Hey! I'm back! I'm so sorry that it took...wow, that long huh? In all actuality, I had this chapter done for a while but I never got around to uploading it...hehe. So, I'm not sure how well I like this chapter or where exactly I'm going with it so...we'll see! Tell me what you think and if you have an idea speak up! Maybe it'll get used! ) Thanks for your patience and enjoy!

Taz was aware of someone calling to her, but the sound was funny. It sounded muffled and smothered like she was hearing it from far away and it wouldn't quite reach her. She tried walking toward the source, but she couldn't move her feet. She strained to look at them, but her head was held firmly in place. As she stared at the floor, at least she thought it was the floor but she wasn't quite sure due to the fact that everything around her was a brilliant white, she saw a drop of scarlet splatter, standing out in dark contrast. As she watched more drops fell, but she wasn't sure what the source was. Before she was able to think clearly, a stabbing pain rang through her head. Her body began to work at once, as if an electric current was running through it. Taz crouched onto the floor, screaming at the top of her lungs. She felt like she was about to be split in half. In between bouts of her screams, she heard the voice calling to her again, more insistent this time.

Taz knew that voice. She knew who it was connected to but she couldn't place a name to it quite yet. Every time she felt like she knew it at last, it would slip from her mind like it didn't want her to remember. Taz felt like if she could only just get out of this white room, she would be able to think clearly. She looked around earnestly, as if expecting to see a red "exit" sign nearby. Without thinking, she ran forward, eyes closed and praying to the Dead-god that she would be able to find her way out of the terrifying room.

Taz opened her eyes and she felt her heart sink as she found herself looking at a white wall once again. But that wasn't the only thing that was in the room. As she blinked her eyes, trying to clear her sight, she saw at least half a dozen machines gathered around the bed she was lying in. Even as she stared at the machines in wonder, they scared her to death. She didn't even want to think about what some of them did. It became clear to her, however, that she was in a hospital of some sort. She hoped it was the small hospital housed in Starship 15-A2 and not some random hospital full of people she didn't know.

The door opened suddenly, causing Taz to jump and the heart rate monitor to spike. A tired-looking nurse came in looking at some papers in a folder, clearly not expecting Taz to be awake. She cleared her throat and the nurse looked up in shock. The nurse's eyes widened and she came over to the side of Taz's bed.

"Do you know who you are?" Taz thought that was a rather stupid question to ask; of course she knew who she was.

"Si, Tasiana Lopez." The nurse looked confused and Taz remembered that not everyone knew her real name. "I mean…Taz." The nurse nodded and smiled.

"How do you feel?" She knew that the nurse was talking about how she felt health-wise but Taz blurted the first thing that came to her mind.

"Confused." She just smiled wider. There was something wrong with her smile, though. It was as if the nurse was smiling in a sad way, almost looking at Taz with pity. Without saying anything, she got up and checked the various machines and wrote random things on a clipboard. By the time she had checked every machine, Taz was sufficiently pissed off. She wanted to know what had happened to land her in the Dead-god forsaken hospital in the first place! Before she was able to scream at the poor girl, however, she left the room with her clipboard clutched to her chest. Taz screamed in frustration at the empty room. She knew she was overreacting, but she didn't care. She was sore, she was confused, and she just wanted to get out of this freaking room!

Before she could rationalize with herself, she stood abruptly from her bed and tried to walk to the door. She didn't get far, though, because the numerous wires that lead from the machines in the room lead to various parts of her body. She knew that one was called an I.V. and she noted that she had a couple in her arms, she winced when she thought of the bruises she would surely have there. She tried to convince herself to go a little further, but instead collapsed on her bed in relief.

The door opened for the second time and Taz was ready to scream at whoever walked through, but she froze. Her brown eyes met the visitor's blue ones and her breath was gone from her. She knew at once that his was the voice she was hearing, trying to bring her back to consciousness and out of that terrifying white room. She tried, once again, to place a name with his familiar face but drew a blank. She knew that she knew him, that she had known him for a long time and that they were friends, maybe more than that, but she couldn't think of his name! He didn't speak, as if he was waiting for her to speak first, but she didn't know what to say. She didn't want to say "hi, I know you but I don't know your name so thanks for visiting and goodbye," that would just make her look stupid. But if there was something Taz was good at, it was staring someone down until they did what she wanted. At last he spoke.

"Taz, why did you do it?" She could feel the disappointment in his voice and just pissed her off more. If she knew why she did it, then she would probably know what she did…which she didn't.

"I don't know what jou're talking about. De only thing I know is dat I've been sitting in this maldito room all day and no one has told me anything. If jou would like to be de first, be my guest." She knew she was being rude and unreasonable. It wasn't his fault that no one was telling her what was going on, but it felt good to get some of her frustrations out. He took a deep breath and hesitated, as if he didn't want to tell her what happened.

"Okay. Keep in mind; you were very drunk when this happened. It was your birthday party and you…had a couple drinks. You left the bar on your own and I followed you because, well…" he hesitated again and Taz glared at him before he pushed on. "Because I was worried about you! So I followed you and I went into your room and you were acting really strange. You had a zapper in your hand and I tried to get it away from you, but instead you knocked me unconscious. When I woke up you were acting even stranger and finally you threatened to kill yourself," he stopped here and Taz saw tears in his eyes, she was shocked when she realized that she had tears in her eyes too. "I tried to stop you Taz, I did! But before I could stop you, you…shot yourself. I thought you were dead but someone came and they said that you were still alive! It's a miracle that you're even alive Taz, you've been in a coma for two months and they were almost ready to pronounce you brain dead but I wouldn't let them! I told them that you were going to pull through and you did!" He came over to the side of her bed and hugged her as best as he could. She hugged him back, still mostly in shock. She had tried to kill herself? And she had been in a coma for two months? Why didn't she remember any of it? She vaguely remembered very dark thoughts and some sort of argument her and someone else had, that must have been what her visitor had been talking about. What made her so depressed in the first place? He had said that it was her birthday and they were celebrating and….

Then it hit her.

Her birthday…ten years ago.

The robots attacked, mercilessly killing every man, woman, and child at her Quinceañera.

Her entire family, dead.

She was the only one left, completely alone.

The man noticed her change of mood and let her go, looking at her with concern. He put a hand on her shoulder and she shook it away, wincing at the stab of pain as it rang through her body. Before he could ask her what was wrong, she asked the first question that popped into her head.

"Who are jou, anyway?" She saw his face fall and for a second she was worried that she hurt him.

"Taz don't you remember me?" He sounded so lost and it made Taz want to just lie and tell him that she did, but she couldn't. For some reason, she just couldn't lie to him. She shook her head and for a minute he looked stunned before he regained his composure.

"Well, that is only natural I suppose for you to uh, forget some things. Let's see…well, for starters my name is Up."

"Up?" he nodded. "What da hell kind of a name is dat?" Up chuckled.

"I could ask you the same thing, Taz." She smiled, it was a small smile but he noticed it nonetheless. "Up isn't my real name, just like Taz isn't your real name. Don't worry; soon you'll remember everything,"

"Then will things go back to normal?" Up's smile wavered. "What?"

"Well Taz, um…they're not letting you leave until you undergo a psychiatric examination."

"What da hell for?" He shifted uncomfortably.

"Well, you DID try to uh….well, yeah." Taz brushed it off.

"Yeah, but jou said I was drunk off my ass," that got a chuckle out of him.

"You were, but still." He looked at her with pity. "You have some stuff that you need to deal with Taz, and there are some really great doctors that can help you deal with your emot-" he was cut off

"No way, I'm not seeing any doctor. I'm not loco, Up! I was….just a little upset. But I'm better now, see?" She smiled a very fake smile, trying to convince him of her mental health, but he didn't look quite so sure.

"Taz, I think it's a good idea for you to see someone. It might help with your depress-" once again he was cut off.

"Don't say it, I'm not depressed! I'm not depressed and I'm not going to talk about my feelings with some stranger!" Up sighed.

"Fine then. I'm going to give you two options. One: you can 'talk about your feelings with some stranger' as you put it, or two: you can talk about your feelings…with me." Up watched her face closely as she sorted through the pros and cons of each option. Finally, she made her decision.

"Fine den. I will….talk about my feelings with…" she bit her lip, considering her options very carefully. "I will talk about my feelings with jou." Up was shocked, Taz wanted him to help her? She usually didn't want him to help her with anything, let alone with her feelings. If it was one thing that Up knew about, however, it would be feelings. "Does dat satisfy jou?"

"Aw, c'mon Taz act a little cheerier! At least you don't have to sit on one of those couches while some old guy writes down your every thought!"

"Dat's true. I get to sit on jour bed while we don't do anything and we can call it working out my 'feelings' without anyone knowing!" He rolled his eyes at her and she just smirked at him. For now, everything seemed normal between them. Everything besides the fact that Taz knew almost nothing about him or their years as friends. That fact stung, they had been partners (in battle) for years. He had been her mentor through the academy, he had helped her study, and he taught her everything that he knew. She had been there for him when he went…soft. Well, she had been there for him and he would be there for her every step of the way.