Ayano looked to be in her late forties, though she could easily pass for thirty with her almost flawless porcelain skin. Her eyes were a light brown compared to Meena's intense blue. However, the almond shape and natural wing of her eyes under long, black lashes were identical to that of Meena's. They shared the same small nose, but Meena's lips were much fuller than Ayano's. Meena's skin was also just a shade darker than Ayano's milky complexion and Meena's hair was dark brown as opposed to Ayano's smooth black hair.

  Ayano was the spitting image of Meena's mother. A bit older than Meena's memories, but she hadn't seen her mother since she was a child so that was to be expected. Meena was so shocked that she couldn't say anything after she had choked out, "Mom?"

  Ayano's face twisted in surprise and sadness and pity all bundled together. She moved over and crouched in front of Meena, cupping the young woman's cheek in her slender hand.

  "Ah, I see... You look just like them," Ayano whispered with tears in her eyes. "Your parents..." she trailed off and took a deep breath to steady herself before she continued. "Your mother is my sister. We're twins. I'm so... so sorry." She pulled Meena into a hug. Meena was so stunned that she stiffened at Ayano's embrace. She wasn't sure how to feel about this situation.

  Adam and Aida had the courtesy to look away from the emotional display but Niko was gaping at the women as if he was watching the climax of some dramatic tv show. Adam glanced at Niko and elbowed him swiftly in the ribs to break his dumbfounded daze.

  After Ayano let go, Meena swallowed hard and attempted to gather herself. Her chest hurt as if someone was sitting on it but she sat up anyway, resting her elbows on her knees. She ran a hand through her hair.

  "Sorry, this is a lot to take in." She sighed.

  Ayano nodded solemnly. "For me as well. I thought you were in Chronos with your family..."

  Meena mentally flinched at the mention of the word 'family' but she kept her expression straight. "No. I escaped," she answered shortly, not wanting to delve deeper into that topic. The looks of pity she received from Ayano, Adam, and Aida were already too much. She didn't want to be pitied. She was out of that place now and had been out for a long time while her family still remained. If she were just stronger back then... She shook the thoughts from her head as they began to sting her eyes.

  Niko stood up abruptly. As he walked over and crouched in front of Meena, Ayano backed away a bit to give him space.

  'You...' It wasn't until Meena noticed that Niko's mouth wasn't moving that she realized she had dropped the walls around her thoughts in the moment of shock. His gray eyes pierced through to her core as he held her gaze and continued. 'You were so brave.' Meena's eyes widened as she searched his, trying so hard to hold back the memories of that time. She didn't want him to see them. They were terrible. But as he slowly leaned forward and touched her forehead with his, the memories flooded out like a dam had been broken. And Niko saw it all.

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~~~

  A tiny Meena was grinning ear-to-ear as she held her small fists up to her face. Her mother was on her knees in front of Meena so that she was around the same height as she held her hands up.

  "Ready?" her mother's soft voice asked her. When Meena nodded enthusiastically, her mother readied herself for the little girl's punches. "One, two! One, two!" Meena punched her mother's palms on cue. They practiced happily until Meena's mother frowned and she looked around the courtyard fervently, dropping her hands as she was distracted. Which resulted in a small punch to the shoulder. Meena apologized profusely to her mother for hitting her, but she wasn't paying attention to the girl. She stood up suddenly and scooped Meena into her arms easily. Meena's blue eyes widened with worry as she clutched at her mom's shirt.

  This wasn't the first time this had happened. Meena knew the drill by now and as her mother placed her into an armoire inside the house, they nodded to each other knowingly. Meena was shivering with nervousness and her mother offered her a warm smile before she shut and locked the doors of the armoire.

  They moved around quite often but the house they lived in at the time was a small, Chinese-style house called a siheyuan. It was a square, wooden structure with a courtyard in the middle and was in a very secluded area with no neighbors for miles around. The home was quiet and peaceful. So when they were attacked like this, Meena's parents could tell beforehand. But at the moment, Meena and her mother, Nanako, were alone in the home.

  Meena tried to keep her breathing steady and soft as she began to hear the familiar sounds of fighting in the courtyard. Her mother was a good fighter. No, that was an understatement. Her mother was the best fighter in the world. And this wasn't an understatement, even from the mind of a seven-year-old girl. Nanako's power was the first one that Meena had learned to control. At age seven, it wasn't perfected yet, but her mother had the utmost faith in her. Just the fact that Meena could use it was impressive.

  Nanako could see five seconds into her own future. But only in high-adrenaline situations. She couldn't do it all the time, mostly just emergencies. Like when she's suddenly attacked by thirty uniformed men armed with paralyzers and she was the only one there to protect her daughter.

  Meena listened intently for what felt like hours until she froze at the sound of her mother yelling out in pain. Almost simultaneously, she heard footsteps entering the bedroom of the house. They were already inside. Meena held her breath and tucked herself behind the clothes in the armoire, praying with all her might that the footsteps would belong to those of her family.

  The doors of the armoire swung open and the clothes in it were thrown aside as Meena flinched in surprise. A man in a full-face mask yanked Meena's arm out and stuck a needle in it. Just moments later, Meena's body slumped, completely numb. The only thing that moved were her eyes, wide with terror as they dragged her outside and threw her into the back of a black van with her semi-conscious mother. She wanted to hold onto her mom so badly but neither of them could move a muscle. After a minute or two, dancing orange-red light showed through the van windows. Then, the van began moving. Tears streamed down Meena's cheeks as she whimpered helplessly until she got too tired to keep her eyes open.

  When Meena awoke again, she was alone. She couldn't open her mouth, it was taped shut. She was fastened to a table by metal bands that seemed to only open electronically. There was a clip on her finger, a needle in her wrist, and several wires taped onto her body under her plain white clothes. There were several carts full of clean medical supplies and she could hear loud, excited voices coming from a distance outside of the room.

  The voices grew louder for a second as the door opened and a balding man in a lab coat and surgical mask entered. Little Meena couldn't see his mouth but his slightly wrinkled eyes were turned up sadistically as he leered at her.