"You're such a child, Lapis." Lazuli rolled her eyes at her brother.

"Relax, Lazuli." Lapis shook the spray paint can and continued to tag the building. His name scrawled across in big decorative letters. "Come on, Lazuli, it's not finished unless you do it too."

"Whatever." Lazuli righted herself from the wall she was leaning on and shook her own spray paint can. She sauntered over crossing one foot over the other. Her hand tagged the building carelessly and elegantly. Lapis admired his sister's handy work as she finished with an elegant curl. Together their names were Lapis Lazuli, like the stone.

"There, are you happy?" Lazuli fisted her hand on her hip and threw her near empty can into the dumpster.

"Looks good, sis." He nodded appreciatively.

"Now let's go, there's a sale at that little boutique on south Blvd. and I need some new clothes." Lazuli led the way with a flick of her hair, she grabbed her bike and sped off, one had to be in good shape to get away from any buzz kills.

"Why does it matter if there's a sale?" Lapis yelled after his Lazuli "it's not like you pay for the stuff anyway."

"Yeah, so, a sale is a sale." Lazuli ramped off a speed bump and whipped around the corner skidding to a stop in front of the boutique.

"How long is this going to take?" Lapis groaned following his sister in.

"However long it takes for me to find something cute." Lazuli fingered through the clothes, she picked out a pair of leggings, a jean skirt and a black and white striped shirt. "This is going to look so cute together." Lazuli purred flicking through the rest of the racks, she flicked her blonde hair aside and continued on through.

Lapis trailed along behind his sister, man, is she ever going to finish

"How do I know there's nothing cute left if I don't look through everything?" Lazuli snapped. Lapis frowned at their twin telepathy, sometimes it was just annoying. How was he supposed to complain to himself when she always knew what he was thinking?

Lazuli took her time, there was something calming about being amongst the chaos of a sale. Woman were nearly ripping each other's throats out of some underwear and then there were the girls her age that prowled through looking for something no one else had. Lazuli combed through another rack, easily avoiding the fights and arguments, she was practically a chameleon, no one saw her unless she wanted them to. There was acute gold hair clip accented with jewels and silver delicately spun throughout the gold.

"This would look great in my hair." Lazuli passed behind one of the groups of arguing woman and slid the clip into her hair. That was the great thing about these boutiques, they never had cameras. Lazuli caught sight of Lapis in the corner of the store against the window, pretending he was too cool for everything. Lazuli rolled her eyes, that was her brother, far too cool for anything and everything "child." She scoffed tucking her hair behind her ear. Thumbing through the last rack there was simply nothing else in the entire boutique that she wanted "bummer." She sighed "I was looking for a good haul, oh well." Tucking the leggings into the striped shirt she tied the sleeves around her waist like a sweater and slid out the door without notice. Lapis followed her out a second later

"What, were you just going to leave me in there?" Lapis asked with narrowed eyes. Lazuli smiled at him "what's the matter?" Lazuli challenged "scared of a few girls?" Lazuli hopped on her bike and continued on to the next boutique, a lovely French inspired boutique run by a woman who Lazuli didn't hate.

"Bonjour madam Catrize." Lazuli greeted the older woman from behind the counter.

"Bonjour, Lazuli." Madam Catrize greeted with a smile "and what can I help you with today?" Madam Catrize came out from behind the counter and embraced Lazuli.

"Nothing really, there's a lot of sales going on now." Lazuli looked around at all the people who had managed to squeeze into the tiny boutique. Madame Catrize's boutique was the smallest boutique in the entire city but there was no denying that it was special. Lazuli spotted an even prettier barrette on the display table, this one had strands of silver and gold twisted together and woven around a few blue gemstone. "Wow, that's beautiful." Lazuli reached for it, Madame Catrize got to it first "Its lapis lazuli." Madame Catrize said with a smile. Lazuli and Lapis looked at each other.

"It would look good with your skin." Lapis offered the thin compliment. Lazuli considered the gorgeous piece "how much?" Lazuli eyed the piece, out of all the pretty stones and one of a kind pieces she owned, this was far more unique. That was the allure of Madam Catrize's shop, her jewelry was one of a kind, she never made duplicates.

"For you?" Madam considered Lazuli and smiled. She slipped the barrette into Lazuli's hair pulling the blonde strands away from her face "it's yours."

"I can't accept that." Lazuli frowned "this piece is worth a lot of money. It must have taken you hours to make." Madame Catrize just smiled and cupped Lazuli's face in her hand "somethings can't be priced, some things just belong somewhere."

"But Madame-" Lazuli objected, Madame Catrize pressed a finger to Lazuli's lips "hush child, it doesn't cost money, just a promise." Madame Catrize smiled "promise me, that whenever you where this it will be like this."

"Why…" Lazuli asked not understanding.

"You have a beautiful face, girl." Madame Catrize cupped her chin then "it shouldn't be hidden."

"Tell that to my mother." Lazuli scoffed scowling, then her hand went to the barrette in her hair. "I can't…" Lazuli went to pull it out of her hair but Madame Catrize took her hand and pulled it in front of her. "Listen to me, Lazuli." Madame fixed her with a stern look "you are beautiful and I want a promise from those pretty lips."

"But-"

"Lazuli." She spoke sternly and gave Lazuli that look, the look that meant she wasn't going to back down. Lazuli sighed and dropped her eyes for a moment. "Okay…" she lifted her eyes back up, softened her gaze and smiled "I promise."

"Good." Madame kissed Lazuli's head and sent her off. "Go shop more now."

"Thank you, Madame Catrize." Lazuli hugged the woman and followed Lapis out of the shop.

"Are we done?" Lapis asked. Lazuli pulled the barrette out of her hair and gingerly tucked it into her tiny side purse.

"No, I want to go a few more places." Lazuli grabbed her bike and walked it down the next line of stores until she found one that caught her eye. It was nothing special, the merchandise was pretty mainstream but it was the perfect place to lift from, busy, big enough to hide in and low security.

Finally Lapis and Lazuli slipped out in the chaos of the other sale hoppers. It was a clean get away. Lapis and Lazuli celebrated their escape as they barreled down the street, through the beat up neighborhoods and cracked streets. The twins were flying, they were free, free from everything that could tie them down, free from law, free from responsibilities and pressures. The world was open and waiting for them, until the lights flashed behind them.

"Stop you kids!" the officer yelled from behind them.

"Uh oh, they're gaining on us, Lapis." Lazuli laughed ramping off another speed bump, Lapis' bike swiveled, nearly colliding with a pedestrian.

"Ha, Careful, Lapis, I think you're losing your touch." Lazuli laughed,

"You should have been more careful." Lapis snapped at her, irritated he had been thrown like that.

"I didn't even take anything else, it was you ex-girlfriend who ratted us out." Lazuli hit the break and drifted around a corner and into an alley.

"Pura is so getting it for this one." Lapis growled thinking of his ex, she was so vindictive.

"Lapis, look out!" Lazuli yelled when she saw it. A car rounded the corner just as they came to the turn. The twins hit the car at the same time flipping over the hood and flying over the pavement.

"Nice going, Lapis." Lazuli groaned.

"Not… my… fault…" Lapis moaned back. The pain in their head radiated throughout their bodies as the lay there, the scrapes burned, the bruises already ached and Consciousness slipped away. The police approached the teens cautiously, once they found them completely incapacitated an ambulance was called and the twins were taken away.

At the hospital and as soon as their injuries were treated their parents were called while an unsuspecting figure dressed as a doctor slipped into their room.

Lazuli was faintly aware of the extra presence in her room and the cuff that held her to the bed. Man, everything hurt, especially her head.

"Perfect condition." The male voice penetrated her consciousness, the voice just sounded creepy honestly. Lazuli wanted to make fun of it with Lapis but she knew he wasn't awake yet.

"Doctor, how are they?" Lazuli recognized her mother's voice immediately we are so busted Lazuli thought

"Your children will be just fine." The creepy voice continued "some rest and recovery time is all they need."

The world faded out as she felt her mother's hand close around her own.

"Why do you do this?" Lazuli's mother pressed her hand to her head "oh, baby, why…" her voice faded out. Why is not the question Lazuli's thoughts wondered it's why not…

Lapis knew his arm was broken, when something broke, you just knew it and the pain radiating from his arm assured him that it was broke. It was like he could feel the space between the bones, right between his wrist and elbow. He had tried to catch himself, he remembered the feeling if the concrete scraping his arm and then the weight of his body hitting at just the right angle to break it. It'd been awhile since he'd broken anything, he forgot how much it sucked. How was he going to do anything with his right arm broken?

"What do you have to say for yourself?" His father's voice was like a wrecking ball to his already scattered thoughts.

"Hmm…" Lapis' father waited for him to respond "like you ever have an answer" he scoffed "You could have been great you know." His father went on "smart, great at everything, but here you are wasting your talent on petty crimes." Lapis' father placed his hands on the railing of the bed and exhaled "disappointing…" Lapis liked to pretend that didn't hurt, but he'd be lying and he and Lazuli promised each other two things. One, they would never lie to each other and two they would never lie to themselves. Whatever, I don't care Lapis broke that promise a lot. Everything faded into the background and Lapis was left to wander through his mind, unfortunately the only thing on his mind was the pain coursing through out his entire body. It was like the pain was pushed all over every time his heart beat, like he was just one big throbbing ache. Yeah, that was about right.