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BONUS SHORT STORY: ANT'S UNBECOMING

Imogen's point of view

*2 years after Imogen and Blake's wedding*

They wouldn't let me see Ant when she was first apprehended. They said it was too dangerous. They thought her brain had forgotten who I was, that she would see me as another threat and snarl and thrash at me like she did with everyone else.
Corey had been the one to insist. He told me all about the years Ant had spent running and that her mind was even more mangled from being lost as it was from the intense indicatory training she's undergone again and again. He had claimed she made it out of the zone and scoured the country like a sociopath. She robbed gas stations and truck stops, slept in hotels and hot wired stolen cars. It made me want to be sick.
Taylor was just as furious as I was. We fought at any chance we got, we wanted to see her face when they finally caught up with her. The two of us wanted to be the first thing she saw so she would be reminded of who she was before terror struck her strong heart and charred it black.
But Corey, the voice of reason as Charlie had claimed, refused to be swayed. I think he was worried what Taylor and I might feel if we were rejected by someone we had once been so close to.
Blake was Switzerland. He wanted Taylor and I to have a right to bringing Ant to Colby as much as he wanted Corey to make sure she was stable before hand.
Everyone else didn't much care what we did with her, as long as she turned out ok. And, in the end, Taylor and I lost our battle and once an Order agent brought her into a government facility, Corey was in charge of clearing her head a little before she would be brought here.
Corey had warned me that what they had done to her wasn't human and he hadn't ever fixed anyone in a quite a state as she, and that even after his work there would still be therapy she would need to undergo before she turned back to her pre-zone self. But I was ok with that, as long as she came back to me eventually.

Saturday morning and my alarm was ringing in my ears, teasing me by being just a hair out of my reach. I squinted in the light shining through the windows and rubbed my eyes, rolling from my side on to my back.
I watched the ceiling for a while, stretching my arms and messing with the blankets. All my fuss must have woke Blake.
He groaned and rolled on his side, slinging his body on top of mine. I let out a harsh, surprised laugh as I pushed on his chest and to no avail, attempting to roll him off.
He pressed his lips onto my cheek and I laughed again, giving up and throwing my arms around his neck.
"Good morning, love." He whispered, his voice was still cloudy with sleep and the stubble on his jaw brushed against my cheek.
"You have morning breath, get off." I complained in a lighthearted tone. He smirked against my skin and fell onto his back, looking up at the ceiling as I reached over and flicked the alarm off.
"Time?" Blake asked, looking over at me.
"6:30. But Ant gets here today so I suppose it's worth it." I reminded him, shucking the blankets off. He whined at the sudden wave of cold air that rushed to greet us but while I shivered, I ignored it for the most part.
"Come on, once you get up it won't be so bad." I assured him, heading into the bathroom, clothes in hand. I could still hear Blake complaining behind me as I shut the door.

I left the bathroom dressed in a pair of light grey leggings and a yellow tee shirt that hung off my shoulders just a bit. It had been Corey's at one point but he'd given it to me when I refused to go shopping but ran out of clothes that fit. It wasn't my fault my schedule was always stocked.
Bethany, I think, was the busiest out of all of us. She had made amends with the president of the Untied States all on her own. It was impressive, especially for how young she was, but it left Will lonely and lost half of the time. He taught classes just as much as the rest of us now, for the variated kids, but he didn't have a partner to help split the workload when Bethany was sent away to some political meeting.
Mark and Taylor built their own house right across the street, a place for not only students of our special little school but also a home to the two of them and their one year old son, Ben.
Grandpa Joe passed on last year but he's held in my heart just as much as though he were still living, though perhaps a bit heavier.
My parents took his death the hardest, not leaving their secret little room in the basement for days. But they had gotten better now, though my mom seemed a little slower than she usually was.
Charlie and Corey lived together in Corey's house and they didn't mind the tight accommodations at all. Even with their five year old boy, who they adopted when we were told Charlie wasn't able to have children, they made it work. I loved seeing my sister so happy, her life so complete. It made all our sacrifices worth it.