirt. "…that's the way it always will be. But, that doesn't mean I'm not proud of my heritage. Why else would I still wear their symbol?" Ren looked Past Katelyn directly in her eyes. "I'm going to be village head in the future. And when I do, I'm going to make sure nobody else goes through what you did. And I want you there to support me when I make that change. So, will you help me?"

"Nn." Past Katelyn nodded with a happy smile.

"But if I'm being honest, I'm a little jealous."

"What? Why?" Past Katelyn asked, wiping away the rest of her tears.

"Because your family has a way to get away from the Hell the Thornton's put you in. Until we bring that family down, I won't have that luxury you have. And since we have no idea how to do that, it's not happening anytime soon."

"My Mum will be exposing them once we've moved to Millsdale. You won't have to fear them anymore, you'll see." Past Katelyn said, but Ren showed no real reaction, so that reassurance fell flat.

"I want the Thornton's to face consequences for their actions, sure. But I want to live a normal life more than I want them to pay. I want to have more friends to sit with at lunch. I want to be able to talk about dumb stuff like fashion and boys and makeup and whatever else it is girls like. I want to be able to wake up in the morning and not dread leaving my house. I want to come home and not see my family get hurt because of me. But more than anything…" Ren looked out the open window but not at the village. Instead, she looked up at the sky where she saw some birds fly through the air. "I want to be free."

"It will happen." Past Katelyn asserted.

"Hm." Was Ren's non-committal response. The wind blew through Past Katelyn's open window, disturbing the sheets of paper left on her desk and sending them fluttering to the ground. Then they went across the floor. And they turned a corner. And they fluttered towards Ren and around her feet.

"Eh?" Ren noticed the strange paper around her ankles. "Hey, what's going on?"

"Brrr." Past Katelyn shivered. "The wind's picking up. Hang on, I'll close the window." Past Katelyn wandered to the window, not noticing the paper, and pushed it closed. But right after she pulled the latch down, the window flung open, and a huge gust of wind filled the room, making Past Katelyn cry out and fall to the floor.

"Are you alright?" Ren asked, right before the wind picked up in the room again, causing the paper on the floor to lift off the ground and spin around Ren like a twister while all Ren could do was shield her eyes. Toshiro moved himself and Katelyn back a few paces when the wind picked up speed. He wasn't sure if Katelyn would notice, but in this moment, he could actually feel the chill of the wind hit his skin and noticed the force of it ruffling the white bang of hair over his eye. Combining those facts with his back getting warmer confirmed to him that this was no ordinary wind. And that belief was reinforced when the wind spinning in a twister around Ren seemed to be glittering in the light of Past Katelyn's room.

"Hey, Toshiro? I never noticed this before, but does that wind look silver to you?" Katelyn asked. Toshiro looked. Sure enough, before everybody's eyes, the wind went from invisible to grey and glittering. The visible wind stopped spinning around Ren, and split into four ribbons of air that spun around Ren's ankles and wrists, before they calmed and stayed around Ren's limbs as floating silver energy.

"Wha…What?" Ren looked at the silver bracelets around her limbs.

"Ren…What're those?" Past Katelyn asked.

"I er…I…I don't know." Ren answered.

"Wait a second, I think I know what those are now." Katelyn said as her past version picked herself up to check on Ren. "They look like those fire things Ren got against that monster. And it got breezy just now before those grey things appeared." A flash of realisation crossed her eyes. "That means these are…"

"Another Elemental Shackle." Toshiro confirmed.

"Wind Shackles!" Katelyn realised. "But I don't get it. I thought it was emotions that summoned those Shackles."

"Not always. It's usually an emotion, but it can also be a state of mind or a desire." Toshiro explained.

"Oh, right, you said rage was what activated the Fire Shackles. It was their…Trigger? Is that the word?" Katelyn asked. Toshiro nodded. "Yes!" Katelyn fist pumped triumphantly. "I'm getting the hang of this now!"

So that's another Shackle Ren activated during the Blank Fortnight. Toshiro thought. Like I suspected, Ren unlocked them six years ago, and forgot what their Triggers were.

"Wait, so…" Katelyn said, interrupting Toshiro's thoughts. "If rage activated the Fire Shackles, what activated the Wind Shackles?" Hearing this question made Toshiro think back on what happened before the Shackles appeared. Past Katelyn and Ren were talking. Ren seemed sad. Was it sadness? No, that didn't seem likely. Maybe it wasn't an emotion, but a state of mind or a desire. Then it hit him.

"But more than anything…I want to be free."

"It was a desire." Toshiro said, looking back at Ren and Past Katelyn marvelling at these silver rings. "A desire for freedom."

"This is just soooo weird." Past Katelyn said, passing her hand through the ring around Ren's right wrist. "Is this made of wind? Are you controlling wind?"

"I think so." Ren said. "It was like this the other day in town where I got fiery versions of these things and I managed to kill a mon-"

"You have a fire version too?!" Past Katelyn exclaimed.

"Eh? You didn't know?" Ren said, surprised. "I thought Harley told you."

"No!" Past Katelyn shook her head. "He just told us you could heal quickly!"

"Well…This is awkward." Ren rubbed the back of her head, looking away with an embarrassed expression.

"This is amazing!" Past Katelyn cheered. "You really do have superpowers! First fire and now wind! AND you can lift stuff without touching it! What else can you do? Can you fly? Teleport? Shoot lasers?"

Stop asking me questions! Ren thought as Past Katelyn kept excitedly asking her what other powers she can do. This is new for me, too!

"Katelyn! Have you packed your desk yet? I need to take it to the house tonight."

"Is that…?" Ren said, hearing the man's voice. A voice that had a very American accent.

"It's my dad." Past Katelyn confirmed. Her eyes widened a little. "You need to turn that smoke off before he sees."

"Right. Okay. Uh…" Ren looked from one wrist to another.

"Come on, he'll be here any minute!" Past Katelyn urged.

"I don't know how."

"How did you do it last time?"

"I didn't! They just kinda turned off! Uuuu, crudbuckets, what do I do?"

"Quick, in here." Past Katelyn pushed Ren towards her wardrobe, opened the doors and beckoned Ren inside. "Hide in here until they vanish."

"In there?" Ren said, looking fearful.

"Hurry!" Past Katelyn didn't notice Ren's apprehension, and pushed Ren inside before closing the doors on her.

"Uuuu, Katelyn, I don't like this!"

"Why wouldn't you like…Oh, no, it's just like that cupboard!" Past Katelyn quickly realised her mistake, and swung open her wardrobe doors to pull Ren out with a quick apology. "Okay, that's not an option. Er, um, er…over there!" Past Katelyn led Ren to her desk chair and sat her down on it. She picked up Ren's hoodie and flung it around her feet, hiding the Shackles around her ankles. "There. That's better."

"Um, Katelyn?" Ren waved at Past Katelyn, showing off the other Shackles around her wrists.

"Oh, right. Um…hide your hands behind your back." Ren quickly obeyed. "That should do it." Right on cue, the door to Katelyn's room opened, and in entered a man with brown hair and wearing a black shirt with a yellow cartoon bird printed on the front and blue jeans. The same man Toshiro and Ren saw on the family portrait hanging in the upstairs hallway.

"Ah, good, you're done." The man smiled.

"Hi, Dad." Past Katelyn greeted with a wave. "Just finished packing up my desk."

Gotta make the smoke go away, gotta make the smoke go away. Ren thought to herself, mentally willing her Shackles to vanish. Go away, go away, go away!

"Great! I'll take this down to the car once I've taped it up." The man said, folding the box flaps over the entrance to the box's contents. That's when he noticed Ren. "Oh! Katelyn, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?"

"Oh, right. Um, Dad, this is Ren Conner from Hazelford. Ren, this is Elijah, my dad." Past Katelyn introduced her father and Ren to one another.

Oh, man, I hope that smoke went away. Past Katelyn thought.

"Conner?" Elijah repeated, recognising the name. "Ah, I see." Elijah smiled and turned to a very nervous Ren. "So you must be Marcus' daughter."

Please don't try and shake my hand. Ren thought while giving Elijah her best friendly smile, but with her nerves getting in the way, it turned into more of a grimace.

"It's nice to meet you." Elijah extended a hand for Ren to shake.

CRUDBUCKETS! Ren mentally yelled.

"Ah!" Toshiro placed a hand on his head, taken aback by that loud yell.

"What's wrong?" Katelyn asked, noticing Toshiro's flash of pain. Toshiro shook his head to get the ringing noise out of his ears. Who'd knew mental thoughts could be so loud? On top of that, who knew thoughts could make his ears ring like they usually would when hearing a loud noise?

"Just a loud thought. I'll be fine." Toshiro reassured. Meanwhile, Ren was warring with herself over whether to take Elijah's hand or not. If she did, he'd see her weird smoky bracelets. If she didn't he'd think she was being rude and disrespectful. Plus, the longer she left it, the more awkward this would be. In the end, politeness won, and Ren raised a hand up and clasped Elijah's hand, bracing herself for Elijah to notice her strange smoke.

"It's about time I met another member of the head families."

"?" Ren blinked in confusion. Elijah wasn't reacting to her silver smoke. Did he not notice it? Ren glanced at the hand holding Elijah's. The smoke was gone. Ren didn't know how it happened, but whatever that smoke was, it vanished. Past Katelyn also noticed the disappearance of the strange smoke, and was instantly relieved.

"And judging by the mood in here…" Elijah continued, letting go of Ren's hand and turning to his daughter. "I'm assuming you told her about "that"?"

"Yes, Daddy. I did." Past Katelyn admitted, looking away sadly.

"Hey, chin up." Elijah flicked Past Katelyn's chin up to make her look at him. "Don't look so guilty. It's better she hear it from a friend than an adult."

"Um…" Ren spoke up, standing up. "I'm sorry about what your family went through. And, I wish you luck on your move."

"Why, thank you, little lady." Elijah said while ruffling Ren's hair so much that her hairstyle got messy. "How a family can hate a sweet girl like you is beyond me."

"Tell me about it." Ren muttered, licking her hands and smoothing down her hair with them.

"Well, if you're done with this box, I'll just take it down and load it in the car." Elijah picked up the box he'd closed earlier, but before he left, he smiled happily at Ren and said "It was nice to meet you, Ren. I hope you and I become good friends."

"Um…uh huh, me too." Ren nodded, returning Elijah's smile with a small one of her own.

"Oh, and Katelyn? Once you see Ren off, don't forget to use a different lock on the gate. Izzy picked the last one."

"What? Already? But we've only had that lock a week. How is she doing this?"

"Don't ask me." Elijah nodded. "I swear, that girl is a lot smarter than she looks."

"Yeah, especially since she keeps tricking you into letting her out the house." Past Katelyn snarked with a smirk.

"She used puppy eyes on me!" Elijah whined. "You know I can't say no when she uses them!"

"Mum doesn't have any problems saying no to them."

"Heh, maybe I should get her advice." And with that comment, Elijah left the room and once the girls heard his footsteps fade down the stairs, they knew they were alone.

"Phew! That was close." Past Katelyn sighed with relief. "Good thing that smoke turned off in time, huh?"

"Your um…your dad seems nice."

"Oh, yeah, he's a complete sweetheart. Even with all this Thornton stuff going on, he's still a great dad to me and Izzy. Ah, but don't tell him I'm friends with your brother and the other guys."

"Why?" Ren asked.

"Because he'd hit the roof if he knew I was hanging out with boys."

"Ehehe, right." Ren said with a laugh. "My dad's the same. He always gets this look in his eye when I tell him I'm meeting Nathan."

"What about Tom?"

"He doesn't know about Tom. I'm afraid to see his reaction."

"Wow, and here I was thinking my dad was overprotective!"

"What do you think they'll be like when we get boyfriends?" Ren asked with a giggle

"Don't even say that word!" Past Katelyn and Ren burst out laughing as they bonded over their fathers.

"Aaahhh…" Ren sighed contentedly, calming down. "I'm lucky to have a dad like mine."

"We both are." Past Katelyn agreed. She smiled at Ren. "And I know luck will be on your side someday."

"Really?" Ren asked hopefully.

"Well, you'd have to be pretty damn lucky to have superpowers." Past Katelyn's eyes lit up when an idea came to mind. "In fact…" Past Katelyn went towards a box by her wardrobe and opened it up, rummaging through the contents. "I think I have something here that will help."

"What is it?"

"If you want good fortune in your life, you're gonna need something to give you that."

"A lucky charm? But, aren't those fake?"

"Only if you let it. It's good you're getting a little confident, but if you had a physical reminder of that confidence, then luck will come your way."

"Oh. Okay." Ren said with a nod, fiddling with her hands. "Er…what exactly are you looking for?"

"I've got a hat here somewhere that just screams "Ren". It should be riiiight…" Past Katelyn trailed off as she kept searching through the box. Eventually, she gave up and placed her hands on her hips, staring at the other boxes thoughtfully. "Somewhere that's probably not here."

"Katelyn, it's okay. I appreciate what you're doing, but-"

"But nothing!" Past Katelyn interrupted. "You need a good luck charm, and I'm gonna get you one. It's in here, I'm sure." Pause. "Probably." Past Katelyn scratched her head. "Maybe I already packed it. I'll just go with Dad to the house tonight and check my new room. It's bound to show up eventually."

"I don't want you to get in trouble for me. I'm not worth it."

"Yes you are!" Past Katelyn placed her hands on Ren's shoulders to make her pay attention. "I saw you smiling this weekend. And I might not know you well, but I know that making you happy is next to impossible. I don't want to see your smile disappear. And I know your brother and Tom and Nathan feel the same way. So please…let us make you happy."

"…" Ren was silent, her eyes shining with some emotion she couldn't place. Except for Harley, nobody had ever said something like that to her before. And nobody had ever told her in so many words that they were here for her. For some reason, hearing somebody who once tormented her tell her that she had value in this world filled her with a joy she never thought possible. "Katelyn?"

"Hm?" Past Katelyn saw Ren look straight in her face before smiling a smile she had never seen Ren wear before.

"I'm glad that we're friends."

"Nn." Past Katelyn nodded. "I'm glad, too!" Past Katelyn, caught up in the moment, pulled Ren into a hug, not hearing the little "urk" Ren let out in response.

Okay, we got a hugger here. Ren thought, awkwardly patting Past Katelyn on the back. Feeling the pats, Past Katelyn realised what she was doing, and pulled Ren away while still holding her shoulders.

"Sorry. I er…I got caught up."

"It…It's okay." Ren reassured.

"Psst." Toshiro looked up from the chattering girls when he heard Katelyn speak up. "I don't think you'll learn anything else useful here. We should go."

"Okay." Toshiro agreed, and the time travellers left Past Katelyn's room and made their way down the stairs in silence, giving Toshiro time to process what he heard in that room.

So Katelyn's family were blackmailed into helping the Thornton's under threat of cutting off Isobel's support. Toshiro thought. And when they found better help, they decided to move away in secret. Toshiro walked through the front door of Katelyn's house and waited for her to follow him. Ren's family weren't the only ones to suffer at Redwood's hands. The Thornton's…This village…They're all… Toshiro's fists clenched as he felt the rage build up inside him. They're all…

"Toshiro?"

"Huh?" Toshiro snapped out of his anger and unclenched his fists after hearing Katelyn's voice.

"Are you alright?"

"I-It's nothing. I'm fine." Toshiro answered briskly.

"It's okay to get mad about it." Katelyn glanced away with a scowl. "I still get angry when I think about my past, and it was years ago."

"I'm…" Toshiro started, trying to find the words, since showing sympathy wasn't something that came too naturally to him. "I'm sorry that happened to you and your family."

"Thanks." Katelyn smiled gratefully. "I'm just glad we got away in the end."

"And I'm sorry that Rosalie bullied you, too. Nobody should be ostracised for something they can't help."

"What's with the sympathy?" Katelyn asked, not used to Toshiro expressing much except for annoyance and anger. She didn't know him as well as the other Soul Reapers, and maybe Ren, after all, but based on how Toshiro has acted around her, she can tell that Toshiro expressing empathy like this was rare.

"Well…let's just say I know what it's like." Toshiro said with a shrug, trying to come across as his usual aloof self.

"Were you picked on for your appearance, too?"

"Kind of…" Toshiro answered vaguely. Without any warning, Katelyn moved to stand in front of him, peering down to his level. Toshiro stepped back with a yell, not expecting this sudden movement.

"Huh." She huffed. "Your eyes are green, too. No, wait…" Katelyn squinted at him. "They're not green."

"…" Toshiro said nothing, waiting impatiently for Katelyn to stop staring at him. He never liked it when people looked him in his eyes for this long. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but his eyes had always been something he'd been slightly self-conscious of.

"Oh." Katelyn said, finally placing the colour. "Your eyes are turquoise." There was a few seconds of silence as Katelyn processed this fact and Toshiro waited for the typical response. "Neat." Katelyn stood up straight again.

"Eh?" Toshiro said, not expecting that response. "That's it?"

"What? Don't people from your world have turquoise eyes?"

"Well…" Toshiro trailed off, not sure how to answer that question, since in all the years he has lived in the Soul Society, he has never come across another person, Soul Reaper or otherwise, with the same eyes as him.

"Trust me, Toshiro; I'm the last person to judge somebody for their eyes."

"Right. Of course." Toshiro mumbled, remembering that having strange eyes, by this village's standards at least, was the reason Katelyn was bullied. While he wasn't exactly expecting that kind of indifference from Katelyn, it was a welcome change to him.

"So…" Katelyn clapped her hands together. "Do you have any questions you want me to answer? 'Cos I know I do."

"Like what?" Toshiro asked brushing off the previous conversation to think about another time.

"Those silver things around Ren's limbs. We know they're Wind Shackles. And the Fire Shackles were activated a few days before that. Ren has one more, doesn't she?"

"Yes. Lightning Shackles." Toshiro confirmed.

"Do you think they were activated during this Blank Fortnight, too?"

"It's likely, yes. But besides the Summoning Trigger, I don't know what could've activated them. It must have been a significant event that caused Ren to feel a strong emotion…"

"Or a state of mind or desire." Katelyn added, following along from what Toshiro stated earlier about the Wind Shackles.

"Do you recall anything that could have activated the Lightning Shackles?" Toshiro asked.

"Um…I don't know. Maybe? I mean, I was definitely at school that week, but I can't think of anything that could have done it. Maybe once we get to that date I'll figure it out."

"Yeah, maybe." Toshiro agreed, opening up the diary to the current date. "Tomorrow is the first of March. That's the start of the second week in the Blank Fortnight."

And that leaves less than a week until this whole village gets destroyed. Toshiro mentally noted.

"Great, we're halfway through!" Katelyn fist pumped, happy that she'll be able to leave this diary soon and put this weird time travelling experience behind her. "Come on, Toshiro, we're nearly there. Turn the page and let's find out what happens next."

"Alright, here we go." Toshiro turned the page, and the scene went white once again. But, as the scene changed around them, Toshiro just couldn't shake the feeling of dread he got when the group were in the clearing. And feeling the chill from Ren activating her Wind Shackles only made that feeling worse. His energy could be clashed with, not just by Feathers but by Cielvians like Ren. And this was something that Toshiro had not anticipated at all. So, when the village of Redwood changed to the front of the school, Toshiro silently prayed to any deity that might hear him that he'll never have to be forced into a situation where he would be physically present in the past.

Aaaaaand that's the end of that chapter! Sorry it took so long, you guys. I've er…I've been going through some stuff. Over the last couple of years, I've accepted a new job, so I had to adjust to that, then I had to battle with a whole lot of anxiety, and then I lost my grandma and godmother in two months, then…well you get the idea. I've finally managed to pull myself together, and now that I'm home more often, I've been writing like crazy. In fact, I've already started the next chapter! So, thank you for following Fate and Destiny, I hope you continue to support it, and during this unprecedented time of COVID-19 I hope you all stay safe and healthy. See you soon!