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 Eli and I walked towards home. He had Burpy sitting on his shoulder and I had both Dreamer and Spark on each of my own. He turned to me, a questioning look on his face. I smiled in the most confident way I could manage, but inside I was nervous as hell.

"Astrus," he started softly, "can I ask you something?"

"Anything you want to, Eli," I said while keeping pace with him.

"Are you really a human?" he asked.

I stopped walking and looked at the ground, my heart picking up speed. "To be honest, I really don't know what I am."

"Oh...."

"But, I have a feeling that if you were to somehow rid the Dark Water from within my blood stream, I could be come a human again."

"So if you were cured, you'd be a human again? Just like when I found you?"

"I think so. I've never really thought about it before 'cause well, I never really had to. My necklace was always on hand and it never left my sight for a second. Even the day I was swimming and it got caught on a tree branch, it didn't fall off my neck." I started walking again and easily made it up to Eli. "Did you think I was a part of the shadow clan?"

"Maybe a little. I have another question."

"Okay," I said while sitting on a nearby rock. "Shoot."

"What happened to your parents?"

"They abandoned me when I was 12. My necklace fell off at a party and some kids thought it'd be funny to hide it since I always had it on. An hour passed by and my necklace was still gone, so the change took place and I turned out to look like this. I went on a rampage since my mind succumbed to the animal instincts I had, and many of the other kids were injured badly, one was hospitalized for three years." I looked at my hands and continued, "I didn't mean to hurt them. My parents found out and they claimed that I was to be considered a monster. They wanted nothing to do with me and brought me down here. They promised that we'd go on a little family outing to clear up the incident that I had caused, but they left me in Deadweed cavern. That wasn't long after Blakk started digging for Dark Water. The longer I stayed in the cavern, the worse the monster became."

Eli came over to me and sat along on the rock, holding my hand. I looked at him with sad eyes, as he lightly pulled me into a hug. "You're not a monster. Your parents were wrong and still are. The day you changed you could've killed me when I tried getting the necklace on you. With the amount of strength you had you could've easily snapped my neck, but you didn't. Besides, the kid you put in the hospital probably forgives you."

"How do you know that?" I asked as Eli stood up, still holding my hand, and stood in front of me.

"Let's get back, and then I'll explain." I nodded and the two of us headed off towards home again.

~

Eli opened the door allowing me to go through first. Trixie stood up and looked at me, her expression unreadable. She walked over to me and stood there, staring into my only visible eye. "Astrus, I'm sorry for getting angry and yelling at you. I said things that I didn't mean and as Eli had told me after you left, they hurt you pretty badly. So, I'm sorry." She held her hand out to me. "Friends?"

I nodded, took her hand and shook it lightly, "Friends." I looked at Eli, "So, how do you know the kid that was hospitalized?"

"First off, do you remember where you hurt him at?"

"Yeah. I think in the left side of his chest, just above the lung. He could still breathe, but there was blood everywhere and it pour out like a fountain."

"You're right." He turned and looked at Trixie, "Could you go help Kord and Pronto? I need to show something to Astrus." Trixie nodded and headed outside to find the other two.

"What do you mean?" I asked curiously as he walked over into the room where I was currently using as a bedroom. I sat on the small sofa and sighed to myself, "Or just walk past and not tell me anything." I closed my eyes and leaned my head back. I heard my bedroom door open but kept my eyes closed until I felt Eli tapping my shoulder.

"Look and I'll show you what I meant," he said softly. I slowly opened my eyes, and blushed a hue of red so dark I could've sworn all the blood in my body was now rushing to my face. Eli stood before me without a shirt on. I quickly covered my eyes with my hands and put my head on my knees.

"What are you doing!?" I yelled but both my hands, and my legs had muffled it. Eli lifted my head so it was normal, and moved my hands away from my face.

"I'm showing you something." He pointed to a large scar on the left side of his chest, it was paler than the rest of his skin.

"No..."I mumbled to myself. "This... this can't be." I looked Eli in the eyes, fear on my face. "I hurt you. And to make it worse you were hospitalized because of me."

Eli sat down next to me, and laid his head on my shoulder. I looked at him confused. "I'm not pissed about it and I never was. Sure, I was a little scared when you had given me this scar, but I never held it against you, or hated you for that matter." I stood up and paced around the room, my mountain lion tail thrashing wildly. "What's the matter, Astrus?" he asked caringly.

I stopped pacing and looked at him. "How can you not hate me?!" I raised my voice a bit. "I hurt you, Eli! Hurt you and left a scar! Scars don't go away!" I sat on the floor legs crossed. "Don't you get it? I hurt you severely! You could've died!"

"But I didn't. I stayed alive for you. I wanted to see you again."