A/N: When I begun writing this it was supposed to be the first chapter of a Tribe/Desperate Housewives crossover, but I realized it stands just as well (or, probably better) on its own. I'm not sure if I'm gonna continue as I'd planned...
Ram is standing by the railing; the city is now only a small dot on the horizon. He can't say he's gonna miss it that badly, for him it'd never been 'home'. The only place he'd ever called home was the house where he'd grown up, where he spent all his childhood playing with his game boy, videogames and computer, where the base to his genius had been founded. After the virus, the house was not the same; it was not home anymore. So he hadn't had any problems leaving it when it was time. Now he feels the exact same way about the city. Though he can't help but to feel a little with the people who did call the Mall their home, they've been living there for yeas, and now they have to run away and, probably, never return ever again.
He turns around and looks at the other passengers. Brady is crying, Trudy rocks her in her arms, singing a song he recalls his mom singing for him when he was little. All over the boat they are sitting in pairs. To his big surprise Lex and Ruby have paired up, and he's holding her and has this sad face that probably means they are talking about Siva. That's when the realization hits Ram; he'll never see him again. After living apart for that long, he'd thought he wouldn't even notice that he was gone, but he was very wrong. The place where he'd been left with a big crack in his heart after being dumped, there's now instead a big hole. He looks out over the sea, at the water almost coloured black by the dark thick clouds, there's probably gonna start raining anytime now, he thinks. Only a few minutes passes before it happens.
As a kid he used to like when it rained, since it gave him a reason to stay in, and he could cuddle up in the sofa with the video game and a cup of hot coco that his mom had made. After the virus he'd begun to hate the rain, because it made him feel weak not being able to control it. But that was before he'd met him. The rain had been pouring and he'd been forced to go outside to turn off the power station since the system was way too weak, that's when he'd seen him hiding behind the garbage tin. He looked so tiny and scared. But he'd turned out to be the strongest and most important of all his recruits to the Technos.
Ram starts to suspect that the water flowing down his cheeks not only comes from the sky. A sudden touch on his back scares him and makes him jump.
"Sorry man, I didn't mean to scare you." It's Slade who miraculously have managed to get out of Ebony's arms. "I just don't think you should stand out here all by yourself."
"What does it do to you?" Ram says shrugging.
"Come on, Ram! We're buddies, I care about you." Ram doesn't answer. Slade looks as if he's not sure if what he's about to say is the right thing, but eventually he speaks out. "I know you loved him."
"No, I didn't!" Ram realizes that his answer came way too fast to sound liable. Slade just smiles. "What the hell are you smiling about?"
"You're sounding just like Josh used to do every time he'd done something bad and someone asked him about it." There are a few moments of silence before he continues. "He was such sweet kid, though he always knew exactly how to be a perfect pain in the ass. And no matter how many times he used that skill, I couldn't help but to love him. Josh was the best brother ever."
"Well, you have your memories, and I have mine, and for me he'll always be Mega, a fucking genius! And if it hadn't been for me…" The wind is starting to blow harder, a storm is rolling in.
"I was not your fault."
"Err, exact what part of it wasn't my fault? First, I created the software that helped you guys take him down."
"I was only for his own good, we saved him from himse…" Ram cuts him off
"I created the program that released the virus..."
"That he'd created!"
"Then tricked him into trying to disable it, and let my own program kill him, I killed him." Ram realizes the tears from his eyes are way too many to be mistaken for rain, but e doesn't care.
"You were only trying to do the right thing, and so was he! Doesn't it at least feel good to know that he was doing the right thing when he died?"
"No! I don't care, it was no use!" He screams out.
"But, Ram…" Slade tries.
"I wish he'd just killed everybody!"
"Sorry, but I can't talk to you when you're like this." Slade says, and his uppsyn is very sad. He turns around to walk back to the others.
"Suits me good." Ram shouts after him.
God, he doesn't understand anything, Ram thinks. What he and Mega had it was something deeper that love, how could someone like Slade ever understand that? Ram had always thought one of them would get killed in end, he just never expected it to be Mega. He's looking down in the water thinking about how easy it would be to just jump over the railing, maybe he wouldn't even have to jump, because the wind is so strong now he'd just have to let go of the railing and let the wind do the job itself. The others wouldn't notice until it was too late. But then a voice echoes in his memory.
"Suicide is the biggest manifestation of weakness you can ever make." They had been arguing about his plans to enter the capsule and live in Reality Space. Mega called it suicide, and he had tried his hardest to talk him out of it, but without any success. Ram had been so determined what he was doing was right; he didn't even see how much he hurt Mega.
"No, Mega, I was the one who got to live, I won't let you have died in vain." He whispers out to the dark ocean, and just for e brief second he feels a touch on the T in his forehead. I must've imagined, he thinks, but can't help but to smile as he turns around and walks to join the other ones, and get so dry clothes on.