AN: Sooooooo I found my baby! After my computer crashed I feared this one was lost forever! But I found most of what I'd had up to that point buried in my email from when I sent it to Mischa! Thank god for the internet! Anyway now that I'm back I hope someone will finally leave a review for this one…please?

"A bodyguard?" April almost laughed. "Does he really expect one of Them to give a crap about us?"

Chelsea shrugged and pulled Diana closer. "I don't know what he's thinking, but I do know that your cause isn't looking good."

"You have to know what he's thinking, remember?" Holly tapped her head "This two minds thing is hard to forget."

"Well ok I do know what he's thinking, but he doesn't understand what I'm telling him. He thinks that we're accepted by Them now, since we ended the war with Feline's people, but I don't really know where we stand with Them anymore." Chelsea sighed.

Holly stiffened at the mention of Feline and stood to pick up Eric who was currently the only baby not being cuddled. "I still can't shake the nightmare." She said, referring to her nightly revisit to the day Feline killed her. More often than not she awoke to Kolle soothing her as she screamed.

"I would be worried if you could, you have a unique experience in that Hol. No one else in the history of forever as far as I know is able to say they remember being killed." April patted her shoulder.

"The strangest part is I think for a minute I actually pitied her and Violet too, for not belonging anywhere, I understood them." Holly shook her head and changed the subject abruptly back to their impeding body guards. "So who do you think Ryone got to babysit us?"

Chelsea shrugged. "there were so many names thrown around in his head and I could only remember a few of them, but I think we'll find out soon enough, they won't want us alone for long after that girl managed to get into the palace."

"I can understand the rebellion wanting to hurt Them, but why did she attack you?" Holly asked.

"I don't think she would have except I defended him and Diana too." Chelsea felt the scabbed over cut on her cheek and thought about the girl, she must have believed that what she was doing would help the rebellion, but they couldn't possibly believe that they could successfully kill Their king with a single attack.

"They must have been provoked to do something so stupid; she could have just as easily been captured or killed." She said after a moment.

A knock at the door interrupted the conversation and each girl felt their respective mate on the other side, sharing a knowing glance Chelsea opened it and admitted the men, along with three others they didn't know.

All three of the new arrivals stood at attention with their eyes straight ahead awaiting Ryone's orders.

"These soldiers will be with you at all times when you are not accompanied by one of us." He explained succinctly. "They have been given strict orders to be constantly aware of a possible threat on any of your lives, or the children's." He looked at Chelsea directly 'And I made sure to choose men who would treat you as people, not pets.'

She smiled, so he had listened to her concerns.

After a few moments conference with each guard, Ryone, Surino and Kolle left with the promise they'd be home tonight.

The girls looked curiously at their new 'babysitters' as April had put it, waiting for someone to strike up a conversation.

"Hi, I'm Holly, this is Chelsea and April. Nice to meet you all."

Each man trained his eyes on one of the girls, seeming to register who was his respective charge.

The smallest of the three stepped forward and introduced himself to Holly. "I will be your bodyguard, Kolle told me that you are usually self-reliant, do not allow me to interfere with that."

She smiled at him and asked his name.

"My mate has told me it translates roughly to the same meaning as Jeremy, you may also call me this if you wish."

"Do you all have mates?" Chelsea asked curiously.

The other two nodded as well.

April had put Maggie down when the men entered the room and between then and now she had snuck across the floor to reach up to the blonde guard with pleading hands.

"Sorry," April stepped forward to take her daughter, but the man waved her off and took the child in his arms.

"She knows what she wants; she will be a strong one someday." He nodded to Maggie. "I believe I am to be your guard." He added.

"Well then, it is nice to meet you. Maggie is a good judge of character, and she seems to like you." This time when she stepped forward, the baby held out her arms to her mother, who took her chuckling. "Though she still prefers her father over me, so maybe she's not perfect."

"I have great respect for your mate he was willing to trust me to care for you and his children and I am grateful for the chance."

April smiled, he seemed nervous and she wanted to put him at ease, especially since he seemed so kind, for Their standard anyway.

"So do you two have names?" Chelsea asked cutting in addressing her guard as well as April's.

"My mate calls me Ryone." Chelsea's guard answered, he had light brown hair and a goatee.

The girls stifled laughs. "Well how about we come up with something different for you. I already have a Ryone, and I don't need another one."

"My father's name was Konek,"

Chelsea smiled, "Would it be alright if I called you Konekson then?"

He nodded.

"Which just leaves you then." Chelsea turned back to April's guard.

He shrugged. "I will answer to whatever you decide to call me."

April thought for a minute. "Justin."

Holly snorted. "Why?"

April shrugged. "He seems like an agreeable person, I get the impression he does things because he believes they are right, or 'just' if you will. So Justin."

Justin smiled, it looked out of place on his face as it did on so many of Them.

After a few days the girls were almost able to forget that they had acquired another shadow each. Except when they were out in the general marketplace, the guards were rarely ever in the same room as them, which gave rise to more interesting talks about the human rebellion.

"I still think there must have been something that led them to such a stupid desperate play." Chelsea said on the afternoon of the 5th day.

"But if we can't figure out what it was, what does it matter?"

A cough from the corner brought their attention to Jeremy and Konekson who had entered quietly a few moments before.

"We probably shouldn't be telling you this since we've been told that you're all headstrong Earth women, but if you want to know what provoked the humans, I suggest you talk to Justin." Jeremy said in a low voice.

"And why would he know?" Holly asked.

"This is his first important assignment; he was promoted because he captured a rebel human in the market when she pulled an energy pistol on a stall owner." Konekson replied.

"We should go back to patrolling the grounds." Jeremy said abruptly and they left without a word.

They must have known that Justin was on his way back because a few seconds after that, he entered the room and took a seat in the corner. They were all looking at him for a few seconds before he felt their stares and looked up.

"What?" He asked.

Holly and Chelsea turned their stares to April, who rolled her eyes at them and turned back to her guard.

"We were wondering if you knew what caused the rebels to attack the palace." She said quickly.

He looked uncomfortable. "Why would I know anything about that?" He asked shifting in the chair.

"You were promoted recently right?" April asked.

He nodded.

"What did you do before this?"

"I was a foot soldier in the west quarter of the city." He responded readily.

"And why were you promoted?"

He paused her unsure of how to answer.

"I, I was one of two soldiers to capture a rebel human in the market. We have little knowledge of the rebellion and even less access to it. The king was very excited to have a potential source of information in our custody."

"A potential source of information?" Holly's teeth ground together. "Is that what humans are to you?"

"No, not at all, I just,"

April cut him off, "Chels, Hol, how about you take Diana and the twins for a walk in town?"

They both glared daggers at her for being cut out of the loop, but when it was clear she would not ask any more questions until they were gone, surrendered and collected the children to leave.

"I expect to know everything you know." Chelsea hissed in her ear as they passed, and April nodded subtly.

Once they were gone she turned back to Justin. "I'm sorry about them." She smiled. "So we've never really gotten a chance to talk. You have a mate?" She led.

He nodded and looked a bit glum.

"I take it you don't really like her all that much." She prodded.

"It was expected that I take a pet when I came of age, I decided to wait until we had captured Earth and chose a human girl named Carly. You humans have a broad range of emotions, but I do not believe she is like you three at all." He said.

"What do you mean?" April asked curious.

"I believe that she would have fit in perfectly growing up here on our planet." He reasoned.

April laughed, "Oh I get it, she's a bitch."

He nodded glumly, "Yes I think so.

April tentatively placed a hand on his shoulder. "Well you're right in assuming we're not all like that. But what I can't seem to reconcile in my mind is that you are able to sit here and have a conversation with me as an equal, but at the same time you see no problem with throwing another human to the wolves. It means leaving her to fend for herself." She clarified seeing his perplexed face.

"But you have done nothing wrong. She tried to kill one of us." He responded.

"I'm sure she didn't just wake up and decide to risk getting captured or killed over the slim possibility that she'd actually succeed in killing one of your people. And when I first got here, given the chance, I would have killed a few of you myself. This is what I was trying to explain to Ryone the other day. The resistance is small, but they believe in what they are doing which means they will never give up until they get what they want. What you need to do is show them that we don't have to fight. I want us to be able to live together and work together."

Justin shook his head. "I do not believe that any humans would trust us to make that promise after all that has happened."

"But you believe it is possible for your side to try?" April pressed.

He nodded.

"And I believe that if we step back and talk about it civilly, then the humans will listen as well. But in order to do that, I need to talk to the girl you captured. Can you take me to her?" She asked gently.

"No one has ever asked that before, though I'm sure it is not allowed," He reasoned.

"I won't let you get in trouble for this, I can handle Surino."

"But the king," He protested.

"Chelsea can handle him. On Earth we have a saying, behind every great man is a woman. You never see us, but we know how to get what we want." April smiled darkly.

"I believe I should be afraid of you, but I'm not very good at that emotion yet." He laughed.

"So you will take me then?"

"I suppose I will."

She expected a dungeon, or a prison tower. But the reality was much different than anything she'd seen before. The prison was underneath the city through old dark tunnels, but the actual facility was brightly lit and high tech. Each prisoner wore a collar, not unlike the ones Humans wore here.

"They actually increase the gravity instead of lessen it. They don't have the strength to escape." Justin explained.

After walking through the main part of the prison she found herself in a much more familiar setting. These were the human prisoners, kept in metal cells with their hands shackled together. He stopped in front of one cell and the girl inside looked up with dead eyes. April recognized her from the day in the square when she'd run into the other girl and her brother who didn't seem to understand how she could love her children.

"I'm not talking today either." She mumbled, and then noticed April behind Justin. "What's she doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you." April said quietly. "I think I was there when you were captured, I saw the girl you were with, and talked to her after, and she's fine. I wanted you to know."

The girl stared at the floor and refused to speak again.

"My name is April, what's your name?" She tried again.

This caused the girl's eyes to shoot up. "I will talk to you, not him."

April nodded easily and waved Justin off. He retreated to the doorway of the large room.

"I didn't actually believe you were still alive." The girl said looking at her in wonder.

"Who are you?" April asked directly.

"My name is Ariadne, your sister has been looking for you for months." She replied.

"My," April trailed off. "May is here?" She asked softly.

Ariadne nodded. "She started the rebellion to find you, take you home again."

April was still trying to reconcile the image of her innocent baby sister surviving on this foreign world, never mind organizing the rebellion of the entire human race, albeit a small one.

"How did you end up here?" April asked reaching through the bars to grasp Ariadne's hand. It was cold.

"A few weeks ago we were on a mission to gain information on half breed children, apparently Their king had named one his heir." Ariadne started, April flushed and pulled her hand back at the notion of "half breed."

"What is it with everyone and the children? Why are they to blame for all of the problems?" She asked fighting the motherly instinct that threatened to envelope her.

"It's not the kids, it's what they represent, if They can have children with us, we will never really be free of Them." Ariadne explained.

"We don't need to be free of them, we need to have the choices to stay or go. I have been here over a year and I don't want to have to leave, but I also don't want to have to stay either." April countered.

Ariadne looked at her hard for a minute then scoffed. "You've been brainwashed just like the rest."

"Brainwashed? Is that what you think happens to people here?" April asked nearly laughing.

"How else would you explain fighting with the people holding you captive?" Ariadne replied.

"I call it love. Life here isn't a picnic, but I've come to call it home, and what I want is for you, my sister, and the rest of the rebellion to understand that some of us are very happy here, we don't need saving, but some of us do."

"Brainwashed." Ariadne muttered again, it seemed she was done talking.

"I can prove to you that I am not brainwashed." April proposed.

Ariadne looked up but remained silent.

"I will get you freed; in return you will bring me to my sister."

Ariadne's eyes widened.

"Deal?" April asked.

Ariadne nodded.

AN: So who likes the bodyguards? I'm not sure how I feel about them, I might go back ad change tehm later, but first drafts are for experimenting right? DFTBA