I wasn't exactly in the mood to rest, and miraculously my hip wasn't hurting as bad as it probably should have been for someone who'd been thrown into a chair, so instead of heading straight to my room like I said I would, I turned down the hall and made my way towards the gym. Demi, Cass, Malachi, and Arthur would all be with Kailas for a while, so there was no one walking around to catch me not resting.

The arena was filled with the same number of soldiers as I usually found there, and Maggie was the one pacing around and eyeing them to make sure they were all working accordingly. I was going to join her, maybe try and talk to her, when I felt someone slam into my back, arms squeezing around my neck.

"Beth," I grumbled as the blonde teen spun around with her arm slung around my neck, grinning at me.

"Dakota, can we have a heart to heart?"

I arched an eyebrow suspiciously as Beth released me and took a step back, one hand on her hip as she pushed her glasses higher onto her face, the light flashing on the lenses, "I don't think I want anything to do with getting Ian and Cass back together."

"That's not what I wanted to talk about," Beth huffed, "Besides, Ian said there was no way, so we can't," she folded her arms, a light coloring of red dusting across her cheeks, "I wanted to talk about your sister."

"My sister Maggie?" I asked, looking over at where she was standing with Logan, having what looked like a conversation with sign language, "Why?"

Beth just tilted her head and looked off to the side, tugging on a strand of hair, "I just wanted you to introduce us is all."

"Why?" I drew out, and Beth poked her fingers together.

"I dunno."

"Y- wha- okay," I held my hands up, "Beth you're sixteen. Maggie is almost twenty-seven by now. There is no way that can be a thing, so stop blushing!"

Beth pouted heavily, "I never said I had a crush," she complained, looking over at Maggie, still playing with her hair like she was trying to make sure it was perfect, "I just admire her strength and want to talk to her about her fighting techniques."

I rubbed my hands over my face, "This is the creepiest thing that's happened so far."

"Don't be a dick."

"You know what, cool," I turned, holding an arm out, "Let's go meet my sister, why the fuck not, have fun getting in her pants."

"That's so rude," Beth complained, but she happily followed me across the room over to Maggie, who beamed when she saw me.

"Hey! What happened with your boss? Is he okay?"

"Kailas? He's fine," I waved a hand before jabbing a thumb over my shoulder to point at Beth, "This is Bethany Ellis, the younger sister of Arthur and Ian. She's been training with Beckett's class and wanted to meet you."

"Hey," Maggie held a hand out, and Beth wasted no time in taking it in her own, smiling dreamily.

"You're really awesome!" she said, squeezing Maggie's hand, "My brothers are both so protective and annoying I haven't even started fighting with weapons yet, all I can do is punch stuff, but I've seen you training the men with guns and knives and it's amazing!"

Maggie looked stunned before laughing and rubbing her neck, "Thanks so much."

"Did someone teach you how to fight?"

"I kind of taught myself most of it, but an old friend did train with me when the world went to shit. It's safer to stick with someone when you're still learning."

Logan elbowed me and held his hands up, shrugging his shoulders and arching an eyebrow at me, probably because he knew I didn't know sign language, and I waved a hand at him before leaning closer to whisper, "She's got a crush on Maggie."

Logan looked surprised before he just gave a crooked grin, and I shrugged, looking back over to watch the way Beth was just aweing at Maggie while the older woman continued to talk. I just stood back with Logan, mildly amused at the situation. Logan seemed to be thinking the same thing, shaking his head before turning to watch the soldiers training.

"Hey," I rolled my head to the side to see Carina walking up, a small frown of confusion on his lips as he stared at Maggie and Beth while walking up to me, "Um, who's that?"

"Bethany Ellis," I introduced, "Ian and Arthur's little sister."

"Ah," he turned to face me, "What happened in the conference room? That guy was kind of bitchy."

"Well he's dead now," I shrugged, "The rebellion has been on rocky terms with Roman for a while now. Demi killed his nephew a few months ago, because he was selling information and weapons to Fer-de-Lance. Rhett was his name. He's the whole reason we were raided."

Carina squinted, "I remember him. That weird guy who grabbed euthanizer instead of pain medication."

"Right," I rubbed my neck, "Thinking back on that, he probably grabbed the poison on purpose. Scary thought..."

"He had a weird obsession with you."

"Wow, doesn't that sound familiar," I grumbled, shoulders slumping as I rubbed my eyes, "Yea, he did. It proved to be a good thing in the end. He wanted in my pants so bad he confessed to everything when I asked."

"You're kidding," Carina gaped, and I nodded slowly, "He just confessed with no consequences? That seems kind of unlikely."

I shuffled around on my feet and turned, "Well, Demi did kill him, so there were consequences I guess."

"That guy is really odd," Carina hummed, "An assassin trained by the enemy but working for the rebellion? How did that happen?"

"It's a long story," I admitted, "The short version is he's a childhood friend. Kailas, Arthur, and Cass grew up with him."

Carina looked stunned, "Cass did?" he frowned, "He never mentioned that."

"If you ask he might," I shrugged, then grinned, "Have you ever seen pictures of Cass when he was younger?"

Carina stared at me blankly for a long time before squinting at me, "No?"

I pulled out a photograph from my back pocket, one that I'd taken from Demi's album when he wasn't looking, and held it up for Carina to see, tapping at Cass and grinning as Carina took one look before bending over at the waist and laughing hysterically.

"Why are you carrying around that picture?!" he asked, and I turned it around, smiling.

"It's not just Cass, it's Kailas, Arthur, and Demi too. I dunno, I just... wanted a picture of them in case something happened," my soft smile faded and I just stared down at the picture for a long time, "I don't have a picture of my family, my mom and dad and my older sister Gracie... or of my best friend.... They're all dead now, but I don't have any photographs of them. By now I've basically forgotten what they looked like."

Carina was silent for a moment before shifting around, and I looked up to see him tugging something from his sling, holding it out, "Orion doesn't know I have that," he said, letting me take the picture so I could look at the front, "He got hurt pretty badly during the initial bombing, and I left him at the closest clinic to get help while I ran to our house."

"Orion got hurt?" I asked, and Carina nodded.

"We were in the constellation room and the roof collapsed, so he grabbed me and shielded me, but his back got kind of screwed up. Some of the debris must have shredded it, I don't know. Our parents were crushed, though," he pointed at the picture, "That's all I could grab before our house started collapsing."

It was a nice picture, a family photo, with their parents in the back and them standing in the front. Both Carina and Orion looked ridiculously young, the four of them were standing in front of the observatory Orion mentioned before. Their mother had dark hair braided over her shoulder, thick black rimmed glasses on her face and in front of hazel eyes, and their father looked a lot like Orion, but his blond hair appeared much darker, and his eyes were an olive-green color.

Orion was grinning, standing in front of his mother, who had a hand on his head, and he was holding a much younger Carina in his arms while Carina was hugging around Orion's neck, pouting in an almost adorable way, like he didn't enjoy getting photographed and was trying to hide behind Orion.

"You don't look like a total piece of shit in this," I said, and Carina took the picture back, rolling his eyes as he hid it back in his sling.

"Don't tell Orion I have that," he mumbled, and I grinned.

"You really are a softy with a brother complex, aren't you?"

"I don't have a brother complex," he snapped at me, and I arched an eyebrow, "Shut up!"

"No, it's okay," I set a hand on his good shoulder and placed my second hand over my chest, "Loving your brother makes you seem like less of a prick."

Carina just narrowed his eyes at me, "I really hate you."

"Then I'm doing my job well."

"I really don't want you to end up with my brother."

"You and me both," I snapped my fingers, "Let's both try and avoid that. You can distract Orion while I hide from him."

"No," Carina deadpanned, turning away from me, "I don't like it, but I'm not going to interfere in something that might make him happy."

"What about me?! I don't think I'll be very happy with the results!"

"How do you know?" he questioned, readjusting the strap of his sling over his shoulder, "The way it seems to me, you're just scared of getting romantically involved with people, or connecting with new people at all. You don't hate my brother, do you?"

I opened my mouth before closing it, "No," I decided, "but he is annoying and won't leave me alone!"

"Didn't Arthur kind of give him the job to look after you while you were healing?" Carina asked, and I looked down at the bandages around my wrists, "He can't leave you alone because he's your nurse."

"I'm fine though! These are scabs," I waved my hands limply, "It's been a month since I got back, the only issue I'm dealing with is my hip, and that isn't even bothering me!"

"You got thrown into a chair."

"I'm fine!"

"What is it going to take for you to actually make friends?!" Carina demanded, and I snarled as I turned away from him.

"The only reason you care is because your stupid fucking brother is interested in me for some fucking reason. Why don't you waste your energy convincing him I'm a lost cause instead of trying to help him win me over. You'll probably have more luck."

I didn't wait for him to respond as I left the arena and started to walk towards my room. It was essentially the only place I could go without being bothered, because I could lock my door and the window before taking the brace off my leg and stripping so I could stand in my shower and let the searing water burn my skin.

It made me feel better to have the boiling water soaking my hair and pouring down my skin, because it felt like the water was burning away the impurities of my existence. Demi didn't like it, obviously, because I was "giving myself first degree burns", but it helped me feel better, and it didn't hurt that badly.

After standing there for a while you get used to the burn and don't even feel the pain. It relaxed me and calmed me down enough to lie my forehead against the tiled wall and sigh, closing my eyes. Calmed down like I was, I managed to decide something.

Orion and Beckett weren't just going to stop because I tell them I'm not interested. Beckett may take a small step back out of respect, but he wouldn't just stop trying to win me over. Both seemed far too proud and interested in me to do that. So, the only thing I could do was avoid them for the next two months.

By then I would have won the bet and avoided falling for either of them, and they would leave like Orion said. Then again... did I even want them to leave? Orion leaving meant he would want Carina to come with him, but Carina was in love with Cass and might end up fighting back against his brother.

Maggie wouldn't want to leave either, which would just make more conflict. If I won this bet, I would end up tearing Pluto apart. Worse, I would break Orion's heart twice over, first by rejecting him, then by inadvertently destroying his relationship with his little brother.

Was I really that scared of falling in love? Was I really that selfish? Was I really so angry at myself that I felt I had a right to cage my heart as if it would keep me from hurting, even if the people around me were hurt in the process? Ronnie... Ronnie would be so disappointed in me...