Title: The True Meaning of Love
Author: DemonicangelGREED
Summary: After watching his mentor and best friend die, Ziggy ran out into the Wastes where he met a old survivor who taught him what love and family were truly about. After a terrible accident Ziggy meets Dillon and goes back to the city he ran from.
Warnings: Slash fic, will eventually be Dillon/Ziggy, cage fighting and murder.
Pairings: Dillon/Ziggy

Chapter 1

Ziggy stared at his hands in horror and then down at the gasping man on the floor, without thinking the young mobster fell to his side and tried to stem the blood flow that was so steadily rushing from his throat. The man gripped Ziggy's arm and gazed at him with intense eyes.

"Come on Jak, you can't die" he sobbed as he tried to save his mentor.

The man grinned weakly and then pointed to the exit that he had made for Ziggy to escape to the wastes. The teen shook his head and gripped the man tighter not afraid of the blood that was soaking through his white suit shirt. Jak seemed to realize that his protege was leaving his side till he was gone and relaxed into the youth's arms.

Ziggy held back another sob and ran through what had lead up to this point. It had been a normal day for him. He had woken up at The Cartel's mansion, gone out to the base and had a meeting with Fernso Bob, about his new mission which involved him taking out a target, had stolen a car, met up with Jak, had killed the young woman who owed his family money: yep it had been just another day in the mob, but somewhere something had gone wrong.

The target he had been instructed to kill had body guards and had followed the two criminals until they had them in a secluded area and then proceeded attack them. The two of them had been able to kill both of them but, it seemed that one of them had thrown his knife at Jak and had lodged itself in the bottom of his throat.

"Jak, your my family" he sobbed wiping his face, unknowingly smudging some blood on his face.

The man smiled even as his face turned white from blood loss and tenderly rubbed his cheek "a-nd yo-u min-e Z-ig" he whispered breathlessly.

Ziggy sobbed again at the use of his nickname and clutched Jak to him tighter and buried his face into his chest. He still remembered first meeting the other mobster:

A seven year old Ziggy looked up at the elder man Fernso Bob, he'd called himself and then around himself at the mansion he'd been brought to it was a lot nicer than the orphanage. He had been pickpocketing a young woman when the nice elder man had spotted him and had offered him a place to stay for the night.

"What, you say your name was again kiddo" one of the younger men who had been in limo asked him kindly grinning like a shark.

"Ziggy Grover sir" he said politely.

The shark man smiled and hoisted him up and then turned him around "what do you think of the place" he asked.

Ziggy took a second to look around him and then shrugged trying to mimic the elder kids at the orphanage when they were trying to act cool "It' aright I guess"

Frenso Bob barked out laughing and then ruffled his hair, "I like you kid, you got spunk" he said and then looked into his eyes "How bout we find you someone to stay with huh"

Ziggy gazed at the man in front of him in happiness. Stay, that meant that these people had adopted him: they were family. The young seven year old nodded happily and the Shark man laughed.

"Rion, put him in with Jak, I think the two of them will get on" Frenso Bob said before he acceded the stairs but then paused and looked back at Ziggy 'Welcome to the family kid"

Ziggy beamed happily and let the shark man-Rion he thinks his name is-lead him through the mansion until they reach a room where a young boy about thirteen was fighting some man with a black belt on.

'Jak" Rion called and the thirteen year old perked his head up. "These someone Frenso Bob wants you to meet"

The blonde haired boy nodded and then bowed to the man he was fighting before he jumped down and walked over to the two of them. "Hey there little buddy" he said happily as he saw Ziggy who grinned and waved at him.

Rion put Ziggy down who walked right up to Jak and put his hand out "I'm Ziggy. Ziggy Grover" he said in a strong voice-well as strong as a seven year old can be.

Jak stared at him for a moment before he smiled widely and shook his hand happily "Well Ziggy, I'm Jak. Jak Strike"

Rion nodded and then crossed his arms "Ziggy here is the new addition to our family, your to look after him" he said before he walked out.

Jak looked down at Ziggy and then picked him up "Well Zig, I think you and I are going to the best of Friends"

Ziggy sobbed as the memory passed him, Jak hadn't been lying, for eleven years the two of them had been inseparable. Even when the two of them had ended up doing different jobs in the Catrel's the two of them had always thought of each other as brothers.

"Zig-gy, i-m so sor-ry" Jak gurgled "we we-re su-pp-osed t-o be t-og-eth-er f-o-r lif-e" he said weakly.

The younger boy smiled and brushed his mentor's hair out of his face and shook his head "Your always going to be with me Jak" he whispered.

Jak smiled and then sighed happily "Tha-nk-y-ou Zig" he whispered and then went limp.

Ziggy stared at his best friend for a moment before he laid him delicately on the floor and pulled a sliver chain from his neck and slipped it over his own. "I love you Jak" he said and then stood up.

Lying around the small clearing were the two bodies of his target's body guards and just a few meters away was the entrance to the wastes that he and Jak used regularly when they wanted to get away from the fighting and killing that the Catrel made them do. Without thinking Ziggy took a deep breath and began running towards the wastes forgetting he was in a mob, forgetting he had a family.

It had been two days since he had run out into the wastes and Ziggy was tired, sore, emotionally drained, and he hadn't eaten or drank anything since he'd left the domed city of Conrith. All he had done was run and now he was so far he couldn't even see the city any more, he didn't even care if Venjix found him, at least then he knew he would be able to see Jak again.

Suddenly the younger man felt his legs give out underneath him and he collapsed into the sand. Ziggy moaned as he closed his eyes to the closing sun, he was just so tired, maybe if he rested just a little then everything would be okay.

Just as the young man fell asleep and black and green motorbike flew into view and stopped when the rider saw Ziggy's blood smeared and unconscious form lying in the sand.

"What in the world" the rider whispered and then walked over to the boy and quickly moved into action when he saw the state the kid was in. "Don't worry kid, I gotcha" he whispered and then began to speed off through the desert.

When Ziggy awoke he found himself staring at a fire with a blanket covering him, he knew he hadn't fallen asleep here. Looking around blearily Ziggy noticed that he wasn't wearing his suit any more, he was wearing a dark forest green tank top with a sleeveless leather hooded tunic over the top with cargo pants and combat boots adorning his feet: these defiantly his clothes.

"Ah so he wakes up" a kind voice said.

Ziggy whipped his head around and saw a weathered blonde man with goggles pushed up on his face with a gotte smiling at him from across the fire, "Where am I?" he asked, his throat cracking from lack of sue and lack of moisture.

The man seemed to understand this because next thing Ziggy knew he was being handed a metal cup filled with water, which he began to guzzle only stopping when he began to feel sick. Ziggy put the cup down and looked around him once again in confusion making the man chuckle a little.

"My name is Cid and this is my home" he said simply as he cut into something that had to be meat.

Ziggy nodded and then cleared his throat "And where would that be. The last thing I remember was passing out in the wastes" he said taking another sip of water.

Cid nodded and began dishing out the meat for two people "Yeah, I found you. Were still in the wastes just in the abandoned city of Kilika" he said shrugging.

Ziggy nodded and then looked around a little more "Here you go" Cid said handing him a plate with the meat and a purple plant on it. The teen didn't even care and began wolfing it down with an enthusiasm that made Cid laugh.

"I forgot what a teenager acts like" he howled with laughter and Ziggy smiled at him sheepishly.

"Sorry" he said scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

Cid waved it away and then looked at him seriously "Okay kid, what were you doing out there" he asked "You looked dead when I found you"

Ziggy began fiddling with the necklace he'd taken from Jak as his memories caught up with him "I was running" he said in a sad voice.

Cid noticed the changed in demeanor in the young boy and began poking at the fire absently "From what"

This startled the boy who then looked down at his hands that while clean still had a reddish brown hue to them thanks to Jak's blood. "My brother was killed in Conith and I panicked" he said honestly "This was his" he said lifting up the necklace.

Cid's eyes soften and he pulled out a weathered picture from his pocket and handed it to Ziggy. The image was of Cid with his arm around a boy who looked about Ziggy's size and age but was the splitting image of Cid himself. "That is my boy" he said warmly.

Ziggy ran his fingers over the image tenderly and then looked back up at Cid "Where is he?"

"He was killed when Kilika fell" the man said with sorrow lacing his voice.

Ziggy immediately was filled with guilt and handed the man back his photo and hugged his bare arms "I'm sorry"

Cid shrugged and then bit his lip "Look i know we hardly know each other" he began

"What" Ziggy said in confusion making Cid grin.

"And i know it might seem strange considering we just met, but you don't seem to want to go back to Conith any time soon" he trailed off and Ziggy nodded prompting him to continue "I was wondering if you'd like to stay here...with me?"

Ziggy didn't even think off it, and before Cid could react he had an arm full of sobbing Ziggy "Thank you, Thank you, of course I will"

Cid grinned to himself and wrapped his arms around the young man and thanked the stars he'd finally found someone to spend his lonely life with.

It had been four weeks since Ziggy had come to live with Cid and since then the two of them had fallen into a great relationship. Cid would go out in the mornings on the bike to search for food while Ziggy would make sure no Grinders had foudn there hide out. Then Ziggy would learn the mechanics for the bike and would fix it if need be. Then they would go out and search the other abandoned towns to search for people.

Somehow during these easy going days Ziggy had found himself thinking of Cid as his new dad, so that's why four weeks after Jak's death when he saw a Grinder shoot shot his new day he felt his whole world crumble: again.

"CID!" he screamed and then rushed over to the dying man.

The blonde man grinned at him "Well doesn't this suck" he whispered faintly.

Ziggy shook his head and swallowed "You can't die, you still have to teach me everything. I can't survive on my own" he said looking down at the man who had saved his life.

"Ziggy, you are so much stronger than you give yourself credit for" Cid said and then pulled his goggles off and presented them to the brunette "I want y-ou, to ha-ve the-m" he gasped as he began to tremble from the pain.

The young man gulped and nodded. Cid smiled and then sighed "that-s m-y bo-y" he said and began to gaze at the dark cloudy sky.

Ziggy smiled and laid the man down and gripped his hand tightly "when you see Lance tell him bout me okay" Ziggy asked talking about the Son Cid had been missing for a whole year.

Cid wheezed out a laugh and then nodded "o-f cou-rs-e, i'l-l eve-n fin-d Jak fo-r you" he said and coughed hard.

Ziggy smiled and shushed him "Just close your eyes Cid" he said and when the man did as he asked the young boy picked up the plasma blaster that was by his side and put in between Cid's eyes, "I'll take away the pain" he whispered and then pull the trigger and Cid went limp.

As Cid became lifeless the sky decided to let loose all the feelings of guilt and pain the young man was feeling and for the first time since the Venjix virus it began to rain. The young man stared at his hands, one held the plasma blaster that had just killed his new family and then other had been the one he'd stained with his brothers blood. He was all alone.