Thank you for coming across this fic. Nny, Nailbunny, Mr Eff, and D-boy belongs to Mr. Jhonen Vasquez and Maeve belongs to Hell's Tinkerbell. Feel free to comment

Part 1

The sun had set in the beautiful afternoon of May, which had tinged the sky with orange, purple, and gold. Johnny took his casual stroll down the street and took notice of a group of high school boys speaking to each other as they walked past him. He overheard them speak of a junior high school that instantly became ashes by a mysterious fire. They approved of this supposed arsonist and assumed that it was caused by a man who had an uncontrollable fit of anger. Johnny became intrigued by this so-called arsonist's work with arched brows and as fate would have it, stopped to watch the news report relay the event through a television that rested in a display window of a shop. From what he had learned from the report, that there was no legitimate cause for the arson to have occurred. This arsonist must have been a professional Johnny thought with a hand to his chin.

As he began to return to his shack of a house, his train of thought had been interrupted by the sounds of a struggle that had been released from a public park. At first he experienced apathy for the unknown victim, yet he paused within his tracks as he heard a young female's voice shout, "Get your fucking hands off of me!" To his assumption, he came to the conclusion that it was a young and innocent child of a girl who was about to be violated and possibly murdered. They need to go…right now! he thought angrily.

He strolled up to the five men who held a red headed young girl to the ground by each of her limbs being restrained as the tallest of the group withdrew a knife and had an sliced open a hole into her pants where her genitals resided.

This gesture had enhanced Johnny's urge to kill each of them immediately. The thin, dark haired young man's face contorted to display his rage and withdrew his 10 inch blades from the pockets of his black trench coat. He crept to the leader with swift stealth and had sliced off his head in a scissor-like motion with the dual blades. As the rest group was petrified in fright, he had stabbed each of them in the heart without barely taking a step towards them and at such a speed that they could not dodge. He had the finesse of a butcher while wearing a deranged expression on his face as blood had been freely projected with each swipe of his knives. Johnny exposed the organs from crotch to neck while shouting, "You do not need these anymore!"

The girl had laid upon the moist grass having her purple t-shirt featuring a skull soaked in her enemies' blood, being paralyzed with fear, and the lips quivering in fright as her silver tinted blue-green eyes met the dark ones of Johnny C. She looked about in a shocked stupor to see the men fall to the ground after he had performed the mutiliation. "Are you okay?" he asked calmly. She nodded slowly and managed to utter, "Thank you…for saving me…" He looked to her in a quizzical manner with a raised ebony brow, it was a strange concept that any person would express gratitude towards him. "But I can not stay here for now so I have to leave." the girl added as she stood to her five feet and two inch height and grabbed her battered green backpack from the grass.

Just as she was about to depart from the park, Johnny's hands grasped her shoulders firmly and said in his soft but stern voice which was spoken in her right ear, "You are not going anywhere." He forced her to turn around and face him as he looked directly in her eyes in an authortive manner. "What if that were to happen, again? Your parents would never forgive you." he said firmly. "My parents have disowned me so it does not matter." she replied with tears in her eyes. He released her from his grasp, frowned, and asked, "So you're homeless right now?" "Yes, for now." she answered. "Then that is every reason to stay with me. Those bastards will never touch you again! Normally, I do not care in situations like this but you are still a child who is innocent and that would not have gone unpunished." he said while returning the blades to the pockets of his trench coat.

"I am only 13." she said in defense. "I don't care, you are still a child in my eyes. Now please, tell me your name." he said while lowering himself to her height so his face was level with hers. "Maeve." she replied, feeling slightly uncomfortable with his nose being five inches away from her own. "Maeve, " he repeated the name to himself, "It's a pretty name. Is it foreign?" "Yes, it's Irish." she replied. He grinned and said, "It is nice to meet you, my dear little Maeve. My name is Johnny, but you can call me Nny for short." She could not help but smile from this sudden change in behavior and said, "Okay, Nny. I have never had anyone stick up for me before. It's pretty weird." "You should not have had to be on your own. It's inexcusable. Why did your parents kick you out?" he asked. "It's a long story and I would not want to talk about it." she replied. "Oh, but you will when I take you to my home." he said. Johnny took her by the hand firmly and forcefully lead her out of the park.

Once they arrived at the house, Johnny looked to her carefully and asked, "Do you have a change of clothes?" "No," she replied. Johnny grabbed a large black and white striped shirt from the pile on the couch and placed it in her hands. "You can wear this for now until the shirt you have is cleaned. I don't have any girly clothes if that is okay with you." he said in a more pleasant tone. "Yes, it's okay. I am not too much into the girly fashion myself." Maeve said while grinning, "Thank you." Johnny turned around to respect her privacy as Maeve discarded the bloody shirt and adorned the striped one. "You can look now." she said. Johnny could not help but grin after he had returned his gaze to her and chuckled which seemed to resemble a dress on her shorter stature

Johnny took Maeve by the hand gently this time, leading her to the couch, having her sit upon the musty cushions, sitting next to her while looking into her eyes. "Now that you are more presentable, you will tell me what exactly happened to you. No matter how embarrassing it is." he said firmly. Maeve exhaled a long and heavy sigh and said, "If I did, you would probably kick me out again." Johnny shook his head and said, "You can tell me anything. Now spit it out." "Well, it all started when I had a group of popular girls jump me and try to beat me up. This time it was different because my body heat increased and I felt like I had a sunburn from the inside out. At first, I thought I was very pissed off but instead it turns out that I had flames form on my hands. I had them back away from me when they saw the fire and I really thought I was going to burn to death and begged for help. All I heard from the kids around me was 'Freak!' 'Monster!' or 'Demon!' Something inside of me snapped and my whole body was in flames, the whole school burned down because I was so angry! I ran to my house right after this happened with my hands still on fire even when I prayed that it would go away and it would not. I wanted my mother to hug me and tell me that it would be all okay, but instead she claimed that I was not her daughter anymore. When I reached out for her, she did not want to be burned by my hands. My father may have heard her and used a shotgun in attempt to kill me. Every shot he sent to me only exploded because of this new power. By the time he ran out of ammo, I ran away with the clothes on my back and that is where you found in me in the park hours later." explained Maeve despite the tears in her eyes.

Johnny's face contorted to pure aggravation with tears in his own eyes while clenching both fists as he looked away from her. "I am so sorry, Maeve. They should never had turned you away like that! I want to kill them right now! People like them have no right to call themselves parents!" he said angrily. "It's okay. I deserve it for not being normal." she said while attempting to restrain the inner heat from her being. "Don't ever say that! No one should deserve it! You have a gift so value it!" he said sternly.

He looked to her again and asked, "You don't mind if you show me how you burn things?" "No, it would help me feel better." Maeve answered between sniffles. Johnny had placed an old magazine into a wastepaper basket in front of them. "Let's see you burn this." he said and pointed at the magazine. Maeve squinted her eyes as though she were a near-sighted old man attempting to peer through a cataract, within 10 seconds tiny flames had sparked about the paper. Her eyes closed as the brow had been wrinkled and the flames increased in size and intensity after performing the gestures. Johnny's jaw hung open in complete shock to witness her pyrokenesis and peered closer into the burning pages within the can. "That was fucking cool! It kicks so much ass! Can you cook food using that?" he said anxiously. "Maybe, I have not gotten that far just yet. I would like to try it though!" she replied. "Hang on, I'll be right back!" he said. Johnny dashed away from the couch and into the kitchen as though he were an excited child on Christmas morning. He returned moments later with a shrimp ramen in a Styrofoam cup filled with water. "Let's see if you can boil it!" he said excitedly. She received the cup into both of her hands and repeated the concentration once more. The water began to have bubbles form on its surface as Johnny grinned and said, "Fuck the gas and electricity bills, I'm keeping you!"

Maeve looked at him with a half-smile which was a mix of both amusement and fear. "I wish that could happen, Nny. It will not take very long for the government to find me after what I had did. It will only put you through too much danger." she said. Johnny laughed and said, "They will never find you, Maeve. I deal with danger on a daily basis and most of the time it is me that is causing it. All I ask is that you not leave my sight and not burn me." She nodded her head slowly and said, "Alright Nny, I never had a big brotherly figure before and I will try to be a good sister for you. It's the least that I can do in return for helping me." In this instance, she gathered enough courage to put the cup down on the floor, stand from her seat, and hugged him close. Johnny stiffened since he was not accustomed to anyone initiating an embrace, he placed his hands upon her shoulders and placed an arm length distance between them. "Please don't touch me. It makes me uncomfortable." he said coldly. "Oh!" Maeve said while blinking her eyes, "I-I-I'm sorry. If you don't want to be touched it's cool." "And also another rule around me is not to call me wacky." he replied. "Why would I call you wacky?" she asked, looking to him in a puzzled way. "I don't know but others have." he said while frowning. "You're not wacky at all, just nice and misunderstood. Next time point them out and I'll burn them each a new asshole!" she said firmly. He looked to her with raised brows, chuckled softly and asked, "Why are you sticking up for me?" "It's a habit of mine to return what is given, you can call it a rule of fair play that I follow." she said. "That is actually a good rule to follow. Who taught you that?" he asked. "No one, just me." she replied. "For a 13 year old, you actually have a good philosophy to follow." he said while having her sit upon the couch once more, "Mind if I use it, too?" "Sure, if you want." she replied.

Johnny's world

"Maeve seems to be a nice girl. You should keep her." Nailbunny said encouragingly.

Johnny seemed to have had a puzzled look on his face and said, "Maybe, she does seem nice and even kind to me. Her fire ability is really cool and it can get her in trouble. She also seems ashamed of it."

"Those who are ashamed of their gifts should die. Put the poor girl out of her misery as she sleeps so she can not kill you in return!" barked Mr. Eff in a commanding manner.

"But she can give you an instant death by turning you to ashes. Your corpse would not stink up the house and no one can identify you. You would be nothing but black powder in the wind and that can help you travel over the stars," D-boy said, "Yes, her gift would be your salvation!"

"No, Johnny! If you tell her to burn you to death, then she would be alone with no one to hide her from the government!" Nailbunny pleaded.

"Shut up! All of you! Let me think on my own!" Johnny shouted.

Reality

"Nny? Nny, are you okay?" Maeve asked in concern as she took notice of Johnny's expression that seemed to be a combination of pensiveness and contemplation while closing his eyes. He seemed to have forgotten that they sat on the opposite ends of the couch of each other and watching the TV show Space Journey featuring an actor wearing a toupee that seemed out of place. "Oh!" Johnny blinked his eyes several times in surprise, "I think I nearly drifted off to sleep." "If you're tired, I can sit on the floor so you can sleep on the couch." Maeve offered. "Are you sure about that?" he asked. "Absolutely. I usually sit on the floor instead of chairs so it's fine." she replied as her stomach unleashed a gargly growl. "I would disagree with that." Johnny said while grinning and pointed at her stomach. "I can wait longer for food…" Maeve said, attempting to mask her hunger with a humble attitude. The attempt had failed by having her stomach growl louder which caused Johnny to laugh heartily. "And I can wait longer for sleep. Let's go the corner store and get something to eat and drink." he retorted while rising from the couch. "Okay, if you say so." Maeve said while grinning sheepishly and rising from the couch as well.

They exited from the living room to the front door, stepping over the threshold as Johnny kicked a Pep can to dismiss it from his path with a knee high leather boot. Maeve walked beside at him at an even pace as they traveled toward the local corner store. She glared at the bystanders who gave them disapproving stares and held Johnny's hand in a defiant manner which seemed to express the statement of I don't care what you think, he is my friend. The gesture seemed to surprise him and could not stop himself from grinning again. His hand squeezed hers gently once grasped and having Nailbunny's words ring in his head that confirmed the truth on Maeve being a nice girl.

After at least ten minutes of walking, they arrived at the corner store having the string of brass jingle bells hanging upon the door bar ring as Maeve pushed it aside. "But it's supposed to be the other way around when it comes to entering through doors." Johnny said while arching a brow, referring to the unwritten code of men opening doors for women. "So what? Sometimes it's nice to have things switched around." she replied. Johnny chuckled as he entered the building while nodding. "It is nice actually." he agreed.

He idly glanced to the clerk who appeared to be a middle aged woman with short graying brown hair glaring upon them in disgust. Johnny, with all of his willpower, tried to ignore her gaze and supervise Maeve as she looked about to select an item from the offered wares. "Is it hard to choose?" he asked. "Yes, a little." she replied, and snatched a warm hot dog from under the flickering lamp, decorating it with ketchup and tiny sliced pickles inside of a bun. "Your taste is odd, but whatever fills you up is what matters," he commented while getting a strawberry flavored brain freezy from the refreshment dispenser, "What do you want to drink?" "The same actually." she answered. "Then it is not too odd after all." he remarked while giving her a foam cup. As Maeve began to deposit the fluid into the cup, he heard the clerk mutter loudly beneath her breath, "I think I'm going to be sick. Fucking pedophiles…" He placed a hand upon Maeve's scalp and said softly, "Stay right here, May. The adults need to talk business." Her eyes met his to see that he was in a serious mood, nodded, and said, "Okay. I'm not moving until you get back." "Good girl." he said and walked toward the clerk swiftly.

"Ma'am, it seems that you are suffering from a delusion. There is no evidence of pedophilia in your fine establishment. Does feeding a starving child influence your assumption? If so, then direct action will be taken!" he said while slowly withdrawing one of his beloved blades. "You sick fuck! I am calling the cops!" the clerk said while running through the kitchen door from behind the counter. Johnny followed her quietly while grinning to the kitchen machinery used in butchering and had been pleased with its convenience for the situation. With a quick dash, he sliced off her hand with a flick of his wrist as she reached for the white telephone installed on the wall. The agonizing scream satisfied him enough to shove her upon a spiked platform and pulled the lever to have a spiked cylinder descend upon her once soft and pudgy body. The scream became louder as blood flowed and gushed forth from between her teeth, the cylinder plunging further into her stomach and having the red fluid flow upon a gutter into a paint bucket. "The store pleases its customers." he remarked while grabbing the paint bucket and exiting the kitchen. He threw money upon the counter idly and returned to Maeve. "Let's go home." he said quietly. "Alright." she said while exiting the store with Johnny walking behind her.

Maeve began to experience a nearly uncontrollable anxiety, being afraid to inquire of the event that occurred in the kitchen on their journey to Johnny's house. He took notice of the sweat that trickled slowly down her arms and the back of her neck as well as the trembling fingers that scarcely gripped the hot dog and brain freezy. "You're barely eating, May. Are you not feeling well?" he asked casually. "I…Yes, you can say that…You don't mind if I ask about, well…what happened back there?" she stammered while putting forth courageous effort to utter the question. Johnny increased the speed of his pace and stood in front of her while frowning. The tremor in her arms increased as he looked into the grey-veiled cerulean eyes with a severity behind his dark ones as she paused in her tracks. "I knew you might ask that…. The clerk had to die for she is a piece of shit of society that would rather assume the worst instead of asking questions like you would. There are too many people like that who over-populate the world with their filthy velvet propaganda. Do you understand, Maeve?" he asked, firmly. She nodded slowly and replied, "I do a little, but…I would never do it…" "Yes, and you should never try it. Do not be like me, alone with this horrendous insanity. Just know that to me you're different." he said with a small grin forming on his face. "Thank you, I guess…I understand a bit after the change that happened to me today, " she said and added in a cynical manner, "Some birthday present it was." Johnny arched a brow and asked, "Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday?" "I felt like it did not matter. It was just that sad." she replied, while chuckling and shrugging her shoulders. "Well, then….Happy Birthday, Maeve. ." he said as the grin increased. "That's nice, Nny. Are we still going to your house?" she said as her fingers ceased their tremor. He nodded to reply while turning on his heel to resume their trek and advised, "You should finish your hot dog before it gets cold." "You're forgetting who you're talking to." she said while laughing as a few tiny flames manifested upon the meat. Johnny joined her laughter and said, "Oh yeah! The fire! You don't mind doing that for my ramen?" "No, I'll heat it anytime." she said pleasantly while blowing upon the flames to snuff them out and taking a bite to devour a sizzled portion.

They returned to the house and Johnny seemed to be pleased that she completely ingested the food and drink he gave her. He also saw that her eyelids began to blink slowly as she sat upon the couch. "You are sleepy." he said. "No, I'm not…" she said in a idle dismissal to his claim. A soft yawn was released and she blushed immediately after it had occurred. "Sleep on the couch for now until you are fully rested." he said while sitting upon a wooden crate near the couch. "But where will you sleep?" she asked with concern. "Don't worry about me. Just get your rest." he said firmly and threw a small black throw rug upon her sprawled person amongst the cushions. "Okay…Goodnight Nny…thank you for making me stay with you…" she said as the eyes closed and her body transcended into a night slumber. "You're very welcome, Maeve. " he said in return.

Johnny's shadow had crept away from Maeve's bedside, a shink was heard echoing down the hallway like two blades being sharpened. An ever dimming echo could be heard behind Johnny's bedroom door, the evening finally came to a peaceful halt for the homicidal maniac, except for Maeve laying there disturbed by this unstable household. It frightened her enough to remain awake with one eye widely open. Ignoring horrific whispers of her mind's creation and fear, she finally drifted into a secure dream world that had been the opposite of the current environment.