Disclaimer: I own Adriane, Lukane, and the very cute dress I am wearing right now, but I do NOT own Teen Titans! D:

:3

Adriane looked up at Terra and tried to grasp this new feeling of utter ache. How could this be fixed? Not easily, that's for sure.

"Do you think it's because he was brainwashed?" She was finally able to spit out.

"It's been four months already, Adriane! Get over it!," Terra barked

"Should we go back and get him?"

"No, that would just stir up more ruckus; he should have gotten his act back already,"

"It's the 'should have' and 'already' that worries me," Adriane sighed and walked back into the commons.

Thunder was sitting with Becky as the two argued in the kitchen. The two looked at each other

"How are you feeling?" Adriane asked, trying to act casual despite the emotional rollercoaster that her brain was riding.

"I'm okay, considering I still have a bump the size of Pluto on my skull from a few nights ago," Thunder replied with a dull smile.

"Be thankful that's the only injury you have," Adriane lied. "I mean honestly. You didn't get hurt when we tried to stop Lightning and that red headed dude tried to blow up that building, oh no! But when you we were going to the video store and you slipped on that icee-!"

"Yeah I know," Thunder sighed, putting an arm around Becky's waist. She seemed a bit upset too. The blue boy just averted his attention to Becky's rounder-than-usual tummy with a smile on his face. "Just thank God your daddy didn't hit his head too hard. I think your mom was a little too worried at the time herself." At that Becky just laughed.

"By the way, I think Uncle Lukane needs glasses." Thunder told Becky's little bundle of joy, trying to change the subject.

Becky looked up at him from sipping her Jones Root Beer. She shifted her legs in the love seat she was sitting in and looked at him, somewhat perplexed. "What makes you think that?

"Well…" He scooted closer. "He was watching the clothes in the washing machine the other day and thought he was watching a wrestling match on TV." He said. Becky laughed and Adriane sighed, angry.

"Adriane, don't you have to get ready for that Milo dude?" She hissed at the raven haired girl.

Adriane glared at her. "Don't you have something else better to do?" She hissed

"Well he was perfectly nice enough to ask you out to the movies after 5 months of shy flirting. Don't mess this up."

"I really don't want to go out with-!"

"GO GET READY!" Becky snapped. "And take a shower! You reek!"

"Becky, getting upset probably isn't good for out love child." Thunder said cautiously.

Adriane scoffed in disgust and stomped into the hallway, running into Lukane.

"HEY! Adriane!" He smiled. "You should see the new TV we have in the laundry room. I just saw this great wrestling ma- HEY don't kick me!"

"I'm taking a three month shower."

"Try three minutes. Your date is in an hour!"

"GO EAT A DICK, YOU DOUCHE! IT'S GOING TO BE THREE MONTHS!"

"But the new TV never works when the water in another room is on!"

Soon the half-Asian girl stood under the strong pulse of the showerhead and tried to think of what could possibly be the silver lining. Water fell against her forehead and dripped into her eyes, stinging them.

Lightning really wasn't on the bad side, right? People in movies, books, and everything else who left the good side always came back, and they always got their common sense back didn't they? Even though that was fictional stuff…no! Optimism is a must here! Lightning will come back! And if the same chain of events followed what had happened over six years ago, Lightning would fall in love with her again and sweep her off her feet.

Why the heck did Lightning do that anyway?

Surely she hadn't been treating him too bad that day she left, had she? Becky had treated her so terribly and had teased her about not being a full grown adult and asking him out. Of course, Becky didn't know what it was like to not know if someone liked them or not. She didn't mean to yell at Lightning so harshly. She just wanted to make sure it wasn't obvious that she liked him.

Maybe Becky, Thunder, Lukane and the rest of the internet fan-base were all wrong. Maybe Lightning DIDN'T like her like that. She couldn't really blame him though. She looked down at herself in the shower and frowned at what she saw.

There is nothing humiliating about double 'A' breasts. She assured herself. I mean, it's not like all guys are attracted to the Victoria secret franchise. Maybe some guys find the whole fairy look to be attractive. Milo does. And if Lightning doesn't then too bad for him. I LIKE my somewhat delicate frame. And getting mistaken as a 14 year old boy with hair that's too long on the train isn't so bad either. Children's tickets at the movie theater are much cheaper anyway.

Feeling much better, Adriane shut off the shower and dried off. She didn't care if everyone would wonder why she was suddenly so happy to go on her date with Milo. She'd never say why, but it'd be because he likes flat chested girls.

"Say, Cree… Uh…"

"Look, Lightning. I don't care what nasty things you have to say about me and Lilith. I've told you a thousand-!"

"Actually…" Lightning kicked the newspaper on the matted old carpet. "How'd you meet Lilith?"

"… Where's the punch line?"

"I'm not kidding- OW!" A piece of old ceiling tile fell onto his head. The abandoned apartment building didn't really stabilize itself that well. It was crumbling apart and made it hard to live in. Cree just laughed.

"No, I'm serious Cree." Lightning answered. "How'd you come to know Lilith and get here? To Metal Town?"

"It's a long story."

"I'll listen."

"Fine." Cree sat down on the old floor and Lightning sat 5 feet away.

"I'm not sure what state we lived in. I think it was some place in the southwest. There was desert everywhere. Anyway, I was part of this huge clan that was the opponent of that thing's-."

'Adriane's."

"… Her clan. Anyway, I don't remember much before the time I met her, except for the fact that I wasn't allowed to play with anything or anyone. And my mom yelled at me a lot. I was around 11 when I met her. You know, Lilith. I don't know what happened when I saw her, but I knew that I was happy after that. Lilith created this peace inside of me that I never had before.

"She was four around the time- "

"WHOA, WHOA, WHOA." Lightning stopped him there, an exasperated look on his face. "Four? You knew her when she was FOUR?"

"Yeah, I was twelve when she was four."

"You fell in love with a three year old."

"…Yes."

"Cree, that's called being a pedophile."

"… Look, I don't know what that means."

"It's just-! Never mind, keep going." Lightning sighed. Cree just rolled his eyes and continued.

"At four years old, Lilith didn't know how to control herself. I was constantly trying to help her control her ways and protect her, but everyone would hound her all of the time. She's a goddess and everyone wanted to get closer and closer to her to feel peace. It made her angry and scared all of the time and soon she…" Cree stopped, pressing his lips firmly together.

"She what?"

"I remember hearing her scream from the inside of the house. She was particularly upset that day and I figured getting her a flower from outside would make her happy. But when I ran inside, everyone else in the house but she was dead. Her powers manifested and everyone's heart exploded, I think. There was so much blood. I didn't know much then, except that police officers would come by once in a while to see what was going on. I think they were looking for signs of child abuse. I didn't want them to take her away, so… I packed up a few things; food, water, money and a blanket and I ran off with her.

"The next few years we lived on the street of urban cities. I'd hide with her in warehouse closets during the nightly hours to keep her safe. I didn't want anyone touching her. She was so tiny and fragile that some thug could have grabbed her and broken her arm. When ever I went to steal food, I'd have to lock her away to keep her safe and pray that she'd be okay when I got back.

"I remember one night I had hidden out in an old hotel with her. The keeper didn't know we were hiding in the hotel room wardrobe that night, so he rented it to some guys, and all they did that night was fight. There were gun shots and screaming. There were sirens and other loud noises outside, so the two couldn't hear Lilith crying." Cree let his face fall into his face. "Oh, God… I remember her crying. So was so, so frightened. And I couldn't even get her to stop. All I could do was hold her as the me fought each other, and try to tell her it would be alright.

"And the next morning a group of nuns found us as they made their way on their mission trip. They took pity on us and took us in at their orphanage, and we went to their Catholic school. There Lilith met up with other kids her age. It was too late for me to make friends, though. I was 15, and I didn't know how to correspond with people. Lilith was always my friend, though. She could always make me smile. We'd walk to school hand in hand, even when she was nine and I was seventeen.

"Of course, I finally graduated and got my own apartment. Around this time, Lilith went through… Changes and she started to become more assertive. She asked me questions about Otchid and I told her, then she told me that she wanted to leave the orphanage and school, to find out about The Order and her powers. So… We did. And we ended up here."

"But… Why are you attacking Adriane and Lukane?"

"We're only planning to so far. And I refuse to tell you anymore. You're just getting nosy. You can worry about that THING later, okay?" Cree started to stand up

"HER NAME IS ADRIANE!" Lightning bellowed as he jumped up.

"IT'S NAME IS IRRELAVENT. Got it?" The red-head barked back with a snarl.

Lightning stayed silent and nodded.

"So what is Lilith doing anyway?"

Cree looked up from the parchment and sighed through his nose.

"You little twit. We've gone through this before."

"Don't call me twit!" Lightning blew a raspberry at him.

Cree looked down at the paper for a moment longer before looking back at Lightning.

"Fine. I'll tell you."

Lightning stepped away from the wall and looked at him.

"She's recruiting members to join us."

"How'd she manage to do that?" Lightning scoffed.

"She has amazing ways of telling people what the right thing to do is." Cree smiled proudly.

"That's all she's doing?"

Cree's smile frowned.

"She's also getting drugs."

"WHAT?!"

"No, not THOSE kind. I mean, creatin and other stuff. For you."

Lightning furrowed an eye brow. "For… For me? WHAT."

"It's to make you stronger." Cree scoffed. "You are a weakling after all. But Lilith saw potential in you. We're going to make you stronger, and then Lilith will be able to give you new powers."

"Power…?" Lightning smiled a bit. "What kind?"

"Why must you ask so many-?!"

"This is cool!" Lightning smiled. "Come on, tell me!"

Cree rolled his eyes. "You'll be able to do the same as me. You can become invisible when you want, and hear things better. That…" Cree smiled. "Here's a favorite of mine. You can make people hallucinate and impair their judgement. My favorite thing to do with people is make them think that they're in a surreal world of peace, then throw them in a horrific place before killing them."

Lightning swallowed. "That's… Uh, a lot."

"Just be prepared to feel different. That's the hardest part. You may not feel like yourself for a while, and then you'll feel fine. But if you're ever off your drugs, even ONCE, you're body will reject what's left over in your system around the scheduled dosage time slot rolls around. It's not pretty."

"Wow, thanks for that." Lightning rolled his eyes, but he smiled. He was excited for this…

"What were your parents like?"

Cree scoffed and buried his head in the pillow.

"You've been asking me questions for the past 5 weeks."

"Well, I'd ask Lilith, but she's been gone for a month or two." Lightning looked up at the old ware house ceilings. "So, what were they like?"

Cree frowned.

"Cree…?"

"Terrible. Now go back to sleep." Cree buried his head into his pillow and was silent for the rest of the night.

Lightning's mind that night, however, was not.

Lightning always wondered what it would be like to have a mom.

In Husan, he never had a mother figure to look over him. The closet thing he ever had to his mom was stories of her kindness and beauty from Chan Ti. But when he tried to ask him when he needed comforting, Chan Ti would always reply "Shut up. It won't do you any good. Now no more questions."

He always imagined she'd be pretty and kind like everyone said she was. He decided that whenever he would cry or be sad, she would come over to him in long, purple robes and hold him in her arms until he was happy again. She would wipe away tears away from his eyes as she would wash away his worries with kind words.

But now that he was 17, he was in desperate need for comfort. His brother had been mortally wounded in combat and he wanted someone to hold onto him and tell him it was okay as doctors operated on his only family member.

"Lightning, calm down." Adriane scooted next to him as he sat on the hospital hallway floor. But he couldn't calm down. He felt hot tears stream down his pallid face as he tried to remind himself that only girls cried.

"He's going to be okay, right?"

"Of course he is." Adriane put an arm over his shoulder, trying to comfort him. "The doctors said we got him here early, so there's no doubt that he'll live. It's a simple operation, Lightning."

The tall teenage boy sniffed and went to wipe away tears, but Adriane had taken care of that as she stroked her thumb across his cheek.

"I can't help but be scared." Lightning murmured.

"Because you saw him get hurt?"

The blond nodded.

"I can see why. No one said you can't be scared or anything, even though the doctors said you shouldn't be." Adriane looked at him as he leaned his head on her shoulder. "But you SHOULD be allowed to feel what you need to. It's OKAY to be scared, Lightning. And it's okay to be sad."

Lightning had collapsed by now. He wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face into the cloth of her cargo pants as he cried. As the raven-haired girl stroked his hair and rubbed his shoulder to comfort him, he felt free to hold on tighter and cry more.


"Lightning…"

I don't want to wake up. He thought. I like this dream. I'm not ready to get up. It's not even morning yet.

"Lightning…"

Who the hell is calling my name anyway?

"Lightning."

Lightning finally opened his eyes, finding himself face to face with Lilith.

"WHOA!" Lightning gasped in surprise.

The pale boy had awoken to find Lilith sitting next to him in his little sleeping area on the floor. Minus the practically half naked girl before him, the floor was completely covered with newspapers, so there wasn't much cushioning.

"Uh…." Lightning swallowed. "Welcome back."

"Why were you crying in your sleep?"

Lightning blushed.

"Was I?"

Lilith nodded.

"Uh….Uh, where's Cree?" Lightning asked, looking around. Lilith just rolled her eyes and made him look at her again

"Were you dreaming about Adriane?"

"How'd you-?!"

"I thought you hated her for not treating you how you deserved." Lilith put on a saddened façade.

"I DO! I just…" Lightning swallowed. "I don't know how to… you know. Give her what she deserves."

Lightning's pallid eyes were avid as Lilith smirked down at him; it gave him goose bumps how her mismatched eyes were so intent on his face.

"Silly Lightning" she cooed, kneeling before him. "Use your imagination… How do you hurt those who have hurt you?"

She ran a nail delicately along Lightning's jaw, making him shudder.

"I could help you." Lilith moved her lips close to his ear, relishing in the fine shivers she could feel through their contact. "If you let me, of course."

"Will you?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow.

She tilted her head and gazed at him with a look of mock sadness, as though she would truly be sad if Lightning refused her.

Gaze fixated on her mouth, Lightning nodded.

This did not escape Lilith, the nod, nor where Lightning's eyes lingered.

"Do you like me?" she smiled, her voice dripping with poisonous sweet.

And Lightning, as resilient as he was to such things, gave into his desires and nodded mutely.

Her grin widening to Cheshire proportions, Lilith placed a finger beneath Lightning's chin and tipped it up, examining him as though he were her prize.

All in all, it made him feel a little dizzy.

Moving her face within a hair's breadth of Lightning's face, Lilith ran her fingers throughout the other's soft hair, practically mouthing words against his lips.

"I'm much better than Adriane, and I could give you what you want, Lightning. Tell me what you want"

Lightning remained silent, shocked into the state by what the girl before him was offering.

"Or would you rather show me?"

"Yes"

Barely a breath spoken by Lightning before he closed what little of a gap there was with his mouth, relishing the immediate response he received.

"Eager, aren't you?" Lilith chuckled, tracing her nail along one of Lightning's pale eyebrows "does Adriane not give you the love you deserve?" she added in a baby voice.

"Not a chance" Lightning sounded scathed.

"What a waste. Well not to worry, I won't disappoint"

"That's what I'm counting on"

"You see" Lilith sounded breathless "I know what you've done, your love of destruction, you don't belong with your brother and those fools, you belong here with me"

Silence met these words, but in Lightning's eyes were the truth. He believed Lilith, he believed in the sweet poisons dripping tantalizing from her lips and into his ears, but even more, he believed his hormones and neediness and how both were telling him how lovely the girl before him looked.

Never had he seen the like, and never had he wanted something so much.

So, acting on this, he wrapped his arms shakily around her lithe frame and buried his mouth against her skin.

He pressed his lips to her pale body, ravishing the chilly flesh against his...

"Do you agree?" Lilith finally added "do you wish to be beside me?"

And in other places...

"Of course" A hateful smile crept onto Lightning's face "What fun you make it sound..."

"Then would you like more?"

Breathing a chuckle, he nodded, his eyes darkening with greed. Of course he did, what a foolish question.

"Then tell me and you can have anything."

Lightning murmured a single word, one phrase that made Lilith's heart leap and her desire for the boy deepen.

"Well if you insist." She chuckled, running a hand up his chest

"Tell me Tavis-"

Lightning started at the sound of his real name.

"-Oh yes, I know your real name, but tell me, how badly do you want me?"

He said something Lilith didn't quite catch, but she grinned and clutched his shoulders.

"Sorry didn't get that." she purred.

"Badly." He repeated a dull flush rising on cheeks.

Laughing at his sudden childishness, Lilith finished undressing herself, the thin fabric slinking away.

"Now the fun part."

"Fun..." Lightning sounded as though he found this all very surreal. "Hell yeah."

REVIEW YOU LITTLE DUMMIES 8D