Author's Notes: Yes, well, the beginning of another chapter has come along. CHAPTER NINE!!! I know, I know, it's very exciting... It's even more exciting for me, trust me, because I know that things are starting to come together now instead of droning on and on and... I should stop.

Special shout out to Jenna, who has made my day with her lovely review! You all should follow her example! ::stares at you directly:: Yeah, that's right, you.

I own Willa, Brian, Remy, and... Oh yeah. That's as many characters as I own. However, I do not own Fearless, Gaia, Ed, or said other familiar characters.

Luv youses!

Barbarilla (Barbie)


8:02 P.M. January 27, 2004

They had nowhere to sleep, it was dark and freezing cold outside, and they were two young, attractive women standing alone. To any other girl, this would have been the most scary situation in the world. But Gaia was not an ordinary girl.

Her brain worked at a mile a minute as she scanned their surroundings and thought of possible ways out. Almost immediately something struck her. Her father was still paying for that apartment, wasn't he? They could crash there at least one night... She still had the key, and she knew the address. Even if staying there sparked bad memories, it was better than sleeping on a park bench until they found someplace better. That would be fine with Gaia, but looking at Willa, with her quivering lips and scared, frantic eyes, they needed to find as safe a place as they could get.

"I know where we can go," Gaia mumured, putting a reassuring hand on her friend's back. "Just come this way."

Willa looked immensely relieved. "Where are we going?" The streetlamp light glittered on the tears that streaked her face.

"Uh... An apartment my friend owns. He won't mind if we crash there a couple days."

"Ed?"

"No. Someone you've never met. You've probably seen him though."

"Oh."

Gaia wasn't really sure why she was lying about her dad's apartment. Maybe she was just ashamed that she had come to rely on Willa and her boyfriend so much when she had a perfectly safe place to stay-- a place that her dad had been paying for this whole time. But she didn't think that was the reason, honestly. It had more to do with her avoiding the idea herself. She didn't want to think about that apartment as the place that she and her father had shared for a few, beautiful days. It was easier to not think of where it came from and instead just consider it a place to stay, a bed to sleep in for a night or two. Remembering Tom Moore only complicated things.

Her stride quickened, and Willa hurried beside her to keep up. The apartment was just blocks away now. Gaia still wanted that bath and a long sleep so much. Today had felt like the longest day in the history of her life, and she would be happy to see it end as soon as possible. But the faster she went, the longer the streets seemed to be. Long, dirty sidewalk stretched on in front of her. She only wanted to get to a place to sleep.

By now her pace was nearly a jog as she took a quick right, and then sped down the last street. She could already feel that hot water, pounding on her cold, tight flesh. Ahhhh. She couldn't wait another minute. Finally the apartment loomed ahead, the panel of numbers a blur to Gaia in her strange state. But she pressed the key into the lock, and pushed. Then pushed again. Then banged on the door in frustration as it wouldn't budge. Goddammit. She was locked out. How had this happened? Her dad was still paying for the apartment, so why wouldn't she be able to get in?

"Hey!" she shouted, giving the door a pound with her fist. "Open up! My key isn't working!" No one was responding. "Open the door! Now! We need to get in!" Gaia gave Willa an apologetic glance. This really wasn't working out the way she'd planned.

After a few moments of silence, a disgruntled-looking old man came to the door. "Whadd'ya want? I'm getting complaints from the residents," he demanded, his hoarse voice a bit threatening.

"I own an apartment here, but my key isn't working. Can't you just let me in?"

"What apartment d'ya own?"

"Apartment 51. Please, it's really cold out here. Let me in," Gaia pleaded. She normally wasn't one to plead, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

The guy looked her up and down, and Willa next, and Gaia was suddenly disgusted. What a creep. "You just come in off the street and make up an apartment number? There's no number 51 here. Like I'm gonna let you in with that load of crap."

"What? I didn't make it up. I lived here for a week. I know that there's a number 51 here!" she insisted.

"You can fight it all you want, but it's not going to make me let you in. Please. 'Apartment 51.'" He snarled at her slightly before turning away.

He had to be lying, although she wasn't sure what would make him want to. So she tried a new tactic, one that she thought he might be more receptive to. "Come on, honey," she murmured, grabbing his arm with the tips of her fingers. "Let two poor girls into the building. It's cold outside, and we know someone who lives here, right?"

"You two hookers?" he asked, smiling grotesquely.

Gaia glanced at Willa, who was staring at her in shock, before nodding.

The old man grinned at them for a second, fantasizing, before shaking his head. "We don't allow your class of people into this building, all right? So leave. Conduct your business somewhere else." He walked back into the building without a second glance behind him.

"Shit," Gaia mumbled. Her eyes fell onto Willa. The poor girl's face had turned an ashen color. "Sorry about that."

Willa nodded. "You... said we were hookers."

"I would have said anything to get into that building."

"What if he'd believed you? What if he'd wanted us to do something to him?" She stared desperately up at Gaia as if trying to determine if she was as insane as she seemed. "Weren't you scared that he was going to do something if you told him that?"

Gaia shook her head. "Please. He wouldn't have tried anything. And if he had, I could have handled it."

"You weren't even the teensiest bit afraid?"

"Nope," she responded, a bit bored with the line of questioning. It was an accepted constant in Gaia's life to be unafraid all the time. It was still strange to her to see others trying to cope with that fact. Still, she tried to be patient with Willa's dealing. She gave her a little smile, or as much of one as she could manage without looking completely fake, and grabbed her hand, pulling her down the steps back onto the sidewalk.

"Well," Willa sighed, rubbing her temples slowly, "what now? Where do we go?"

"I'm not sure," Gaia admitted. "But we'll find some place."

"How do you know? How do you know we won't just end up sleeping in some garbage bin or under a pile of manure, for God's sake? You don't know, you can't know!" she cried, breaking into tears again. She slumped over, and sat on the curb tiredly.

Gaia breathed out a long breath that turned into a white cloud and sat beside her. "I don't know. But no matter what happens, I promise you everything will work out. We just have to think rationally. Do you know anyone who we could stay with? I pretty much exhausted my places to stay with this one. I don't even know where Ed's dorm is." Frustrated, she rubbed her palms into her eye sockets. She should have asked him where it was. She should have... She never should have let him leave her at work today. None of this would have happened if he'd been with her.... She'd been so stupid. Stupid and short-sighted.

"I know some people, but I don't know the way to their places in the dark, from where we are right now. Actually..." Willa's watery eyes lit up as an idea occurred to her. "We could just stay at the diner, couldn't we? I mean, it's a little scary in there at night, but... we don't exactly have many choices..."

"That won't be so bad," the other girl told her. After all, Gaia had spent whole years of her life without a real home, going from foster home to foster home, and almost always running away and spending a few days on the street. They both had jobs and could afford to keep an apartment together if they needed to. So one night sleeping in a diner didn't feel like that big of a problem to her. "It'll just be one night. We can sleep on the floor or in the chairs or something. No big deal."

"Yeah. But... People can look in on us, can't they? What if something happens to us? There are bad people out there!" she wimpered.

"I know there are." Better than most, Gaia added silently. "But I won't let anything happen to you. I swear."

"What could you possibly do to protect me? Honestly, Gaia..."

"A lot. Just trust me. We'll be fine."

Willa looked up at her hopefully, reassured by her confidence. "It doesn't look like we have a choice, does it?"

"We can't afford anything else." Gaia rubbed her shoulders calmly. "Come on, let's go."

The two girls got to their feet and walked the blocks and blocks until they were standing in front of the now dark familiar pink neon sign for Lou's Diner. Willa's face lit up. Opening the door and stepping inside, a warm rush of air met their faces, and they were both immediately relieved. This wasn't bad at all. It was actually really comfortable in here. Or at least, it would be if they were able to find a comfortable place to sleep. Willa slumped into a chair, but Gaia kept standing up, staring out the glass plate windows.

"Are you sure we'll be okay in here?"

Gaia sighed loudly, trying not to look as tired as she felt. "We're fine. Go to sleep. I'll stay awake and watch out."

Willa was looking frightenedly behind her. "You don't need to, right? We're fine in here. You said so yourself."

"I'd just feel better if someone was watching to make sure everything was all right," she responded irritatedly. She didn't mean to be a bitch, but she was so exhausted and she hadn't had a break all day. Not to mention that she had to watch out for herself as well as Willa.

"At least sit next to me," Willa said quietly.Gaia reluctantly sat on the cushioned chair next to her. The girl slipped on a heavy sweater and curled up beside her, resting her head on Gaia's knee. "Thanks for being here," she whispered. She'd begun crying again.

"Shhh," Gaia murmured, playing with Willa's dark hair as comfortingly as she could. They'd both had hard nights. At least one of them deserved a little quiet and relaxation. A few long moments passed before she heard Willa's deep, rhythmic breathing beside her.

Gaia looked out into the night through the clear window. The moon was full tonight, though you could barely tell through the lights in the city. It cast a strange, eerie, green light on everything below it. Willa's face beside her was a pale green, like some comic book geek's fantasy alien. Everything around her--the buildings, the machines--was completely silent. The silence was hypnotizing, lulling her in, bringing her nearer and nearer to complete silence herself. She didn't even want to hear herself think anymore. She thought too much anyway. If she could just silence that voice in her head that told her to stay up, that told her that she needed to keep a watch out for Willa or something would happen to them both. Slowly the voice faded away, and she was left with the silence. And her eyes gradually closed, blending the darkness and quiet together into complete and utter nothingness.


5:47 A.M. January 28, 2006

"Dad..."

Her father was just a step in front of her, so close, and yet he wouldn't look at her. He was turned away, ashamed of Gaia. Or maybe he was ashamed of himself. In any case, he couldn't meet her eyes. She watched him as he moved away from her more and more. She was crying, but he paid no mind to it. But then... He turned around. He smiled at her, that smile that she had always known when she was a child, that reassuring, happy, real smile that no one could replicate, and she could suddenly forgive him for his flaws, and she hugged him quickly. He hugged her back, but the fleeting moment passed, and he pulled away. His hands that rested on the back of her neck for the hug moved slowly to her throat. She glanced down at them but thought nothing of it. But suddenly she couldn't breathe.

She realized he was choking her. She wasn't stupid. But although she could think of a thousand ways to throw him off of her, to make it stop, she didn't stop him. He knew what was best for her. So the breathe left her body, her face turning a dark and intense purple, and she watched as it happened. Her soul left her body and floated away, as if it had been training to all her life. Maybe it was better now. She could be an angel. Her father knew she had always wanted to be an angel. The betrayal didn't even hurt, because it wasn't a betrayal at all...

Gaia woke, realizing she hadn't been breathing. Her heartbeat pounded in her head as oxygen rushed to it. And her face did, in fact, feel hot and purple. That'd been a strange dream. She rubbed her hands on her neck where she'd dreamt that her father's hands had been. But in real life, he'd never hurt her like that. Well, not physically anyway. Although sometimes she felt as though he'd ripped her heart out and stomped on it several hundred times.

She was still so disoriented. She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the dream haze that still hung around her. Memories came back to her from the day before. Willa and she had no place to go, no place to turn. They'd been kicked out of the apartment by Brian only the night before... They'd spent the night in the diner. But as Gaia glanced down at the place where Willa had been, and her consciousness came back to her, she was slowly beginning to realize... Willa wasn't there beside her anymore.

"Willa?!" she shouted, the blue morning light that shone through the window making it harder to see around her. "Willa! Are you out there?"

But no one responded. Gaia only heard one sound. The sound of male laughter.


P.S. To master-dancer-- It's never too late to change. ;)