The sun was now setting on Salmon Bay, Washington. The rain hadn't come today, so it was the perfect time to savor the moment, the beauty of the untouched wilderness. The late mourning doves called as the clouds, that did not seem serious, rolled byin the crisp, refreshing, orange streaked sky. The beauty and tranquility of the day was enjoyed by a couple with abundant love for each other. They sat on the roof of a fish cannery overlooking the bay. They've been sitting there for almost an hour, on the run from the Fed.s. They stopped there to rest, after running about a mile from Seattle. One of the two was a building tagger and a stencil artist, that was the boy's profession. He was often paid by the government to paint murals on walls around town. The girl, however, was a robber, tagger, and pickpocket. How the two of them met was interesting and coincidental.

It was a dark and stormy night. The rain schedule on the news said that it would be raining all night up until morning. It had already rained about five inches. He was walking down the street, all of the neon signs still shining bright through the deep shade of gray in the sky. He walked into an alley he had just seen. Simultaneously, there was another walking into the same alley from the other side. In a second, both of them almost ran into each other. Her shoulder came almost in full contsct with his.

"Oh, sorry!" She exclaimed, wiping the wet hairs from her face. Her face turned a slight shade of red from embarrassment. She had a black beanie, dark brown hair that was down past her waist with bangs to her neck, and skin like caramel. He could tell that she was Native American just like him.

"Uh, that was m-my fault..." he stuttered, lost for words. She was just so beautiful. The way her eyes were set just the right amount apart, her skin so clear and matured, her lips the right color and size, not too thick, not too thin. Simply perfect. He couldn't help but stare at her. He realized that he was staring for a second too long and tripped on his own tongue. "S-sorry for, uh, staring at you." He aapologized. She laughed at his stupidity and turned towards the building. He also turned to face the building. She reached into her Hurley backpack and got her can of gray spray paint. At that same time, he reached into his pocket and got his can of white paint.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't know this was your building." She was now apologizing.

"No! No, I just haven't tagged it yet. It's yours."

"It's okay! I already met my tag quota for today."

"How about we both tag it?" He sprayed a line on the wall. "You draw half of yours, and I'll draw half of mine?" She seemed to agree with the deal. She nodded at the little cute offer. His tag was the star on the back of his vest and hers was the last half of her name. "I don't think we've introduced ourselves. I'm Delsin, Delsin Rowe." She smiled as he offered his hand.

"Jack. Jack Burgundia." She shook his hand, making his acquaintance.

Two years, five months and thirty dates later, they've grown from a 'run-into' on the street, to a petty crush, to a fully sprouted love. Delsin would do anything for Jack. Ever scince their first date at the Latte Owl, the two of them haven't been the same, and it was a good thing. All of their friends and family knew they were different and wanted their same Delsin and Jack back. But they knew they couldn't be changed nor separated. They also had to admit they were a beautiful couple. A handsome man like Delsin and a beautiful woman like Jack. Couldn't go wrong with that combination.

Now here they are, on the top of a fish cannery. They both tagged a building at the wrong time. The peace was broken by the sound of sirens.

"Oh, crap." Jack sprung up and looked in the direction that the sirens seemed to be coming from. "C'mon, Delsin. It's the cops." They both ran toward the sky window of the fish cannery. It was opened with ease. Delsin jumped first and soon after was Jack, caught by Delsin who knew it was a pretty big fall.

"Wait, let's see who they're after." They both waited for a couple of seconds until the sirens were almost deafening.

"Delsin Rowe! Come out with your hands up!" The voice was familiar. They both knew the voice, plain as day. The Seattle cops put Delsin's own brother in charge of catching them? How classic.

"Baby...-" Jack started.

"Jack. I'm going to the longhouse, establish an alibi, and then I'll be back here in about thirty minutes. Keep watch until they go away." He could tell she was scared for him. He knew his girl. She had the cutest face when she was afraid. But what if he didn't come back? What if he had to spend the rest of his life as a jailbird? All of the thoughts made her even more scared that she was almost crying. "Jack. I'll be back. Just hang tight here. I'll be fine." He assured this with a loving, warm smile, which took the pain of stress away. He gave her a goodbye kiss before running to the back of the fish cannery. She could still feel his soft lips on hers as she opened the door to let the unwanted guests talk, more of interrogate, her.

"Yes?" She asked as she opened the door. She wiped any trace of nervousness off her face as Reggie stepped inside the building. She could feel the nervousness creeping back onto her face as Reggie patrolled the facility.

"Where did Delsin run off to this time." Reggie asked, straight out tired of their foolishness. He physically looked tired, like gravity was taking too much of a toll on him.

"He just said he had to step out for a while." She acted casually. On the outside she was as cool as a cucumber, but on the inside, her heart was as frantic as a hummingbird's wings. A rivulet of perspiration formed at her temple, and threatened to stream down her face. It felt as if they had been standing there forever. Reggie and Jack almost had a staring contest, if she didn't look around so much.

"Is that really all you can say? Seriously?" He asked, rubbing the bridge of his nose. The back door of the cannery opened, and of course, it was Delsin. When he saw Reggie, he acted as an innocent lamb being lead to the slaughter house. It just so happened that what sounded like a napalm explosion was outside. Reggie looked through one of the few dusty windows. "A DUP truck?" He ran outside to investigate what was going on outside. The two remaining ran outside as well, curious on what had happened too. Emerging from the site was two people, one with neon pink hair, and the other with nerdy glasses. Both wearing Curdan Cay jumpsiuts. "I'm going out for those two. Stay here and don't touch anything!"

"Jack, go to the longhouse. They should be done with the party by now. Stay safe." Delsin took her hands, looked into her nervous eyes. and smiled, lessening the nervousness. She smiled back, and obeyed the direction given to her. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her to the longhouse. Once she was out of sight in the longhouse, he himself investigated the site as if he too was a narc, like Reggie. A guy was underneath a mass of metal. He quickly lifted the heavy crushing metal off of the man and helped him back on his feet.

"Thanks, man. I would not have made it out by myself." The man thanked him in a gruff voice, kind of southern sounding. Reggie came back running.

"I lost them, they got away." Reggie said almost breathlessly. Delsin looked towards the escapee, noting that he now was throwing a punch at him. Delsin was put into a chokehold by the convict. He didn't even have a weapon.

"Let him go, or I will shoot!" The convict didn't seem to be intimidated by the threat. He outstretched his arm and it was almost like he controlled the smoke into his hand.

"I don't want to hurt anyone!" He pointed his hand toward Reggie. He was a conduit? A smoke conduit at that. The conduit placed his hand on Delsin's red beanie, waiting for Reggie to so much as take one step closer, so he would have some reason to shoot his captive guest.

"Put my brother down, or I will shoot you!" Reggie shouted, prepared to do as he promised. Delsin grabbed his hand, hoping that the one keeping him in captivity would shoot the ground or something that wont be missed and forgotten about the next minute. But instead, he saw... things. Things unimaginable. He saw what looked like a memory, or life flashing before his own eyes. But it wasn't his life to see. It was that conduit's! The two of them blacked out, and neither were responsive for the next tnree hours.

... When Delsin finally came to, he was back home. He looked outside, noting that it was now dark outside. "Jack?" Delsin called. No reply. Shouldn't there have been someone in the house when he woke up? That seemed a little bit unusual, but maybe they went out for an emergency, or something of that sort. He felt hot, like the house was about to go up in flames. It was too much of a strange feeling that he could almost feel himself elevating off the very ground. He felt like he had gotten high one night and he's still a little bit intoxicated. Suddenly, he felt as if he was tripping, but something, like dense air, caught him. "What is happening? No, no, no, no..." And it happened again, the same sensation, the same tripping and catching. He finally controlled it, but he knew what he had become. He was a conduit. A smoke conduit at that. Just like.. just like him.. it couldn't be happening, not to him, not today. He must be dreaming. He must be stoned, and seeing things. He tried to deny it. He denied it to wits end, but it still didn't go away. "This is bad, this is soo freaking bad.. think Delsin.." thinking wouldn't save him right now. Thinking usually got him out of situations like this, but not this extreme. How would he get himself out of this mess? The conduit he got the curse from.