I am literally in shock. I NEVER expected to get the amazing response I did. I was in absolute awe over your reviews. Super huge thanks to IntoAnime and Guest (I feel like you need a better name then just "guest" lol) for your incredible praise. Love you guys.

Okay, so, yes, this is another chapter. I'm still not sure on the overall plot of this story, or even what this chapter is about. But you guys really made me want to keep going with this (at least for a little bit ), and I really did enjoy writing it, so I'm gonna wing it. ;) Hopefully this lives up to the last chapter. Enjoy ;3


Walking through life unnoticed
Knowing that no one cares
Too consumed in their masquerade
No one sees her there
And still she sings
'Till everything burns

Watching it all fade away

-everything burns -


Jade sat alone at a table in the Asphalt Café, later that night, absently chewing whatever the hell it was that Festus had managed to scrounge up. Her taste buds had probably died years ago anyway. A cool wind picked up and blew dirt and dust and other unidentifiable particles into her face. Hey, at least it gave the food some texture. It wasn't exactly her preferred last meal, but she took what she could. Part of her brain told her not to think like that, they had been through literally hundreds of these missions, and they had always come out on top. No need to think depressing thoughts this early, eh? Oh god. Not again. Cat came nervously walking toward Jade, eyes downcast, holding a tray of gray mush. They sat in silence, Jade mentally counting down the seconds till Cat had to speak, lest it kill her. Three, two, one...

"I'm sorry!"

Bingo. Jade let out a heavy sigh, then washed down her food with a swig of warm, metallic tasting water. Disgusting. She wracked her brain for an appropriate way to respond.

"I know." she finally muttered.

"I just, I saw him, I yelled for him, but he didn't hear me. So I had to go get him. And then..." Cat's frantic voice trailed off as her eyebrows drew together in confusion, "And, it wasn't him. He looked just like-but he- he wasn't, and he wouldn't listen, and he-" she quit stammering and looked Jade straight in the eye. Her voice ever so soft, she asked fearfully, "Jade, where's my brother?"

Rolling her eyes, Jade was glad when Shapiro and Sinjin bounced over to their table. Yes, bounced, practically skipping, really. Probably for no reason. They were just...odd. Oh, and the puppet, too, though he didn't skip because, well, you know, he's a puppet. Robbie saw the upset look on Cat's face and immediately turned an accusing stare on Jade. As if it were her fault. Really?

Just as she was about to threaten Shapiro with her dirty fork, a man's scream broke the air. And broke Jade's eardrums. Chaos followed, tables turning over, people shoving and trampling, being trampled. Cat immediately dove under the table, while Sinjin went skipping towards The Blackbox Theatre, giving warnings through his headset, oblivious to the bullets whizzing by his face. Robbie whirled around frantically, pointing a beat-up water bottle as though it were a gun. Pathetic. Jade pulled her loaded shot-gun out of her belt, and suddenly felt warm, dark blood splatter her face. It took only a split second for her to realize it wasn't her own. Pity. Maybe someday a stray bullet could do what she was never strong enough to. Escape.

She could see them now, not a full-force assault like she feared, but a small gang of dirt-covered gangsters. Strange. Rebels were no surprise, but they mostly stuck to attacking unsuspecting civilians on dark, one-way country roads. They never ventured into the hearts of cities. And never, ever into enemy bases. It was an unspoken rule of battle.

The mass of terrified people in the café seemed to be growing rather than shrinking. Jade was afraid to shoot lest she hit one of her own. From below the table came a frightened squeal. Jade turned on her heel, saw Cat being dragged out by two skinny, soon-to-be corpses, and then was almost immediately struck in the back of the head. She was aware of her legs turning to jelly, she was aware that the floor was coming up to meet her face far too quickly. She was aware of Cat's muffled screams, and Robbie's girly shrieks, and she saw Sikowitz laying face-down on the concrete, blood pooling around his jaw. She heard moaning and crying and yelling and at the last second, before her vision went black, and she slipped into peaceful oblivion, she heard Beck, yelling her name.


"What the hell happened?" Beck raged, an hour later, when the fighting had stopped and they had won, mostly. There were casualties, weren't there always?, but more than that, the enemy had taken prisoners. Nobody did that; it wasn't part of the game. Kill or be killed. Call it another one of the unspoken rules of battle. No one took prisoners unless they were wealthy prisoners, which Beck was pretty sure didn't include Cat, Robbie and Jade.

"Who was in charge of the east gate?" he continued, when no one answered, voice almost a growl. Awkwardly, Tori and André shared a look. Or, at least Tori tried to, André wouldn't meet her gaze. Beck caught on, even before Sinjin put in gleefully, "Ooh! Schedule says Cheekbones and Maniac!" Sinjin always had nicknames to address people by. He also talked to squirrels, ate dirt, and believed that Canada was just a rumor started by Beck. Anyways.

"I was heading to level two, to help Lane with the kids." Tori tried to defend herself. Sinjin looked confused.

"Smooth Hands was in level one, I saw him right before me and Roberito went down to the café." By the way, Sinjin was also convinced that Robbie was a closet Mexican. Don't ask, it's easier that way.

"Why were you going to level two if you were posted on guard duty?" Beck questioned Tori, arms crossed, feet apart. Tori mumbled something, staring at her beat-up boots the whole time. Beck moved like lightning, suddenly he was standing right in from of her. He grabbed her chin, forcefully turning her face towards his, waiting for an answer. Because no matter how calm and collected and leader-like Beck might appear, he was as messed up as the rest of them, and he had a temper. They all knew, had witnessed it, and a lucky few had been the recipient of it. Jade knew that anger all too well, keeping in mind that she's described their relationship as "dark" and "twisted."

"André told me that those were your orders." Tori finally said, looking Beck straight in the eye, and having the gall to flip her oh so perfect hair in a way that could only be described as "flirty."

A single step to the side was all it took for Beck to be standing in front of Harris. André kept his face pointed towards the floor.

"Unless I hit my head recently, I don't recall giving Vega new orders." Beck said, his voice dripping with accusations. The dread-headed boy's jaw clenched.

"You sayin' I'm a liar?" he casually shot back, eyes unafraid.

"I'm not saying I trust you farther than Sinjin can throw you." Beck answered, smirking.

André shot to his feet in one fluid motion. He opened his mouth as if to speak, then clamped it shut again. A stare-off was now in progress. Tori exchanged nervous glances with Burf and Luther. Sikowitz raised his newly-bandaged head from a cot in the corner, straining to get a better look. Sinjin watched on in rapt anticipation, shoving his bent glasses farther up his nose. Unfortunately, whatever drama had been about to unfold was brought to a standstill, as Lane rushed in, yelling that three more gangs had been spotted in the hills nearby. The chaos of earlier started up again, sirens, screams, shots. Nothing new. And so the mystery was left open, with Tori giving a satisfied smile, Beck putting back on his cold, leader look, Sinjin rushing around, flapping and squawking like a bird, and André... Well, the hard look in his eyes was impossible to read, but it was damn scary.


The first thing Jade was aware of when she woke up was not the smell of days old human waste, or the cold cement she was sitting on, or the low moans echoing through ventilation ducts, but was instead the fact that a sleeping Shapiro had his big, fat head on her shoulder. She shoved him off unmercifully. Glancing around, she found that she was sitting in a small cement prison cell, which immediately worried her. Prison wasn't what she had expected hell to look like. Shapiro woke up after his face collided with the floor, and he whimpered like a dog.

"Did that hurt?" Jade asked, genuinely curious.

Robbie spluttered several times before finally spitting out, "Yes!"

"Well, we're not dead." Jade confirmed. Well, at least, she had always hoped there wouldn't be pain after death. Unless this really was hell, in which case she was screwed no matter what. Suddenly, she was aware that Cat was sitting on the other side of Robbie, curled into a tiny ball, her face covered by her long, matted hair.

"Hey, Cat." Jade hissed, reaching across Shapiro to poke at the smaller girl. Cat looked up in surprise, red hair falling behind her back, tear stains across her face.

"We're not dead?" Cat asked in a small voice, and when Jade reassured her that they weren't, she pouted.

"Phooey."


Woah. That was some crazy chiz right there. I honestly still don't have a plan for this story, but I think it's going okay. I'm still trying to get a grasp on the characters, so I apologize if its a little rough. Next chapter will involve Jade, Cat and Roberito in prison, and maybe explain some of what's going on with the whole war. Reviews are treated like kittens and are loved and kissed and squished to death, and constructive criticism is nice. Sweet dreams. Hakuna Matata.