"Graverobber…"Pavi said softly. "I'm-a sorry my father locked-a you up…Was I worth it, though?"

Graverobber thought a minute and replied. "I'm not quite sure at this point…I'll let you know…"

Pavi looked highly offended by Graverobber's reply, even as Graverobber gave him the hit of Zydrate "Well-a you won't be getting anymore-a from me until-a you have-a an opinion either way." He said, getting up and pulling his shirt back on. He stormed out the door and out of the hotel entirely.

Graverobber sighed softly and also got dressed, clearly he wasn't getting any today…from Pavi, at least. Graverobber suddenly realized, though, that he'd let Pavi walk out, hopped up on Zydrate and with little to no street smarts. "Fuck." He said to himself, running out in the direction Pavi went in. Of course, he didn't know which direction he went in after he left the hotel, so he just took off in one direction.

Pavi walked slowly through the bad part of the city, staring around him blearily through his Zydrate induced haze. As he walked, he stumbled a little, showing anyone who was watching that he was a drugged up addict. His eyes were bloodshot and his usually silky black hair was a complete mess, his clothes were rumpled as well. Most of the junkies who infested the streets recognized Pavi from his humiliation in the alleyway only a few days prior. No one spoke yet, they just kept watching him. A few male junkies began to follow him.

Graverobber kept looking for Pavi as he turned down a street into the better part of town where the Largos lived. He thought maybe Pavi would have gone home. Graverobber hadn't taken into account that Pavi was high on Z right now and probably wouldn't think to return to the safety of his home, let alone even know how to get there. He walked up to the Largo house, sidled his way around the house and towards Pavi's bedroom window. He looked for a way to get up to the window to find Pavi. Finally, Graverobber found a pipe, which he shimmied up and leapt to the balcony of Pavi's room. He looked into the room, still lit since Pavi had never bothered to turn the light off before he left, and saw Pavi was no where to be found. "Shit." Graverobber hissed with annoyance. Pavi was in trouble, there was no way around it. The idiot had probably gotten into a dark alleyway somewhere about to get into even worse trouble. High on Zydrate, pretty, stupid, little or no street smarts, Pavi would probably be dead within a few hours if Graverobber didn't act quickly.

Meanwhile, Pavi found himself trapped in a dead end. He turned around and noticed he was being followed by three junkies. He turned to look at them. "What-a the fuck are you doing here-a?" He asked, glaring at them. "I've-a got no Z and I don't-a know where-a Graverobber is."

"You have an attitude; I think I liked you better on all fours." One of the men said with a grin, advancing towards Pavi.

"I'm-a a Largo! I get-a on my hands and knees for-a no one!" Pavi retorted, laughing incredulously. However, two of the junkies grabbed him.

"That's not what you said to Graverobber." The leader smirked. At this, Pavi blushed bright red beneath his mask and threw a punch, missing and losing his balance due to the Zydrate. When he fell, the leader of the group grabbed Pavi's arm and twisted it behind his back, pulling him back to a standing position. "I think we're all gonna enjoy this, we've never had rich boy before. We've never met one stupid enough to wander around here on a Zydrate trip with no body guards."

Pavi would have fought back if he wasn't so sluggish and weak from the recent hit of Zydrate. His vision was blurred and his arms and legs wouldn't respond to his brain signals. The junkies got Pavi down onto all fours, while he tried to struggle and cry for help, of course, he couldn't do either with any success as he was too high to manage it. He glared hatefully up at them and kept trying to struggle. His dark eyes welled with tears of pain as he took the abuse; he would feel this tomorrow for sure.

When the rape (which was brutal enough) ended, he was beaten until he was unconscious and then left for dead as the three junkies walked off, but not before stealing the money from Pavi's pocket. A half hour later, Graverobber wandered into the alleyway. "Shit." He sighed, shaking his head and picking Pavi up, carrying him back to the hotel where he lay him down on the bed and put him under the covers, he took a towel into the bathroom and ran it under some cold water, wringing it out and placing it on Pavi's head, he began to examine the bruises and lacerations, some of them were really bad. Graverobber hated to admit it, but he might require hospitalization. Rotti would be called and trouble would ensue. "Fuck. This is all my fault…I'm the one who gave him the drug…What am I saying? Why do I care!?" Graverobber said softly to himself, looking away. He sighed and picked Pavi up again. "I have to get you to a hospital, don't I? Well, you have your answer now, Pavi." He whispered to the unconscious man.

"Pavi…Pavi…Wake up, honey, you're late for school." A warm, comforting female voice flooded Pavi's ears. He opened his eyes to see a beautiful woman with long dark hair and pale eyes staring lovingly down at him. "You're late, honey, now get up, your breakfast is on the table and I set out the homework we went over last night, I corrected all the answers you got wrong and I put the work on a separate page."

"Thanks, mama Marni." Pavi smiled, sitting up and blushing as he looked at Marni's pretty face. "Is-a my driver waiting for me?"

"Well, I thought I'd take you to school today, Pavi." Marni replied with a smile. "I know your father likes us all to look big and important in limousines, but sometimes it's nice to just sit in the car with your parents and talk, like my mom used to do for me when I was your age. Okay, I know you're fifteen and it's not cool to be dropped off by your step mom, but humor me, I like talking to you, kiddo." Marni giggled, ruffling Pavi's hair. "Now I'm going to go find my car keys, get dressed so we can get to school before you miss your first class."

Pavi was excited to be alone with Marni for the first time ever and so he got dressed quickly, pulling on his crisp clean school uniform and ran to the dining room, he wolfed down his breakfast, grabbed his backpack and homework and ran out to the drive way. Marni's fashionable red sports car was waiting for him, Marni was already inside and had started the car so the air conditioning could get going, it was almost summer and so it was very hot outside. Pavi climbed into the front seat next to Marni, dropping the backpack at his feet and smiling brightly.

"So, Pavi, do you have a girlfriend at school?" Marni asked.

"No…" Pavi didn't want to admit to Marni that he'd slept with half the girls in his grade.

"A boyfriend? Because that's okay too." Marni smiled radiantly.

"No, I don't-a have one of those-a either." Pavi replied.

"Any secret crushes? You can tell me, I'm cool, I won't tell anyone." Marni said, sounding like most mothers back during her own childhood.

" Well-a, I do, but I can't-a tell you, all I can-a tell you is-a that she's really pretty and really nice." Pavi said, looking at the car floor and blushing. "So…mama Marni? Do you really love-a my father or Luigi?"

Marni sighed softly, staring blankly ahead. "Well, Pavi, sometimes when you're my age, you do things you're not proud of for the people you care about…You remember my friend Mag?"

"She was-a pretty" Pavi smiled. "I liked-a her."

"Well, she's blind and she needs new eyes…Your father can give Mag her eyes. Yes, I used to love your father when I first met him, but he can be cruel, Pavi, very cruel. But I love Mag and I love you and as long as both of you need me, I'll continue to take your father's abuse." Marni said sadly, smiling a little at Pavi.

"Abuse-a? Does he hit-a you?" Pavi asked, eyes widening. How could anyone ever want to hurt Marni?

"Sometimes…" Marni said softly. "When he's really angry. He also yells a lot and blames me for things"

"Mama Marni, I would-a never hurt you like-a that." Pavi said softly to her, looking lovingly into her eyes.

"I know you wouldn't, Pavi." Marni smiled. "That's half the reason I stay, you need me, your father is too busy to help you with anything and I don't want you to grow up to be confused because no one ever explained anything to you or showed you any level of affection."

"And-a the other reason is Mag?" Pavi asked.

"Yes." Marni replied. "Well, here we are, have a good day at school, Pavi."

"Pavi…Pavi…Pavi…PAVI!" Marni's voice was suddenly deep and as Pavi's eyes flew open, he saw Marni wasn't there at all; Graverobber was standing over him as he lay in a hospital bed, bandaged and being given nice, safe, legal doses of Zydrate every hour by pretty GENterns and surGENs

"Oh, it's-a you." Pavi said coldly, glaring at Graverobber. "You're-a still not sure if I'm-a worth it?"

Graverobber sighed and rolled his eyes. Was Pavi REALLY that good at holding grudges? "Fine, Pavi, you were worth getting locked in a basement and bludgeoned for. Are you happy? Will you talk to me now?"

"That's-a better" Pavi grinned, trying to get up but yelping in pain and falling back into the bed. Graverobber leaned down and kissed him softly.

"Is that what you were trying to do?" He asked with a smile. Pavi's mouth may have tasted like blood because of the busted lip bleeding over the mask, but it also tasted like mint, which was much more pleasant.

"Yes-a" Pavi smiled. "But I still-a blame you entirely for what-a happened."