Dusty Desert, Ro-ZoneDesert Sky condominiumsManic jerked awake clutching his chest; a cold sweat broke out over his body. For a fleeting moment he thought he was back at the thieves' guild, in his hammock, but when his eyes finally adjusted he realized he was in his room. Manic wiped his forehead, sweat collecting on his wrist from his brow. He got up off his bed, knowing already he'd never get back to sleep, and slid his door open. The Japanese style house he found himself wandering through had been his home for the past few months. Its owner, a monotone deadpan wolf named Doc, also happened to be up and was in the kitchen drinking coffee when Manic wandered in yawning. Without looking up he said, ""You look like you've seen a ghost." Manic scratched his back and gave Doc a funny look. "Uh...what makes you say that?" He asked. Doc, still scanning something he had on the table, said. "You're pale. Either you've seen a ghost, which I doubt or you've just woken up from an awful nightmare." Manic just stared. Doc looked up at him, his tired eyes giving him a once over. "Do I assume correct?" Manic sighed and shuffled over to a cabinet pulling out a granola bar. Opening it and taking a bite Manic said, "Sort of.." and sat down at the table across from Doc, who put his work aside prompting Manic to go on."I...I've been having this weird dream lately...""What about?""My old life...""You mean the Thieves Guild?""Yeah...I keep dreaming I come back to the guild and I'm all alone, then I'm attacked and robotisized..." Manic hung his head. "I guess I just...feel guilty." "Guilty? What about?"Manic twiddled with his fingers, he never liked talking about his old life, or how much the fact that his friends had been robotisized and destroyed still affected him, and that, somewhere in the very back caverns of his mind, he felt guilt for being the only survivor. "Just...never mind." He said getting up. Doc arched a brow. "Never mind? That's the best you can come up with?" He said as Manic retreated to the outdoors. The night was cool and clear. The crescent moon hung brightly in the sky, surrounded by scores of its celestial sisters; the stars. Manic lay in his back in the small, lushly overgrown garden that Doc called his "fertile crescent" in the dry rainless desert he called home. Manic came out here a lot, it was the one place he could go when he was depressed, or lonely. He liked skipping rocks on the small pond, or just laying there staring up at the wispy clouds or seas of stars. He often let his mind wander as he stared. He wondered about his old life. The things he could have done to protect it. He wondered about his old friends, and fellow thieves, and about if they were still robotisized or thought about his family...Manic rolled over onto his side sighing. He hated thinking about them. To them it was like he didn't even exist. He was consumed by the long dark shadow his older brother and sister had left for him to hide in. His parents never seemed to take notice. His mom was always with his sister and his dad always with Sonic. It seemed like he never really fit in, never mind the color difference or past tribulations. It was like there was something missing. Something he couldn't do to show his parents he was just as smart as Sonia or, maybe as clever as Sonic. There was something he just didn't have...and he probably never would...Manic rolled onto his back and pressed his palms against his eyes. He hated thinking like that, but he couldn't help it.. He seemed so different...so...out of place. He didn't WANT to feel this way but he did, and his family never did anything to show any different. He felt like an outcast, a renegade in his own family. It wasn't easy for him to deal with, and he didn't have anyone he could really talk to. No one he'd met had ever felt or dealt with the same things he had, and the hole it was tearing through his heart made him feel worse...He sat up sitting criss-cross, trying to think of something else. It was never easy to get off that subject once he was on, and it always felt that by the end of it, there was one more thing on the list that separated him farther. He wished he'd had a game boy or DS to pass the time so he didn't think too much, but out here in the middle of scenic nowhere, the only thing to do was count flower petals. All the entertainment was in town, and Manic never really went there. He didn't like being amongst people that much, it tempted him to steal, which he had firmly decided to put behind him. Another thing was it always seemed that whenever he went by himself to catch the latest movie, EVERY freaking couple on the planet was at the movie theatre, and THAT made him feel too lonely to stay for the whole thing. It wasn't what they did that bothered him, the holding hands or things like that, it was the feeling that he'd never get to be that happy that made him dig a hole inside himself and bury himself 6 feet under. It wasn't like he was unlikeable, a bit annoying maybe, but not unlikeable. It was the fact that he'd never been loved, so he always felt unlovable. THAT'S why he didn't flirt, or even TRY to get attached to any girl anywhere. It was another of those...inbred feelings he'd always had being raised the way he was. He was taught that people never took the time to read the book, just looked at the cover. That once they found out you were a thief they never trust you forever. That no matter how hard you may try...no one could ever really love you. No one could love a thief...Right?