The girl looked confused as Sam made her get off of Max.
Max shuddered a little.
"You okay now, Max?"
Max shook his head. "Something's really wrong with me, Sam."
"Any idea what's wrong?"
He shook his head again. The end of Sam's tie slowly ignited.
Sam yelped and quickly put the fire out on his tie.
Max looked over. "Sam? What's wrong?"
"You just lit my tie on fire!"
"What? No, I didn't. ... Did I?" Max looked a little concerned.
"Yeah, you did." Sam said as he showed Max his tie.
"I... I swear I didn't do that on purpose, Sam. I didn't even think about doing that." After Max said this, Sam faintly remembered that the tie the Max from his dream had was also burnt at the end.
Sam gulped a bit.
"Sam, why are you giving me that scared look...?" Max asked in a tiny voice.
Sam shook it off. "Never mind it, Max."
Max looked worried. "... You know, I don't think I should walk so far ahead." He muttered before walking back so that Sam would be leading the way.
Sam sighed and continued to walk.
Max stayed quiet and stared at his feet as he followed.
The rabbit girl looked back at Max.
Max didn't notice.
The rabbit girl jumped out of Sam's arms and started to walk off.
"Hey, where are you going?" Max asked as he looked at her.
"I'm causing problems for you guys..."
"No, you aren't. Something's up with me right now, that's all."
"It is me. This always happens when I'm near someone like me with powers..."
"That doesn't make any sense to me." Max said before he tried to read her mind to find out what she was really thinking.
In her mind he saw she was telling the truth for he saw images of others with powers lose control over them when she was around.
"But... You don't have anywhere else to stay."
"But you might hurt your friend if I stay..."
"I... I'd never hurt Sam."
"You lit his tie on fire."
"Maybe I did, but I'd never hurt him."
"I'll stay if you're sure."
"You don't have anywhere else to stay. Even if I wasn't sure, I'm certain that Sam would talk me into it. Right, Sam?"
"That's right, Max." Sam replied.
"See? So stay with us."
"Okay." she smiled.
Max turned back to Sam. "So where to, Sam?"
"Well, we need to find shelter somewhere."
"... Say, should we just return home? I mean, wouldn't they expect us to run off and hide someplace else?"
"That's a good point. Alright, we'll head there."
Max started to half-lead the way and half-wander about.
The rabbit girl walked along side of him.
Max grinned a little at her.
She giggled and smiled back at him.
She noticed the rabbit looked exhausted as if he hadn't slept in a while.
"You look like you need a nap." she said.
"Nah, I'm alright."
"You really should take a nap. I could nap with you if you want."
Max's ears stood straight up for a moment and he seemed shocked by such an offer.
"You okay, Mr. Max?"
"No one's ever asked to sleep with me before."
"Really?"
Max shook his head. "You really wouldn't mind sleeping with me?"
"Really." she smiled.
Max smiled back at her. Soon they arrived at the house.
"Wow! It's big!"
Max hurried inside, excited to be home.
The rabbit girl ran inside too.
"Just the way we left it, Sam! I'm not even sure if anyone's been here!" Max said to Sam.
"It seems so, Max." Sam replied.
Max then seemed to grow serious. He looked back at the girl. "Uh, if you want, I can lead you to the bedroom."
"Okay." she said.
Max took her to the bedroom. "Sleep on either bunk."
She picked the bottom bunk.
Max smiled just a little.
"You wanna nap too?"
Max shook his head a bit. "I have something I wanna ask Sam first."
"Okay, Mr. Max."
Max stepped out of the bedroom.
Sam was looking through things at his desk.
"... Sam...?"
Sam looked at him. "Yeah?"
"What are you looking for...?"
"Just making sure no one found my candy stash. Damn it!" he cursed as he revealed it was in the desk.
"... Sam, I... I have to ask about something."
"Yeah, Max?"
"When I accidentally lit your tie on fire... You... You looked terrified of me, Sam."
"I'm sorry, Max. It reminded me of my nightmare."
"... You trust me when I say I would never hurt you, right...?"
"I do."
Max hurried over and hugged Sam. "Sam, I'm a little scared..."
"We'll get through this."
"I hope so..."
Sam hugged him.
Max hugged him back a little tighter.
"We'll get through this, little buddy."
"I'll trust you, Sam..."
"And I trust you."
Max smiled.
Sam smiled.
"I love you, Sam." Max said, though he only knew half of the definition for the word 'love'.
"Love you too, buddy."
Max grinned his typical grin.
Sam smiled back. "Go get some sleep. You need it."
"What are you gonna do, Sam?"
"I might get some sleep too."
"Alright. I'll go try to sleep..." Max said.
"Okay, Max."
Max returned to the bedroom.
The girl was sleeping, all curled up in a ball.
"..." Max tried to read her mind to see if she was dreaming about anything.
She was having a bad dream where her parents left her.
Max hesitantly went over and tried to shake her awake.
She awoke with a yelp.
"Hey, relax. You were having a nightmare." Max said.
"I always have nightmares..." she whimpered.
Max frowned a little, but didn't know what to say.
"I have no hopes or dreams to dream about anymore..."
"That can't be true. You're just thinking too much about the bad things that have happened."
"You really think so?"
Max nodded. "I've done a ton of horrible things, and on top of it all, I lost my parents too. Trust me, it'll get better."
"How did you lose your parents?"
Max shrugged. "My father was arrested and my mother was taken to an asylum. See, my family line has this history of being psychotic, deranged criminals."
"So they were coo-coo?"
The hyperkinetic rabbity thing nodded. "Sometimes people say that I'm crazy too because it's... uh, what word do they use... 'hereditary' or something weird like that. I dunno what that means exactly, but I don't THINK I'm crazy..."
"I don't think you're crazy either."
"Really? I think even Sam would beg to differ."
"I'm sure he doesn't mean it."
Max smiled a little. "I wouldn't mind either way. Sam's really the only 'family' I have now. Even if he thought I was completely crazy, as long as he still thought of me as his best buddy, I'd still be a little sane."
"Can I be part of your family too?"
Max shrugged again. "I... I guess...?"
She giggled happily and hugged him. "Thank you so much!"
He awkwardly hugged her back. "You're welcome...?"
She giggled more and snuggled into him.
Max quietly let her do so, not knowing how to respond to such affection, especially not from a girl.
"I can be your little sister." she smiled.
"I guess that's alright."
She giggled more as she yawned.
Max sat her back on the bed. "Get some rest."
"Could you sleep with me?" she asked with big cute beady eyes.
"If you want." Max sat next to her.
She smiled and moved over so he could lay down.
Max did so, though he faintly trembled as if he were nervous of sleeping next to someone.
She yawned again as she slowly fell asleep.
Max started to gradually doze off as well.
She started to sleep peacefully.
Max, on the other hand, started to slip into a nightmare.
She didn't notice.
In his nightmare, Max looked around for Sam, but couldn't seem to find him, or anyone for that matter, anywhere. "Sam...?"
He heard someone limping.
He turned toward the direction of the sound.
He saw a very bloody Sam.
"Sam...?! Sam, what happened?!" Max hurried over.
"S-stay away from me!" Sam yelled as he shakily raised his gun.
Max jumped a bit. "S-Sam, what are you doing? Don't shoot me, just tell me who did this to you!"
"You're the one who did this!" he growled as he cocked the gun.
"Wh-what...? Sam, what happened, really? You're hurt bad!"
"You used your powers on me!"
"Why would I do that?" Max asked, looking horrified.
"You blamed me for the girl getting killed!"
Max froze up. "She... She's... dead...? What happened to her...?"
"They found us again and killed her!"
"W-we couldn't save her...?"
"They shot her in the head!"
"... Why would I blame you for that, Sam...?"
"You left to blow up some birds and came back to find her dead!"
"... But... But where did the soldiers go...?"
"To search for you!"
Max clutched his head, trying not to cry. "S-Sam, I don't remember any of this..."
"You still did it and now I'll finish this." Sam cocked the gun again.
"Sam, please, don't do this!" Max took a step back, arms out in front of him as a sign of surrender.
Just as Sam pulled the trigger, Max woke up with a start.