The Twins • Book One • Rewritten

Prologue- I Hear Something I Don't Want To Hear

Author's Note: I hope you like my story! Feel free to voice your opinion, ask any questions and point out any mistakes I make.

March 19th, 1999

Carrying a baby, a woman swiftly moves through the forest that is very familiar to her. Her long brown hair flows behind her as she runs along the path to the clearing where so much has happened to her in the past. Checking behind her for followers, she carefully continues forward.

A stick cracks in the distance, making her freeze and clutch the baby closer to her chest protectively. Not moving, her blue-green eyes widen in fear as she looks and listens for any other signs of movement. She decides to go through the forest as rapidly yet quietly as possible.

As soon as she reaches the clearing, she breathes a sigh of relief. In the middle of the large space, a man cloaked in black paces back and forth, his short blond hair glistening in the moonlight. Held in his arms, there is another baby. He hears the arrival of the woman, and his sparkling blue eyes lock onto her blue-green ones.

"Regina!" He calls out in relief.

"Marcus!" She replies happily. They run forward to each other, but are unable to embrace because of the two precious bundles they carry. Their eyes show the years of love and trust they feel towards each other across the space between them. One of the babies lets out a cry, and Regina calms her down, brushing the blond hair away from her bright blue eyes. The other baby smiles up at her father, her blue-green eyes shining.

"Are you sure you want to do this Regina?" Marcus asks with sadness coating his soft voice. Regina starts to silently cry and answers,

"It must be done to protect them." Marcus somberly nods in understanding.

"I'm taking Antonia to my brother so they can take care of her, and you're taking Ivory to your trustworthy human friend, Marie, correct?" Marcus clarifies. Regina agrees sadly,

"Yes. It's best to split them up. They'll be harder to find and bring together to be used..."

"I know, I understand. You don't have to explain." Marcus interrupts, speaking soothingly to calm his wife and their babies. "But remember, they will be reunited, there's nothing we can do about that. However, I do understand your point, we don't want anyone finding them and raising them to be the Destroyers." He maneuvers the baby Antonia into one arm so he can caress Regina's face, and pull her in for a kiss. The kiss is sweet and soft, yet over too soon. "I will see you soon my Queen."

"And you too my King." Regina says, and runs out of the clearing, still cradling Ivory close to her. Marcus runs off in the opposite direction, heading to the outskirts of his kingdom, to where his brother and wife await.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

17 years later
August 12th 2016

Nia's POV

I wake up, breathing heavily. I still don't understand this dream after having it every night for nearly two years. It all started on my 16th birthday, and I am nearly a month away from being 18.

I sit up on my bed, breathing deeply to calm my racing heart. I think over it again, still confused. They aren't my parents, I know my parents. My parents are called Meredith and Alaric, not Regina and Marcus. They also don't look like the people in the dream. Well, my dad looks similar to Marcus, but that's it. My dad has blonde hair and blue eyes, and the same pale complexion as me. My mom has brown hair and green eyes, and a tan complexion.

Standing up, I run my fingers through my long brown hair and look out the window to see it's still dark outside. I decide to get dressed and go on a walk to my favorite hill. I dig through my dresser to find my favorite pair of black jeans and a blue, short sleeved T-shirt. I undress from my pajamas, placing them on my bed and shifting into a Bengal tiger, then grabbing my clothes in my teeth gently along with a pair of tennis shoes.

Running downstairs, I nudge the front door open with my head and run out of the village, avoiding the night patrollers expertly. I live in a small village called Pardus Ungula (or just Pardus for short). It's surrounded by a forest and most people don't lock their doors so they can get out as cats if they need to in an emergency. Also, this isn't the first time I've left in the middle of the night. My parents don't usually mind, since they know I'll be with Saber. They like Saber.

Saber is my best friend, and my partner in crime. We have gotten in a lot of trouble together in the past. His birthday is just a week after mine, and our parents are best friends, so we grew up together and have been best friends our whole lives.

I run up the hill that's on the outskirts of the village, dodging tree branches, roots and foliage as I make my way up to the top of the hill, which is mine and Saber's spot. We always come here if we're stressed, worried, or just need to get away. Sometimes I wonder why nobody else comes up here. Saber says they're just not interested, but I think otherwise. I'm pretty sure that Saber scent marks it every so often to announce that it's his territory.

Men.

Once I get to the top of the hill, I shift back into my human form, rapidly getting dressed so I'm not stuck in the cool, summer night wind with no clothes on for any longer than necessary. I then walk to the edge of the hill's peak, sitting down and leaning against a wide tree. Letting the peace of silence envelop me, I watch the sky lighten as the sun starts to slowly rise, shooting bright rays of color into the dark night sky.

But, my peace is soon interrupted when I hear something I don't want to hear.

A voice.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Author's Note:
Hello kittens and welcome to the new and improved version of The Twins, of course starting off with the new prologue! For those who read the original, the first half hasn't really changed, other than a few word changes and stuff. But, I kinda combined the prologue with the first chapter, and added detail to it. I hope you guys like it!

Hopefully, in this book I will be better at describing things and not having huge plot holes. I know in the old version (which I'm keeping up if you were curious) I basically didn't describe anything, so in this book I will try to be better about that.

If any of you are new readers and haven't read the original, welcome! You can read the original if you want, but it's not necessary and it's probably quite bad. If you continue on with this version, I hope you like it!

Also, don't mind the dates. I can sometimes get confused when looking back over what I write, I'll think 'Wait when was this?'

For any British English speakers out there, tennis shoes are trainers in case you didn't know. I'm a strange anomaly, I'm somewhere between British English and American English so if my writing seems weird because of this I'm sorry! At this point I don't know what's American and what's British I'm so used to them both.

Finally, a Bengal tiger is a white tiger. They do not live in snow, like most people would believe. They are actually native to India. The tigers that typically live in the snow are Siberian tigers, the orange tigers. Siberian tigers are actually slightly larger than Bengal tigers, and live in Russia.

Question:
Did you like the new prologue, or did you think the old one was better?

Personally, I prefer this prologue.

~Cat Queen

Word count: 1310