Duke dashed through the streets, clutching his little sister's wrist. She was barely keeping up with him, stumbling to stay on her feet. He took a sharp turn into an alley and she followed as best she could. He searched around and tossed her into a nearby dumpster, shutting the lid after she was inside.

"Duke?!"

"Shh shh. Quiet. Don't move either. I'll come back for you." He continued running down the alley. Agents from the government followed. Two cut him off a block down and tackled him.



"NO! LET GO!" He shouted, struggling and squirming underneath them.

"Settle down kid. It's not you we're after." One of them grunted, struggling to keep a good hold on the slim and slick teen. Once he had him standing and his arms behind his back, the other agent growled in his face.

"Where's your little sister then, boy?"

"She got hit by a bus." Duke spat in his face, earning him a hard punch across the jaw. Blood flew from his beak and he yelped in pain.

"Don't toy with me boy," he warned, "it'll get ya killed."

He took a switchblade knife out and with a quick swipe, he sliced Duke's right eye. Duke howled in pain and his screams bounced off the brick walls in an echo. The black-suited man pocketed his switchblade knife once again and snarled,

"Now... tell me where she went, before I REALLY loose my patience. WHERE DID SHE GO?!"

When Duke still remained silent, he punched him in the gut, and he coughed up blood.

"ANSWER me boy!"

Duke still never said a word, and the man growled.

"Have it your way." He kicked Duke in the gut again and hit him hard in the back of the head, knocking him out. He spoke to the agent still holding him,

"Take him in. We'll make him talk... and even if he doesn't... he'll never live the same cushy life again."





Spark L'Orange shivered, frightened to death in the dumpster, afraid to move.

"Duke..." she whispered.





*************************************~*~************************************ *





"Enough!" The agent held up his hand for the men to stop punching Duke. He shut the door from wench he had just entered.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news for you Duke..."

Duke breathed hard and raised his head to look the man malevolently in the eye.

"Your sister is dead."

Duke's breath escaped him sharply.

"That's right, Duke... dead. D-E-A-D. Dead. You failed. You couldn't protect her." He smirked, "How does that make you feel?"

He started breathing harder again as tears burned his eyes.

"You're... You're LYING!"

Images of his little sister flashed before him...



"Duke! Duke look what I made! It's for you!" She handed him the base of a golden saber, "It's just like in the movies! Try it out!"

Duke held it in his hands and the shining blade appeared in a glow of soft lightening.

"Woah! Spark this is great!"



`~*~`



"Duke! I had a scary dream!"

"Hey aren't you s'posed to be too smart for those?" he joked, yawning.

"Yeah... but..." She sniffed, biting her lower lip of her beak, sobbing.

"Oh save it sis... C'mon, climb in." He lifted his covers for her to crawl in with him.



`~*~`



"Duke, we'll always be together... right?"

"Sure."

"You promise?"

"Yeah."

"Okay!" She smiled, "I promise too!"







"I promise too... I promise too... too... too..."





Her words echoed in his mind as he was thrown out into the street. He cried there for a long time before he got up and ran back home.



"Follow him. Maybe he'll lead us to her. They've got to have some stupid secret place that she's bound to be at."

"Right boss."

"Don't screw up! That little girl's IQ is incredible! we need HER!"





Duke exploded through the front door.

"MOM! DAD!"

He ran through the house looking for his parents, until he found his father in the study, shot to death, slumped over on his desk. He stared at his father's body and then ran upstairs, looking for his mother.

"Mom?! MOM! Where are you?! Spark's gone! She-" He found his mother lying dead in her bedroom, shot to death also.

"So they killed you all too. I'm the only one left." he mumbled, spacing out. He heard the front door click, and he bolted to his room, locking it behind him.

"They've come back for me. They've killed all of us but me and now they've come back to finish the job."

He panted, getting scared. A golded flash caught his healthy eye and he saw his saber that his sister had constructed for him. He looked at it until he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. He grabbed it off his dresser and climbed on top of it until his arms supported him up to the ceiling in the corner of the room next to the door. He waited like that until he heard the doorknob jingle, rattle and finally they kicked the door open, off the hindges. Duke ignited his saber and leapt at the first man who entered, slicing him down the back, killing him. The next man shot Duke in the arm. Duke grunted in pain but ran forward and sliced the man's head completely off.

After the adrenaline rush had ended, he realized what he had done. He panted hard, looking from the dead, decapitated bodies to his saber.

"Shit... shit shit shit... SHIT!" He repeated over and over, each growing higher as his throat tightened, nervously. He squeezed his eyes shut like his injured one, and tried to calm down. When he heard sirens in the distance, he looked up and out the window, glaring.

"This isn't enough. I'll make the government pay someday... and I refuse to be a part of it."



He grabbed all the money he could find in the house and stuffed it in his pocket, making it buldge greedily, before escaping through the window in his bedroom into the trees.







Spark held the lady's hand as she led her down the alley into the shadows.

"Where are we going?"

"We're going where they can't find you. They're looking for me too. I'll be your friend, if you'll be mine."

"My name's Spark L'Orange. I'm seven years old."

"I'm Butterly Winterborne. I'm fourteen. You might want to change your last name to something else after awhile..."

"Like to what?"

"Oh I dunno... something different..."

"Like... Ayanami?"

"Sure."







To Be Continued...