He could hear the veins rushing, the blood running thinner and thinner until the liquid ran through the veins quick and fast to produce a rush that was only done by one thing. Slowly, the moan was heard, his ears catching the sounds of a needle being thrown away and tinkling glass containers. He didn't think his friend would go that far.

The drug soared through his friend's system, Zeph listening as the heartbeat rose drastically and the brain's function beginning to blur. He was always fascinated at the human inability to discern drug properties. Silently, he breathed out, letting his hair wave across his body. He sat crouched next to the door to his friend's room, merely listening to the rising heartbeat that would soon spell danger for his friend if he did not stop.

Through his golden eyes he saw the needle go in again, another adrenaline rush nearly knocking his friend off the bed he sat upon. Zeph opened his mouth once, twice… but did not go in. He knew that he should not stick his nose in things that were not his to judge, but then again they were his friends.

And they did the same to him.

The whole room smelled of good breakfast, his friends eating hurriedly. The sun was covered by a few clouds on this day, little dewdrops of fog still hanging on emerald leaves that shone in the light. His golden eyes traced over the clouds, his ears twitching with every spark of energy that passed between the astral figures. He breathed.

Similar to the other day, he did not touch his food but merely let his friends eat as they pleased. They did not talk to him as they did the previous night, leaving him alone in Tyson's room. This would mark the second day that he was in his regular form. Once or twice he looked down to his body to make sure that he wasn't dreaming, that he was still in the reality that he hated most. The reality that bashed him both inwards and out.

The stench from him was unbearable.

"Ray you're not- I mean uh…." Max fumbled for words, his chopsticks being put down upon the table. The rice and eggs were done, all of them finished eating. Zeph turned to him slightly, his gaze unwavering and rather dull. Max stared back into him.

"You're not eating…. Again."

"I told you," Zeph replied softly. "I'm not fond of human food."

"You should eat something… I mean why go out and kill something if it's right in the fridge?" Tyson stuffed a piece of egg into his mouth, swallowing whole. Zeph pursed his lips.

"Maybe he just prefers the taste." Kai answered, sipping on his coffee. The clouds above moved slightly together, now forming more of a dark night upon the Earth. Zeph sniffed the air, his eyes softening.

"Rain…"

"Well," Tyson asked, tilting his head towards Zeph. "Here's a question for you Ray… uh…" he rubbed the back of his neck.

The shadows of light were bouncing off the walls, and as Zeph gazed into Tyson's eyes he could see hints of red and pink. The brown was murky and dull, Zeph opening his mouth.

"What do you want to be called? Ray or… Ze… Zeph…" Tyson grit his teeth, shaking his head drastically. "I can't even pronounce your real name!"

"My name is Zepheraph." He replied coolly, eyeing Tyson. "And furthermore…" he paused in his words, letting his knees down from his chin.

The morning had passed between them as the previous morning, time seeming to be nothing of a bother to any one of them. What was it that made everything seem to fake? The reality of time and space passing through each and every one of them as if in a dream? The time spent with his friends during the two days seemed to be nothing but a dream; Zeph was still trying to wrap his head around transforming in front of them.

Zeph narrowed his eyes.

"Did you get your fill…Tyson?"

Tyson in return tilted his head and blinked at him, breathing in and out twice.

"What do you mean?"

All of us… you haven't been faithful to me too. I wasn't the only one…

Zeph's pupils slit.

"You ask me all these questions… and yet you have your own secrets."

Kai looked up from his mug now, curious to the conversation. The predator was slowly moving in; claiming his prey.

"You…" Zeph bore his fangs once again, speaking smoothly.

"You smell wretched. Your whole room does."

Tyson grunted back at him, setting down his bowl and wiping his hands on a nearby napkin. The sky began to thunder now, the clouds rolling over the hills in the far off distance, rumbling the ground.

A single lie.

"If you don't wanna stay in my room all you have to do is say so."

"That isn't what I meant." Zeph growled now, his body growing tense.

"You're the one who complains when I keep secrets? Yet here…" he paused, coming to his own realization. There was no escaping his feelings, there were no open holes to hide in. everything that had happened as if in a haze, but now the reality was sinking in.

"You don't treat me as your own… you yelled at me the other day… I know you gave me your bed and your house to stay in but…" Zeph shook his head.

"I didn't lie to you so I could be like this… I was afraid of how you were going to treat me…. I was afraid of all those things."

Kai stood up now, staring at Zeph.

"What are you saying?"

Zeph looked at him and then back at Tyson, his growling now turning to quiet roars.

"You had a reason to keep your secrets Kai… but him… he has no reason!"

Tyson got up as well, shaking his head and laughing.

"You've got a lot of nerve talking about me like that!" he retorted, his voice getting louder. "I yelled at you because of that disgusting thing that you were doing!"

"And you think what you're doing isn't disgusting at all?"

"Better than a dead bear in the house!"

"Why did you feel like I was someone you could control?" Zeph asked roughly, his claws beginning to come out of his hands. "What is it Tyson… was the bar exam too hard?"

At this, Tyson stopped, his eyes widening. Zeph could hear his pulse beginning to rise; a small sweat forming on Tyson's brow.

He had him cornered.

"You know well what I mean…" Zeph got upon his knees now, leaning forward.

"You tell me that you don't like keeping secrets… you tell me that you're not about that… that I shouldn't have kept this from you… that you need to get used to me… well what about me?"

"Ray…" Max quietly settled a hand on Tyson's shoulder, trying to speak. "Ray what is this about? We're not used to you because we're used to you being human."

"I am human!" Zeph exclaimed, pounding his hands upon his chest.

"What I don't understand is how you can sit there and blatantly say that you're not used to me!" he began to writhe. "I'm the one who went through not being human! I'm me now… I am who I am… and yet Kai kept secrets… you have secrets… Tyson's got secrets!"

"You're not making any sense." Kai's strong voice rose over Zeph's. "What are you trying to say? That you're angry at us for making you feel less of yourself?"

Zeph looked down now, his anger suddenly gone.

"It doesn't matter if I get hurt… but I can't stand to see one of my friends hurt themselves."

He heard the thumping in Tyson's heart.

"Because I know the truth…. Because I care enough to put everything he said to me aside and dwell on the fact that he's still my friend."

A silent thunder boom was heard in the distance, Zeph's words coming to light.

"Tyson… why?"

Kai and Max now turned to their friend, who remained his ground. His hat was over his eyes, his dirty collared shirt filled with sweat of nerves. Tyson grit his teeth again, his hands balling.

"You've got some nerve…" his eyes pierced into Zeph's soul, making the giant flinch back a bit.

"You talk of all this stuff… and you are the biggest bullshit artist I've ever seen!" Tyson took a step forwards, his rage emanating through his veins. Zeph lowered his head.

"The truth about you is that you were afraid to come out and tell us who you really were! You were so afraid that you hid behind a mask for twenty fucking years!"

"At least I didn't harm any of you in the process did I?" Zeph roared, overturning the tables and getting up slightly.

"You think you're so high and mighty and you know everything! But you don't! You think you're some great person who is entitled to whatever the hell he wants! What makes you so different huh? Because you cheated!"

"I did what I had to do!" Tyson screamed back at him, getting nose to nose with the giant. "I did what was required to pass and that was that!"

"But you didn't stop there did you?" Zeph replied, growling. "You had to go and get yourself addicted!"

"My addiction is none of your business!"

Tyson roared right back at him, getting in his face. Both men were growling at one another, their previous anger and resentment coming to light.

"You graduated sure, and you passed your bar, but you did everything you could to cheat your way into getting the highest score!"

"You're not better than I am!"

The roaring continued.

"You decided to get addicted to that drug that made you wide awake! You used it for studying but now you use it to keep your sanity!"

"You kept your secret from us until we had to pull a fucking necklace off of you and see you wreck my house to get a straight answer!"

"You kept doing drugs to cope with the fact that your brother died!"

"Hiro deserved it!"

Zeph caught Tyson's punch and threw him against the wall to his left, creating a crater. Zeph hissed, not feeling the tug of his friends upon his arms.

"Stop it!"

"Both of you cut it out!"

Zeph roared again when Tyson regained consciousness, wiping his bloody lip. The human charged at him once again, Zeph ducking his kick and retaliating with a shove to the side. Tyson was no match for Zeph's strength, and as he growled more Zeph could feel the blood of fight burn bright within him. He could not hear his friends' pleas to stop.

Tyson sat upright, the dust from the floor lining his body now and making him cough heavily. Standing up now Tyson cried out in pain, holding his side. Zeph watched as Tyson sunk to his knees, his body trembling now.

The other humans rushed to Tyson's side, holding him close. After a few moments Zeph growled deeply again, his golden eyes bright in the soon fading light.

Coming closer to them, Zeph began to see that Tyson was no longer putting up a fight, instead holding his side as he crumpled into Kai's arms.

Slowly, Zeph's eyes returned to normal. He retracted his fangs.

"You think… that you know me…" Tyson spat a bit of blood into Zeph's face, the red staining his cheek. Zeph gasped silently, feeling the warm upon his skin.

"I did what I had to do… I lived my life… and I know… that it wasn't the right choice… but I had to do it… for me… but you…"

Anger pulsated through the room.

"You have a much bigger issue than I do… you never thought you would ever be found out… you thought you were safe… and you believe that nobody likes me?" he coughed again.

"Tyson… you need to get to a doctor." Max stated, holding Tyson's side. "I think your rib is cracked."

"You think you'd be safe forever right?... Kai told me all about your room… your documents… you were always running… and even now you don't have anyone… you never did…"

Zeph's eyes widened, his mouth opening in a slight gasp.

"I know…" Tyson breathed out again. "I know that you believe that.. and it's true… you have no one… no one to look after… no one to care for… no one who knows you for you… and you cower away from everything that tries to make sense of you… you're the one with the biggest problem… you and your ways…"

He coughed again, Kai holding him up.

"Tyson…"

"You said you'd never hurt your friends!" Tyson screamed, his lips stained with blood. "You said that you would never hurt us! And yet look! You became what you feared! A monster!"

Monster…

Monster….

He did not remember them leaving, nor did he remember that the house was still in shambles. Max had told him something along the lines of never speaking to Tyson like that again, and to keep in control of his powers, but those were blurred.

Kai's eyes were bore into his head.

Sad and fearful, worried… yet somehow proud.

What Tyson said…

The rain pelted him hard, Zeph's body heat coming up in smoke. Water dripped onto the ground in pairs of droplets, his claws to his sides.

What Tyson said was true though… I didn't… I know that we've been so weird around each other… and that I couldn't make out the words I wanted to say… that I was still scared and afraid that they would reject me… and they did…

Rain continued to fall upon him, the thunder from above filling his ears. The house seemed like a mile away now.

Tyson… Kai… Max…

Leaves wavered in the silent wind. Small creatures took shelter in their homes, but yet he sat in the middle of a thicket of trees, his head held up to the sky and his eyes quivering.

I was so worried… I didn't want anything to happen… I can't… I can't bear to see you get an overdose… I wouldn't be able to forgive myself…

His claws dug into his head.

What would have happened if I had stayed quiet? What would have happened if I hadn't become me? Would I expect to live my life out as a human? I couldn't have… I've lived all this time… I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry…

I'm sorry.

Kai turned another corner, Max holding onto Tyson's body as much as he could. The rain did not help in the view, and Kai wanted nothing more than to drive faster. His friend was in pain, but he could not put their lives in danger.

The radio was on quietly, the music merely touching their ears with sound. Kai stopped at a red light, his head lowering and peering into the mirror that viewed the back seat. Tyson was still breathing heavily.

"… That wasn't right…"

Tyson's eyes opened, Max's voice inciting him.

"What you and him said… you're both in the wrong."

"He's… a jackass…"

Tyson spat up again, Max once again wiping the blood off his shirt. The car started again, Kai keeping focused on the road but curious as to what Max and Tyson were talking about. He kept an open ear.

The rain patted gently upon the car windows, the mists from the road practically blocking the view of the land. The digital clock off to Kai's left read ten in the morning.

"But what you said to him wasn't right either." Max replied, stroking Tyson's back. Tyson winced in pain, but did not reply.

"Sure he was afraid to tell us… but… we have no right to tell him that he has no one… because aren't we his friends?"

"How can… we be friends… with someone… like that?" Tyson coughed.

"Because… we promised."

Tyson stopped.

The car once again rolled to a stop, Kai seeing the lights of a hospital come into view. They were almost to their destination.

"We promised him that we would be friends…" Max sighed, now turning his head to gaze out the window of the car. The rain would not let up.

"I heard your fight."

Kai's voice echoed in the small silence.

"You were fighting with him over what he ate… and I'm not one to judge but…. Doesn't he find our food gross too?"

No one replied.

"Why should we judge him if he never judged us before? When he was still human… don't you think he wanted to tell us how he really felt? Don't you think that somewhere in that head of his he had the idea of letting us in on how he felt about what we did? What we ate? What we thought? But he never judged us. He never EVER showed any of us any anger… not even when he gave that to him."

The rain patted harder now, the car rolling down a hill to get to the hospital.

"I understand that he never told us about who he really was… but to say that he has no one… is a lie." Kai's lips pursed.

"He's our friend… even if he is a giant now. Even if he has all those powers that we don't yet understand… we bombarded him with questions… and we scared him. I believe… that somewhere deep inside of him…"

Kai paused.

"We scare him a lot more than he scares us."

The car came to a complete stop now, Max raising Tyson's body onto his back, opening the car door. Kai let his hands slide down the wheel and turn off the car, the machine dying in the dim light.

The clock read eleven.

Darkness overcame him when he snapped out of his train of thought, his eyes blinking a few times to get the fog out. He tilted his head down, his neck sore from staring straight up into a barren grey sky.

His hair weighed heavily, the rain completely soaking him. With care he reached out and stretched, his limbs cracking with strength. He flexed his muscles.

The rain was still pouring down, now more than ever he wanted to go home. Home was a place he never knew, he never experienced a place where he felt welcomed, where he felt happy. He had no longer had any reason to feel any sort of way.

He wiped the blood off his cheek.

"No meal today huh?"

His ears perked slightly at the sound of the voice, his head turning only a little to see a black parasol. She stood in the rain in her boots, smiling at him.

"Guess you aren't hungry then!"

He did not speak to her, but instead lowered his eyes and turned his head away, not wanting to meet her gaze. He had not smelt her nor did he hear her heartbeat. His mind was too occupied for those sorts of things at the moment. The grass beneath him was probably really bent, he supposed, reasoning to get up and walk.

He did not move however.

She came around to him, still speaking.

"You know… I love rain… makes me feel all sorts of good on the inside. Don't you think so? It's really calming and…"

Her voice trailed off. Zeph noticed the silence and finally decided to look at her, who was staring back at him with wide eyes. He sniffed.

"Zeph… Zeph what's wrong?"

Zeph did not reply to her, instead shutting his eyes and trying to force the world to go away. From beneath him he could feel a small hand coming up to take his own, her fingers slipping around one of his.

"You're all wet… Zeph what's going on?"

He felt her warm hands against his and only when he opened his eyes did he see that she had a firm grip on him. Zeph blinked.

"Why aren't you eating? What's wrong? You're usually so chipper… what happened?"

Zeph opened and closed his mouth twice, but each time he found that if he wanted to speak his throat would close and he made weird gurgling noises. Anoka did not waver however, and continued looking at him.

"Zeph… please… what's wrong?"

He swallowed hard. He found that not speaking to her was harder than he had anticipated.

"I… I did… something…"

Anoka's eyes lit but for a second before she answered him.

"You got into a fight with your friend?"

Zeph's eyes saddened as he nodded, feeling the rain upon his cheeks.

"I.. I did something… terrible… and I… I don't know what to do… I'm… I'm lost…"

I'm lost.

Her fingers slid over his hands, out of reach now, and slowly came up to his cheek, touching his strong bones. She gazed at him through the mists, her breathing even. The rain melted into their bodies, her slender fingers sliding up and down his cheek. He could not help but turn into her.

"Zeph… where were planning on going?"

He found himself speaking.

"Nowhere…"

"Nowhere?"

"Yeah…"

"…. Why don't you come home with me?"

His eyes shot to her, Anoka's gaze soft. She nodded her head slightly.

"Come home with me… you have no other place to go… and you seem like you need a hot meal."

"Anoka… Anoka I can't do that… I wouldn't fit and it's a disturbance to you…" he fumbled over his words, his heart suddenly feeling like butterflies.

"Zeph." Her voice won him over, Zeph once again melting at her touch. He sighed, breathing in the air.

She smells… of lavender.

"Come on."

Her fingers retracted from his cheek and took his hands, pulling gingerly. Slowly, he found himself warming up. His legs stood on their own, Anoka's parasol the only thing he saw from his view.

"Let's go home."

He found himself being led into the thicket, unaware of what was to come but yet excited to see where he was going. From the trees he heard the chirps and rustle of birds, the scurry of squirrels and the silent breathing of newborn animals. The Earth was beginning to slumber, and as he walked he found the rain to be coming down a little lighter.

The water was warm.