Chapter 01 - Falling for Cube
(Disclaimer - none of these characters belong to me, they belong to Sega, blah, blah. If you disagree with the couples I've created or the content, say so in your review. Nicely. Thanx!)
Beat kissed Gum right on the lips, and then grinned. "I never get tired of that."
Gum giggled. "Me neither. You will be careful, won't you?"
"Give me a break. I'm always careful. Besides, you're starting to sound like we're married or something."
Gum looked at him, blue eyes serious for a moment. "Beat, I mean it. I don't want to hear tonight that you got blown up or arrested or anything..."
"I'm a GG. Something always happens to us, have you noticed that?" Beat kissed her again. "I'll be fine."
What he liked about going out with Gum was that when they were alone she dropped her wise-girl-smart-bitch act, and let herself be vulnerable. In Beat's opinion, this made her even more attractive.
"We'd better get moving. You're hitting Kogane-cho with Tab, I'm off to Benten with Cube."
"I know, I know." Gum picked up her spray paint. "Let's roll."
A hour later, Cube and Beat were dashing down the main street of Benten-cho, with Police Chief Onishima, a tank, and several paratroopers in hot pursuit.
"You'd think..." gasped Beat, whose lungs were beginning to complain, "That he'd...get tired of this...by now...huh?"
"He never gets tired," Cube said. "Chasing us is his reason for being. Quick, in here!"
She dragged him through a doorway on their right, and up a staircase lit by dying neon lights, higher and higher. Two flights. Three flights. Four. As they ran, Beat heard Onishima calling the others, and footsteps starting up the steps after them.
"I hope he doesn't try and bring the tank in here," he reflected. Five flights. Six flights.
Cube stopped, and wrenched open a door with Janitor written on it in fading letters. "Quick, get in."
They wriggled into the cupboard and pulled the door shut. Beat felt a bucket digging into the back of his legs. Cube's face was calm as she listened to the sounds outside.
Onishima's feet clattered on the concrete floor outside as he yelled, "They must've gone up on the roof. Move it!"
Slowly the sounds of the police faded away.
"Wait a bit," Cube whispered.
Beat blinked in the darkness. He could hear something. A groaning, cracking noise...
"Cube?" he began.
And then the floor collapsed.
Beat fell into the darkness. At last he struck something solid with a jarring crash that went right through him. Coughing and spitting out dust, he called "Cube? Are you okay?"
There was a groan off to his right, and she muttered, "So maybe I do need to lose weight..."
Beat breathed a sigh of relief. If she was able to joke she was alive at least.
"I thought the floor was concrete," he said.
"I guess the cupboard was wood or something. Anyway, doesn't look like it was used to being stood in. Why've we stopped falling?"
"Hey, don't knock it." Beat squinted. As the dark started to dilute, he made out Cube's face, streaked with dust. They were sitting by opposite walls, on another wooden floor - though this one seemed more solid - but near the middle he made out a large black hole.
"Uh-oh. Looks like all these floors are kinda unstable."
"Including the one we're sitting on?"
"I wish you hadn't said that." Beat touched the wall he was leaning against. The feel of wood against his fingers made him groan.
"I think this is a sort of extension." Cube was touching the opposite side of the room. "This wall's concrete - it must back on to the main building. But this doesn't look like it's been used for ages."
"I'll try and get over to you," Beat said, getting to his feet.
He stepped forward. A board dipped beneath him, and he felt his foot drop. Heart pounding, he sank back down. "Looks like we're stuck."
"Do - do you think the others'll be able to find us?"
"Well, they knew we were coming to Benten-cho. Surely they'll figure it out eventually..."
Cube looked up at the dim light from the door of the cupboard above them. "I hope so."
Suddenly, echoing down from above, they heard Onishima shout out in triumph. "Hey, get over here! Someone's opened the cupboard - they must be hiding in it!"
Footsteps. Then the door was flung open - more light illuminated their faces, and Onishima yelled "Gotcha - what the hell?"
"Looks like the floor's collapsed," another cop said.
Beat found he had stopped breathing, and took a deep silent mouthful of air.
"Well, if they were in there they're not our problem any more. Let's go."
And he slammed the cupboard behind him, cutting off the light.
More bits of floor showered down on them, one catching Beat on the head. He felt blood running past his eye and cursed.
"Beat..." Cube's voice carried the edge of panic. "The boards are starting to move...I - I think they're going to break..."
"Hang on." He began to crawl towards her. Sometimes a board wobbled or groaned under his knees, but he eventually reached her.
"Are they still moving?"
"Yes..."
There was a snapping sound. She screamed. Beat threw himself forward. His hand grabbed her wrist.
He lay on his stomach, clutching her arm, while she hung over the gap.
"How far do you reckon it is down there?" she said at last, voice very quiet.
"Don't know." Cube wasn't very tall, but she was surprisingly heavy when he was trying to drag her up by one arm. It was making his shoulder ache.
"How long can you hold on?"
"Don't know that either...I'll try for as long as I can..."
Gum paced the garage, ignoring the glances of the other GGs. Where was Beat? All the others had got back ages ago. Something had to have happened. Beat wasn't always the first back, but he didn't like being the last. Today the latest person back had been Mew, and that had been an hour ago.
"You sure you didn't see them?" she asked Piranha.
"Nope. We got a little cop trouble towards the end, but I never saw them in Benten-cho at all."
Gum swallowed back the fear she was feeling. "Could they've been arrested?"
"Well, Onishima didn't seem any happier than usual, so I'd say no." Piranha looked at the other girl's tense face. "I'm sure they're okay, Gum. He and Cube probably just popped into a party or something."
I'll kill them if they have, thought Gum, but at least they'd be safe.
Beat grabbed Cube's other arm, but he still couldn't pull her up. "There's nothing you could push yourself up on?"
"No." Cube sounded painfully calm. "I wonder how far it is to drop..."
Beat stared into the hole, darker than anything else around them. "Don't try and find out."
"I think that may not be an option. I'm sinking -"
Her arm slipped a little from his grip. Beat tried to hold on, but his hand was damp with sweat. He realised soon she was going to fall. The thought made him angry. He should be able to keep her up...
Now they were only gripping fingers. Her eyes were like ink blots as she stared into his, and then she closed them -
– And then she fell.
To her horror, Gum felt tears tickling her eyes. She couldn't cry now. She'd founded the GGs. She was tough. She was not crying.
"I'm going out to look for them," she said, trying to keep her voice steady. "Anyone coming?"
"I will," Combo said.
"And me." Tab got to his feet.
"Count me in!" Mew giggled.
"Right." Gum swallowed. She was not crying. Okay? "Let's go."
"Cube!" Beat yelled, staring into the blackness. "Cube, are you okay?"
"Uhhh...kind of..."
Beat squinted, but he couldn't see anything. "How far did you fall?"
"Not that far...a floor or two..."
Could he get down there? Beat considered it. He should really go down and help her; she was a GG after all.
"D'you reckon I could jump down?"
"You could try..." She sounded a little more positive. "Hang by your fingers, then let go."
Beat edged himself into the hole, feeling the boards wobble underneath his fingers. His stomach lurched, and he closed his eyes. When he felt his arms begin to ache, he dropped.
He landed and felt his ankle click, and pain zigzagged up his leg to go with the stinging cut on his face. Looking around, he saw Cube, one leg twisted oddly sideways. Her face was even whiter than usual with pain. As he limped over to her, she gave him a grin, but it was forced.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"I'm fine." Beat carefully sat down next to her. "Have we reached the ground yet?"
She shrugged. Beat shivered. For the first time he noticed how cold it was in here. And the air tasted of dust and mould. He wondered if they'd ever be found. If they weren't, they would die in here. At that thought it felt like someone had dropped a bucketful of ice into his stomach.
Suddenly there was a crash from outside which shook the walls. Beat glanced up, and saw planks hurtling towards them. Instinctively he grabbed Cube, trying to shield her from them. Then something slammed into his head, and the darkness became darker.
Gum walked away from the car that had just banged into the side of a tall building, ignoring the driver who leapt from his seat, yelling at her. It wasn't her fault he'd decided to try and run her down. She'd jumped out of the way, that was all.
"Nice going," sneered Mew. "Get the cops on us, why don't you?"
Gum ignored her. "Right, where do we look?"
"I'll check the main roads," Combo said.
"I'll do the station!" said Mew.
"I'll head up to the roofs." Tab pushed back his bobble hat.
"Then I'll just scout round the streets," Gum said. "We'll meet back here in one hour, and if no one's found anything..."
"We'll have found them," Combo said. "Let's go."
Gum heard clattering from inside the building the car had just crashed into. Oops. Looked like the collision had caused a landslide. Oh, well. It looked pretty empty. She skated away down the street.
Coloured lights were flickering behind Beat's eyes, and his head felt like a football. He blinked, and blinked again, and slowly the lights faded into the blackness. "Ouch."
"Beat? Beat, can you hear me?"
"I think so. Are you okay?"
"Not really. My leg appears to be broken...on closer inspection - yep, it's broken. Aah, skip the technobabble - oooow!"
Beat groaned and rubbed the dust from his face. He'd heard Cube's voice wobble. For all her joking, she was scared.
"I'm sure they'll find us soon," he said rather lamely.
"I wonder what dying is like?" Cube said.
"Don't talk like that. You'll freak me out."
"Why?" She looked at him, eyes dark circles in a bone-white face. "Kids our age die. You know that."
"We won't die!"
"That's what Coin thought! I bet he went along with the corporation, just enjoying the fun, and then he was killed. They murdered him. I wonder if he knew it was gonna happen. What he thought...How it felt...I never knew exactly how it happened...I want to know now. I should be glad I'm seeing him again..."
Her voice broke, and she rubbed a hand across her eyes, leaving dust behind it. "Shit, I'm crying."
Beat swallowed. He'd never talked to her about Coin. It was one of those things Of Which The GGs Did Not Speak. Gingerly, he put an arm round her, and when she didn't push him away he gave her a hug. She was thin, and she felt delicate - something he never would have thought normally.
She leaned back against him, putting her arm round his neck. "Thanks, Beat..."
"That's okay." He put his other arm round her. His fingers brushed a rip in her shirt. Her skin was warm underneath it. His heart jumped.
And then she raised her head and kissed him. It gave him a shock of pleasure, and he kissed her back. He leaned back, and felt her hands run down his chest.
Gum was ashamed to realise that for the second time in one night she felt like crying. "None of you found them?"
The other GGs shook their heads.
"Well, I guess they're not here," Gum said. "Let's check someplace else."
"Wait a minute..." Tab said. "Has anyone checked that building?" He pointed to the wall behind them, which had a large gash in it from the car.
"I didn't," said Mew.
"Me either," said Combo.
"Well, don't look at me!" snapped Gum. "Let's go."
And the four GGs raced for the stairs.
Cube felt Beat lift her shirt off over her head. She gasped as the cold air hit her skin but she didn't care about the pain or the darkness any more. While she was with Beat, nothing else seemed to matter. Her mind was exploding with unfamiliar sensations, and she could think of nothing else.
Gum dashed down the stairs, her mind full of the black hole in the cupboard. They'd fallen through. They could be dead. Beat could be dead. The first time she'd ever really fallen in love and now he could be dead. She had to find him.
"Quick, through here!" called Tab, as she ran out into the cold night again. He pointed to the hole the car had made. "And be careful. It's kinda wobbly."
Gum picked her way over smashed planks, coughing as the dust reached her mouth. She called Beat's name, heartbeats choking her. What if they found him - what if -
"I can hear something!" called Mew. "Come on."
Gum ran forward, stumbling over rubble. He would be okay. He had to be.
She ducked under a hanging beam, and took in the scene.
Cube felt Beat's hands tighten on her shoulders. He stopped kissing her.
"Why've you stopped?" she murmured.
"We've got - uh - company." His voice sounded strange.
Cube wriggled upwards, and saw Gum's frozen face.
Suddenly she realised what she'd done. She was a cheat. A two timer. She knew Beat had a girlfriend, and she'd just - she'd just -
She waited for Gum to punch her/scream at her/murder her, but nothing happened. Instead the blonde GG made a sound that sounded suspiciously like a sob, and then turned and ran.
Cube watched, her body turning numb. Mechanically, she pulled on her shirt, wriggled away from Beat, smoothed her clothes, trying to rub away the situation she was in.
"Are you coming?" Mew spat. "Or are you going to sit here and fondle each other for the rest of the night?"
Beat stood up, and hurried out of the building, limping slightly.
"I - I can't walk -" Cube's throat was dry from the dust. She tried to carry on. "My leg -"
Mew and Tab turned away from her. "I'm going to find Gum," Mew said loudly. "She needs a friend."
Cube watched them walk away, and then looked up at Combo. She felt tears come to her eyes. If he was deserting her...
Then he gave her a hand, and as she staggered up he let her lean on him, and helped her back to the garage.
When they got back, they entered a room full of serious faces.
Beat was sitting on the sofa, apparently trying to blend into it. Gum stood on the other side of the room, her eyes red and damp, her mouth twisted. Tab was sitting with her, comforting her, but looking worriedly at Beat now and then. Mew's pretty face contorted into a sneer as she saw Cube, and whispered something to Yo-Yo, who was sitting next to her. He nodded, and they both smirked.
Garam had his arm round Piranha, who was his girlfriend, and they had 'thank-god-this-hasn't-happened-to-us' looks on their faces.
Slate was playing pinball, ignoring the whole situation totally.
"Well, well, well." Mew stood up, and sauntered towards Cube. "If it isn't the slut. Who's your next target? Garam? Or possibly Slate? And of course, Yo-Yo's still available; though if he wasn't, I guess it wouldn't matter..."
"Hey, leave her alone!" Combo said. Cube was still leaning on him. Her leg was agonising.
"Why should I? She wasn't exactly reluctant. I think you noticed that. 'Why've you stopped, Beat honey?' Why're you sticking up for her, anyway?"
"She's my friend."
"Yeah, well, that's all very nice, but sometimes you gotta do the right thing. Stick up for the right people."
"Give up, Mew," Gum said, voice thick with tears. "She doesn't care what you think. She doesn't care what any of us think, and I want her out of the GGs!"
There was a dead silence, broken only by the bleeps and crashes from the pinball machine.
"You can't kick me out!" Cube said, finding her voice at last. "Look, it was a mistake - I didn't mean to - to -"
"Get caught?" Gum was crying again now. "I don't care! I don't want to have to trust you or see you or ever speak to you again!"
"Beat's the leader," Combo said. "Ask him."
Everyone looked at Beat, who shrugged and surreptitiously wriggled back into the sofa cushions. "Ummm - I don't mind - nothing to do with me..."
"It's everything to do with you," said Yo-Yo. "I mean, you're the one who had his tongue down her throat -"
Gum, Cube and Beat all gave him death ray looks, and said, "Uh - okay - and of course, you are the leader...right?"
"Unofficially. I can't just decide to kick her out. I say we vote."
"Be democratic?" Mew spat out the word like it tasted bad. "I don't think - I mean, is that really fair?"
"Yes, that's the whole point." Beat sighed. "Okay. Everyone who's in favour of Cube - uh - leaving - say aye."
"Aye," Mew, Gum, Yo-Yo, Tab, Garam and Piranha said.
"All against it say nay. Cube, you can't vote."
"Nay." Combo's voice echoed folornly in the garage.
"What about Beat and Slate?" asked Garam.
"I'm not voting," Beat said. Gum glared at him. "And Slate isn't really taking an interest, is he?"
"Come on...roll, go on, go on...damn!" Slate kicked the pinball machine.
"Well, if she's out, I'm out," Combo said flatly. "Let's go, kid."
"Wait, I haven't made it official!" Beat said, looking like he was being forced to speak every word. "Ummm...Cube, you are hereby no longer a GG, you were voted out by a democratic thingy, you can't spray GG tags and you can't say you're a GG, so - um -"
"I get the idea. Thanks." Cube felt frozen, but she kept her voice casual. It hurt to do so. "Come on, Combo."
She let him help her to the garage door, trying not to look at the faces of the others.
"Yeahhhhhhhhhhhh! I won! I won I won IwonIwonIwon!" Slate yelled over the pinball machine's triumphant bleeping. He punched the air several times. "In your face, Pinball! In...your...face!" He did a little victory dance, and saw the other GGs glaring at him. "What? Did I miss something?"
Well, what d'you think? R +R please!
(Disclaimer - none of these characters belong to me, they belong to Sega, blah, blah. If you disagree with the couples I've created or the content, say so in your review. Nicely. Thanx!)
Beat kissed Gum right on the lips, and then grinned. "I never get tired of that."
Gum giggled. "Me neither. You will be careful, won't you?"
"Give me a break. I'm always careful. Besides, you're starting to sound like we're married or something."
Gum looked at him, blue eyes serious for a moment. "Beat, I mean it. I don't want to hear tonight that you got blown up or arrested or anything..."
"I'm a GG. Something always happens to us, have you noticed that?" Beat kissed her again. "I'll be fine."
What he liked about going out with Gum was that when they were alone she dropped her wise-girl-smart-bitch act, and let herself be vulnerable. In Beat's opinion, this made her even more attractive.
"We'd better get moving. You're hitting Kogane-cho with Tab, I'm off to Benten with Cube."
"I know, I know." Gum picked up her spray paint. "Let's roll."
A hour later, Cube and Beat were dashing down the main street of Benten-cho, with Police Chief Onishima, a tank, and several paratroopers in hot pursuit.
"You'd think..." gasped Beat, whose lungs were beginning to complain, "That he'd...get tired of this...by now...huh?"
"He never gets tired," Cube said. "Chasing us is his reason for being. Quick, in here!"
She dragged him through a doorway on their right, and up a staircase lit by dying neon lights, higher and higher. Two flights. Three flights. Four. As they ran, Beat heard Onishima calling the others, and footsteps starting up the steps after them.
"I hope he doesn't try and bring the tank in here," he reflected. Five flights. Six flights.
Cube stopped, and wrenched open a door with Janitor written on it in fading letters. "Quick, get in."
They wriggled into the cupboard and pulled the door shut. Beat felt a bucket digging into the back of his legs. Cube's face was calm as she listened to the sounds outside.
Onishima's feet clattered on the concrete floor outside as he yelled, "They must've gone up on the roof. Move it!"
Slowly the sounds of the police faded away.
"Wait a bit," Cube whispered.
Beat blinked in the darkness. He could hear something. A groaning, cracking noise...
"Cube?" he began.
And then the floor collapsed.
Beat fell into the darkness. At last he struck something solid with a jarring crash that went right through him. Coughing and spitting out dust, he called "Cube? Are you okay?"
There was a groan off to his right, and she muttered, "So maybe I do need to lose weight..."
Beat breathed a sigh of relief. If she was able to joke she was alive at least.
"I thought the floor was concrete," he said.
"I guess the cupboard was wood or something. Anyway, doesn't look like it was used to being stood in. Why've we stopped falling?"
"Hey, don't knock it." Beat squinted. As the dark started to dilute, he made out Cube's face, streaked with dust. They were sitting by opposite walls, on another wooden floor - though this one seemed more solid - but near the middle he made out a large black hole.
"Uh-oh. Looks like all these floors are kinda unstable."
"Including the one we're sitting on?"
"I wish you hadn't said that." Beat touched the wall he was leaning against. The feel of wood against his fingers made him groan.
"I think this is a sort of extension." Cube was touching the opposite side of the room. "This wall's concrete - it must back on to the main building. But this doesn't look like it's been used for ages."
"I'll try and get over to you," Beat said, getting to his feet.
He stepped forward. A board dipped beneath him, and he felt his foot drop. Heart pounding, he sank back down. "Looks like we're stuck."
"Do - do you think the others'll be able to find us?"
"Well, they knew we were coming to Benten-cho. Surely they'll figure it out eventually..."
Cube looked up at the dim light from the door of the cupboard above them. "I hope so."
Suddenly, echoing down from above, they heard Onishima shout out in triumph. "Hey, get over here! Someone's opened the cupboard - they must be hiding in it!"
Footsteps. Then the door was flung open - more light illuminated their faces, and Onishima yelled "Gotcha - what the hell?"
"Looks like the floor's collapsed," another cop said.
Beat found he had stopped breathing, and took a deep silent mouthful of air.
"Well, if they were in there they're not our problem any more. Let's go."
And he slammed the cupboard behind him, cutting off the light.
More bits of floor showered down on them, one catching Beat on the head. He felt blood running past his eye and cursed.
"Beat..." Cube's voice carried the edge of panic. "The boards are starting to move...I - I think they're going to break..."
"Hang on." He began to crawl towards her. Sometimes a board wobbled or groaned under his knees, but he eventually reached her.
"Are they still moving?"
"Yes..."
There was a snapping sound. She screamed. Beat threw himself forward. His hand grabbed her wrist.
He lay on his stomach, clutching her arm, while she hung over the gap.
"How far do you reckon it is down there?" she said at last, voice very quiet.
"Don't know." Cube wasn't very tall, but she was surprisingly heavy when he was trying to drag her up by one arm. It was making his shoulder ache.
"How long can you hold on?"
"Don't know that either...I'll try for as long as I can..."
Gum paced the garage, ignoring the glances of the other GGs. Where was Beat? All the others had got back ages ago. Something had to have happened. Beat wasn't always the first back, but he didn't like being the last. Today the latest person back had been Mew, and that had been an hour ago.
"You sure you didn't see them?" she asked Piranha.
"Nope. We got a little cop trouble towards the end, but I never saw them in Benten-cho at all."
Gum swallowed back the fear she was feeling. "Could they've been arrested?"
"Well, Onishima didn't seem any happier than usual, so I'd say no." Piranha looked at the other girl's tense face. "I'm sure they're okay, Gum. He and Cube probably just popped into a party or something."
I'll kill them if they have, thought Gum, but at least they'd be safe.
Beat grabbed Cube's other arm, but he still couldn't pull her up. "There's nothing you could push yourself up on?"
"No." Cube sounded painfully calm. "I wonder how far it is to drop..."
Beat stared into the hole, darker than anything else around them. "Don't try and find out."
"I think that may not be an option. I'm sinking -"
Her arm slipped a little from his grip. Beat tried to hold on, but his hand was damp with sweat. He realised soon she was going to fall. The thought made him angry. He should be able to keep her up...
Now they were only gripping fingers. Her eyes were like ink blots as she stared into his, and then she closed them -
– And then she fell.
To her horror, Gum felt tears tickling her eyes. She couldn't cry now. She'd founded the GGs. She was tough. She was not crying.
"I'm going out to look for them," she said, trying to keep her voice steady. "Anyone coming?"
"I will," Combo said.
"And me." Tab got to his feet.
"Count me in!" Mew giggled.
"Right." Gum swallowed. She was not crying. Okay? "Let's go."
"Cube!" Beat yelled, staring into the blackness. "Cube, are you okay?"
"Uhhh...kind of..."
Beat squinted, but he couldn't see anything. "How far did you fall?"
"Not that far...a floor or two..."
Could he get down there? Beat considered it. He should really go down and help her; she was a GG after all.
"D'you reckon I could jump down?"
"You could try..." She sounded a little more positive. "Hang by your fingers, then let go."
Beat edged himself into the hole, feeling the boards wobble underneath his fingers. His stomach lurched, and he closed his eyes. When he felt his arms begin to ache, he dropped.
He landed and felt his ankle click, and pain zigzagged up his leg to go with the stinging cut on his face. Looking around, he saw Cube, one leg twisted oddly sideways. Her face was even whiter than usual with pain. As he limped over to her, she gave him a grin, but it was forced.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"I'm fine." Beat carefully sat down next to her. "Have we reached the ground yet?"
She shrugged. Beat shivered. For the first time he noticed how cold it was in here. And the air tasted of dust and mould. He wondered if they'd ever be found. If they weren't, they would die in here. At that thought it felt like someone had dropped a bucketful of ice into his stomach.
Suddenly there was a crash from outside which shook the walls. Beat glanced up, and saw planks hurtling towards them. Instinctively he grabbed Cube, trying to shield her from them. Then something slammed into his head, and the darkness became darker.
Gum walked away from the car that had just banged into the side of a tall building, ignoring the driver who leapt from his seat, yelling at her. It wasn't her fault he'd decided to try and run her down. She'd jumped out of the way, that was all.
"Nice going," sneered Mew. "Get the cops on us, why don't you?"
Gum ignored her. "Right, where do we look?"
"I'll check the main roads," Combo said.
"I'll do the station!" said Mew.
"I'll head up to the roofs." Tab pushed back his bobble hat.
"Then I'll just scout round the streets," Gum said. "We'll meet back here in one hour, and if no one's found anything..."
"We'll have found them," Combo said. "Let's go."
Gum heard clattering from inside the building the car had just crashed into. Oops. Looked like the collision had caused a landslide. Oh, well. It looked pretty empty. She skated away down the street.
Coloured lights were flickering behind Beat's eyes, and his head felt like a football. He blinked, and blinked again, and slowly the lights faded into the blackness. "Ouch."
"Beat? Beat, can you hear me?"
"I think so. Are you okay?"
"Not really. My leg appears to be broken...on closer inspection - yep, it's broken. Aah, skip the technobabble - oooow!"
Beat groaned and rubbed the dust from his face. He'd heard Cube's voice wobble. For all her joking, she was scared.
"I'm sure they'll find us soon," he said rather lamely.
"I wonder what dying is like?" Cube said.
"Don't talk like that. You'll freak me out."
"Why?" She looked at him, eyes dark circles in a bone-white face. "Kids our age die. You know that."
"We won't die!"
"That's what Coin thought! I bet he went along with the corporation, just enjoying the fun, and then he was killed. They murdered him. I wonder if he knew it was gonna happen. What he thought...How it felt...I never knew exactly how it happened...I want to know now. I should be glad I'm seeing him again..."
Her voice broke, and she rubbed a hand across her eyes, leaving dust behind it. "Shit, I'm crying."
Beat swallowed. He'd never talked to her about Coin. It was one of those things Of Which The GGs Did Not Speak. Gingerly, he put an arm round her, and when she didn't push him away he gave her a hug. She was thin, and she felt delicate - something he never would have thought normally.
She leaned back against him, putting her arm round his neck. "Thanks, Beat..."
"That's okay." He put his other arm round her. His fingers brushed a rip in her shirt. Her skin was warm underneath it. His heart jumped.
And then she raised her head and kissed him. It gave him a shock of pleasure, and he kissed her back. He leaned back, and felt her hands run down his chest.
Gum was ashamed to realise that for the second time in one night she felt like crying. "None of you found them?"
The other GGs shook their heads.
"Well, I guess they're not here," Gum said. "Let's check someplace else."
"Wait a minute..." Tab said. "Has anyone checked that building?" He pointed to the wall behind them, which had a large gash in it from the car.
"I didn't," said Mew.
"Me either," said Combo.
"Well, don't look at me!" snapped Gum. "Let's go."
And the four GGs raced for the stairs.
Cube felt Beat lift her shirt off over her head. She gasped as the cold air hit her skin but she didn't care about the pain or the darkness any more. While she was with Beat, nothing else seemed to matter. Her mind was exploding with unfamiliar sensations, and she could think of nothing else.
Gum dashed down the stairs, her mind full of the black hole in the cupboard. They'd fallen through. They could be dead. Beat could be dead. The first time she'd ever really fallen in love and now he could be dead. She had to find him.
"Quick, through here!" called Tab, as she ran out into the cold night again. He pointed to the hole the car had made. "And be careful. It's kinda wobbly."
Gum picked her way over smashed planks, coughing as the dust reached her mouth. She called Beat's name, heartbeats choking her. What if they found him - what if -
"I can hear something!" called Mew. "Come on."
Gum ran forward, stumbling over rubble. He would be okay. He had to be.
She ducked under a hanging beam, and took in the scene.
Cube felt Beat's hands tighten on her shoulders. He stopped kissing her.
"Why've you stopped?" she murmured.
"We've got - uh - company." His voice sounded strange.
Cube wriggled upwards, and saw Gum's frozen face.
Suddenly she realised what she'd done. She was a cheat. A two timer. She knew Beat had a girlfriend, and she'd just - she'd just -
She waited for Gum to punch her/scream at her/murder her, but nothing happened. Instead the blonde GG made a sound that sounded suspiciously like a sob, and then turned and ran.
Cube watched, her body turning numb. Mechanically, she pulled on her shirt, wriggled away from Beat, smoothed her clothes, trying to rub away the situation she was in.
"Are you coming?" Mew spat. "Or are you going to sit here and fondle each other for the rest of the night?"
Beat stood up, and hurried out of the building, limping slightly.
"I - I can't walk -" Cube's throat was dry from the dust. She tried to carry on. "My leg -"
Mew and Tab turned away from her. "I'm going to find Gum," Mew said loudly. "She needs a friend."
Cube watched them walk away, and then looked up at Combo. She felt tears come to her eyes. If he was deserting her...
Then he gave her a hand, and as she staggered up he let her lean on him, and helped her back to the garage.
When they got back, they entered a room full of serious faces.
Beat was sitting on the sofa, apparently trying to blend into it. Gum stood on the other side of the room, her eyes red and damp, her mouth twisted. Tab was sitting with her, comforting her, but looking worriedly at Beat now and then. Mew's pretty face contorted into a sneer as she saw Cube, and whispered something to Yo-Yo, who was sitting next to her. He nodded, and they both smirked.
Garam had his arm round Piranha, who was his girlfriend, and they had 'thank-god-this-hasn't-happened-to-us' looks on their faces.
Slate was playing pinball, ignoring the whole situation totally.
"Well, well, well." Mew stood up, and sauntered towards Cube. "If it isn't the slut. Who's your next target? Garam? Or possibly Slate? And of course, Yo-Yo's still available; though if he wasn't, I guess it wouldn't matter..."
"Hey, leave her alone!" Combo said. Cube was still leaning on him. Her leg was agonising.
"Why should I? She wasn't exactly reluctant. I think you noticed that. 'Why've you stopped, Beat honey?' Why're you sticking up for her, anyway?"
"She's my friend."
"Yeah, well, that's all very nice, but sometimes you gotta do the right thing. Stick up for the right people."
"Give up, Mew," Gum said, voice thick with tears. "She doesn't care what you think. She doesn't care what any of us think, and I want her out of the GGs!"
There was a dead silence, broken only by the bleeps and crashes from the pinball machine.
"You can't kick me out!" Cube said, finding her voice at last. "Look, it was a mistake - I didn't mean to - to -"
"Get caught?" Gum was crying again now. "I don't care! I don't want to have to trust you or see you or ever speak to you again!"
"Beat's the leader," Combo said. "Ask him."
Everyone looked at Beat, who shrugged and surreptitiously wriggled back into the sofa cushions. "Ummm - I don't mind - nothing to do with me..."
"It's everything to do with you," said Yo-Yo. "I mean, you're the one who had his tongue down her throat -"
Gum, Cube and Beat all gave him death ray looks, and said, "Uh - okay - and of course, you are the leader...right?"
"Unofficially. I can't just decide to kick her out. I say we vote."
"Be democratic?" Mew spat out the word like it tasted bad. "I don't think - I mean, is that really fair?"
"Yes, that's the whole point." Beat sighed. "Okay. Everyone who's in favour of Cube - uh - leaving - say aye."
"Aye," Mew, Gum, Yo-Yo, Tab, Garam and Piranha said.
"All against it say nay. Cube, you can't vote."
"Nay." Combo's voice echoed folornly in the garage.
"What about Beat and Slate?" asked Garam.
"I'm not voting," Beat said. Gum glared at him. "And Slate isn't really taking an interest, is he?"
"Come on...roll, go on, go on...damn!" Slate kicked the pinball machine.
"Well, if she's out, I'm out," Combo said flatly. "Let's go, kid."
"Wait, I haven't made it official!" Beat said, looking like he was being forced to speak every word. "Ummm...Cube, you are hereby no longer a GG, you were voted out by a democratic thingy, you can't spray GG tags and you can't say you're a GG, so - um -"
"I get the idea. Thanks." Cube felt frozen, but she kept her voice casual. It hurt to do so. "Come on, Combo."
She let him help her to the garage door, trying not to look at the faces of the others.
"Yeahhhhhhhhhhhh! I won! I won I won IwonIwonIwon!" Slate yelled over the pinball machine's triumphant bleeping. He punched the air several times. "In your face, Pinball! In...your...face!" He did a little victory dance, and saw the other GGs glaring at him. "What? Did I miss something?"
Well, what d'you think? R +R please!