Furiously, Deja glowered at the small cracks on the roof. She'd tried to sleep, really she had, and DC's words did bring her some comfort, but they had also bestowed upon her a sense of truth. Deja knew she would have to seek out Draven before he could find her… and she would have to deal with him. DC was right, It was Axe's survival or her own and she would become a Saurian before she would allow him to win out.

"Damn," she whispered to herself as she rolled onto her side and glared, in annoyance around the darkened room, "I can't sleep." Knowing that it would be pointless to lie in her bed and stare at the roof, Deja tossed her heavy covers to the floor and sighed heavily. 'It's always something,' thought Deja cynically, 'be born Deja…commit murder without a thought Deja…don't eat too much candy...kill the man who took you off the streets! By Ducaine, I swear I'm being punished!'

With a roll of her cerulean eyes the thief rolled out of bed and quickly dressed in her usual thieving gear. Black, flared pants; a tight, maroon tank top; thick healed boots; and her leather bomber jacket. With a quick toss of her short, silvery hair, Deja grabbed her Sias and boomerang, then picked up her thick, jumbled covers from the floor and tossed them haphazardly onto her bed.

'I mind as well do something productive tonight,' she thought. Silent as a ghost, the thief crept to towards the door, snatched her thigh pouch and belt from a small section of hangers, and headed through the door, closing it soundlessly behind her.



Axe Draven was nicknamed Malice by those who knew him, the name was fitting, for he killed with little thought and even less emotion. To him, everyone was a potential victim, and he felt that it was at his discretion that anyone who came across him walked away alive. Anyone that is except for her.

When he had found Deja all those years ago, she was a member of a small time street gang. A 16 year old with more potential than most adults could even dream of having. So he'd taken her in…taught her how to steal for the thrill, and for the pleasure, not just to survive. Axe lead her to an employer, to riches… he had bestowed upon her everything. Things he had never even allowed any other being to glimpse, Axe had readily given her. Why? To this question, Axe Draven admitted no answer. Even now, as he sat on a thick windowsill in an abandoned loft in Malland, he was not willing to admit what that was.

"Damn you, Draven," he muttered, his Tarctican accent apparent in most all of his words, "you're s'pposed to 'ave it all together. What the 'ells goin' on with you?" Naturally, his question went unanswered save for the fluttering of a few birds in the rafters of the loft. "Yeah, sure, all together" Axe sighed, leaning his head back against the thick bricks of the building and allowing the chilled breeze to rustle through his short hair and tan feathers.

"You leave quite the trail."

The voice startled Axe so much that is was a task and a half for him to leap up, grab his puckblaster and turn around without falling out the window. Fire flashed in his teal eyes as the drake looked at the shadows of the loft, pointing his weapon at them all in turn. "who the 'ell are you?" He looked around, then added under his breath, "where the 'ell are you?"

"If I were special forces," the voice stated cryptically, "you'd be dead by now."

"If you were special forces, " Axe retorted angrily, "you'd a' been dead 'alfway down the bleedin' block! Now where the 'ell are you!?" Although he was angry enough to strangle a puppy, Axe took a few deep breaths and in a matter of seconds deduced the area the voice was coming from. Axe aimed the puckblaster at a large pile of dusty boxes, and waited.

Stepping casually out from behind the pile of boxes, Deja smirked, "you panicked."

Tossing his gun to the ground in a mix of aggravation and relief, Axe yelled, "I almost fell out the damn window!" Running a hand roughly through his cropped blond hair Axe lowered his voice to a lethal growl, "how'd you find me?"

Deja shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, "Jimmy video tapes everything that happens in his office… I watched the tape a few times and paid attention."

"And..?" Axe snarled while gesturing with his hand to tell her to keep speaking.

"And," Deja said through a smirk, "You looked like shit so I assumed you weren't sleeping well, so hotels and anywhere with a bed was out." She then folded her arms in front of her and continued, "I know you want to stay has inconspicuous as possible because you have a few too many enemies… plus, we used to do the abandoned loft thing when we worked together."

Axe was almost dumbfounded… 'must be getting old, leaving a trail like that' he inwardly scolded himself. Outwardly, however he was the picture of calm and control, "not bad. So you're 'ere to tell me why you left then? Why one mornin' I woke up n' you were gone?"

Deja stood there, looking like an unconcerned pro, however her heart was racing a mile a minuet. 'I have to keep this whole thing in my court,' she thought quickly, 'be quick and to the point, do what needs to be done.' "It happens Axe, you would have left eventually too."

"Like 'ell I would've," he growled furiously, "we 'ad a good thing… we were partners, and you went and threw it all away!"

Axe was right, she knew he was right, but Axe would never understand the reason. There were things that he knew about her… things that she knew about him. They could easily destroy each other, and she thought it best to go, before he could stab her in the back. "I left before you could hurt me Draven," Deja said coolly, picking her words carefully. "Or before I could hurt you… remember what you said, teach… leave before they can hurt you, you taught me that!"

Axe seemed to calm down a little as he listened to what Deja said. She was right, he did teach her that, but he never thought it would come back to bite him in the ass like it did. Sure, he was still angry but in a way it was his fault. "It's my fault, then?"

"In a way I guess it is." That was not the whole reason for her leaving… at least not in the sense that he was being led to believe it was. But Deja felt that allowing him to believe that it was his teaching that led her to leave was far better then telling him the truth.

"So you found me," Axe said coolly changing the subject and going back to his position on the window ledge. "What are you gonna do 'bout it?" He leaned his head back against the hard brick behind him and dangled one leg out of the window.

Deja unsheathed her Sias and flipped them a few times, and in a voice as cold as ice she spoke, "whatever needs to be done."

At this Axe raised an amused eyebrow, but said nothing.

"You're here in Malland for a reason Draven, you want revenge on me for skipping out on you. So I think the question is; now that I've found you… what are YOU going to do about it?"

Axe stood snorted, "I s'posse you think I'm gonna kill you." With a roll of his eyes he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a small shiny object. Nonchalantly, he tossed it at Deja, "might wanna catch that, luv."

Deja watched the object spin through the air towards her, and before she could decided whether he was tossing some sort of new fangled grenade at her she dropped her sia's on the floor and caught the item. Looking down she saw that it wasn't a grenade at all, but rather a small vile containing a neon blue liquid. Deja looked up at Axe then down to the vile, than at Axe again. "Just what is this?"

"I'm surprised you don' know."

Deja looked closer, it seemed so familiar to her, the way the liquid glinted and glowed as she twisted the vile in her hand. It was like something she used to see all the time, something she knew… Suddenly it was as though a light flipped on in her mind. "It's Dejaran serum!!"

"N' on the firs' try too," Axe stated dryly, grabbing a can of soda from the floor and taking a long swig.

Deja was thunderstruck, "how… why do you have this… where did you get it?"

Axe placed the can of soda back on the floor then stood up and walked over to Deja, he seemed to be enjoying the suspense. "A thief never reveals his secrets."

In a flash Deja had placed the serum in one of her many pockets, grabbed Axe by the collar and pulled him down to her level, "I swear I'll kill you, Draven," she growled.

Grabbing Deja by the under arms, Axe flipped her over his head. Deja slammed back-first on to the ground followed by Axe, who landed so that he was straddling her and she was hardly able to move. "I know you will," he whispered harshly, though his eyes were twinkling with humor. "Don' forget who the teacher is 'ere, luv." With amazing speed Axe pinned her arms above her head.

"I've had a lot of teachers," the girl said breathlessly, as she slammed her head into Axes throat. The drake instinctively placed his hands at his neck while he gasped for air. Using all of her strength. Deja placed one of her now freed arms across his chest, placed the palm of her hand on his forehead and pushed.

Axe rolled off of her, and started to cough, attempting to allow the air through his windpipe. Deja flipped to her feet, and stood in ready position as Axe slowly stood up taking long deep breaths.

"… Bitch…" he managed to choke out.

"Where'd you get the serum, Draven?"

Looking up at her with spite in his eyes, he snarled, "n' who the 'ell taught you that?!"

Deja sighed in exasperation, "a drunk thug at the bar last night," one of her hands quickly went up to her sore windpipe. "He's small, but he's wiry ." A smirk found its way to Deja's beak, as she continued to look at Axe.

"One a' the dealers I do jobs for," Axe's voice was not has sever when he spoke this time, and his breath was coming almost normally now. "I figured you might wanna 'ave it."

Mauling over the information that Axe had just given her, Deja looked at him quizzically, "but how would he have gotten it?"

Leaning on a nearby support beam, Axe shrugged his shoulders, "who knows? He said it was the only one he'd ever seen."

Deja was not about to put the matter to rest, this was way too important to just let lie. If the Dominion was still out there and operational, she had to know. "I need a name."

"Yer kiddin', right… I can't give out a contact."

"This is serious," Deja stated firmly as she strode over to where her Sias lay, and picked them up. "The serum expires a month after it is created. So if this dealer of yours has it then that means there is still someone out there making it."

Axe stretched and placed his arms behind his head, "so how'd you know the stuff you got ain't expired?" His curiosity was getting the better of him.

Raising an eyebrow and looking up at him, she smirked, "it explodes when it expires," she then pulled the vile out from her pocket, "this is fresh." Slowly walking up to him she continued, "I need his name… or at least put me in contact with him." Deja stopped directly in front of him and folded her arms over he chest.

"Dej… I…" Just looking at her standing there, was enough to make Axe cave. Her eyes slightly pleading, her body tense and ready for anything… 'damn her' he thought angrily. 'Damn me too.' "I'll let you know where you can find him," Axe said defeated, gently brushing a lock of her crystal blue hair out of her face.

"Thank you," she said in a voice so delicate and genuine Axe could hardly believe she was the girl who only minuets ago bashed him in the wind pipe.

Slowly, the drake lifted his left hand to her face and tenderly began to caress her forehead and beak. His other hand gradually slid from her hair to her shoulder and he began to pull Deja closer to him. Axe looked deeply into her blue eyes, his gaze penetrating and passionate, he yearned for her body, mind and soul. Just the touch of her made the drake's skin burn and his mind unable to reason anything but lust. The way she looked at him as he pulled her to his body made Axe think that she might want him with that deep unspoken hunger, just as he wanted her.

"Axe," Deja said quietly, pulling away from him and looking at the ground, "It can't happen."

Softly turning her face back towards him, Axe cocked his head to the side, "why can't it?"

Taking a step back, she sighed then looked up at him, "another time or another place and we could have been magic," Deja spoke wistfully, "but there has just been too much…" she lowered her head and spoke in a voice that was barely audible "too many lies, too many truths, too much pain." When she looked up again, the drake was on the other side of the room.

Axe had walked over to the window and was staring out at the Malland skyline with his hands in the pockets of his jacket. "I'll get you the dealers address, and leave it up 'ere. You can pick it up tomorrow."

Deja nodded even though he could not see her then turned to leave.

"That why you really left before?"

Without looking back, Deja smiled ruefully, "too many lies, and too many truths." And with that her past with Axe seemed to seal itself off in a place inside of her soul, one that could never be tampered with or opened again. Both ducks new that all past transgressions were forgiven and all secrets would be safe and unrevealed. Everything that had ever transpired between them, good or bad, real or imagined was buried forever… as though it had never happened... ... ...



Deja didn't allow herself to cry as she sat in the dark kitchen of Sisterhood Head Quarters. She had misjudged Axe, in the worst way and she would pay for it for the rest of her life. He'd never wanted to hurt her, even after she had left in the middle of the night all those years ago, he still never wanted to hurt her.

Pulling out the small vile of Dejaran serum, she sighed. This would help her solve all the problems she'd been having with her body, hell it might even end up saving her life. Plus, if this contact panned out, she might be able to put a stop to the Dominion for good. 'I'm sorry, Draven,' Deja thought sadly, 'for everything that could never be, I'm so very sorry.' Placing the vile back into her pocket, Deja got up and walked soundlessly through the darkness to her quarters.



... ..."Axe," Deja had said quietly one evening, years ago, "I have something I need to tell you."

Looking up from loading and cleaning his multitude of weapons, Axe smiled, "what, luv?"

Deja took a deep breath in to summon some strength. "I… you know how you're always asking me about… well…"

Axe placed his gun down beside him on the floor, then got up and walked across the room to where Deja was sitting amongst a pile of swords. "Dej," he said softly, sitting next to her, "tell me, can't be that hard."

Her face hardening into an unreadable mask, Deja took another breath, and in a tone that held no emotion save for mild glimpses of hostility, Deja told him about her past. "I was created in a lab," she had said, "and trained from birth to be the ultimate fighting and killing machine. I stayed there until I was eleven... I got brain implants daily, and I was a test subject for drugs, gene splicing and Ducaine knows what else. I destroyed the lab, but it doesn't end there. There is something wrong with me… something inside of me…"

Axe spoke not one word, only placed his arm around her shoulders and allowed her to continue.

"You always ask me, if I'm crazy when I do some of the things I do," her voice momentarily faltered, but it was so quick it might not have happened at all. "Well I am. My brain… my mind… I become something else sometimes, something dark, something vile, but the worst thing is, it's something I can't control… ever. It's like it feeds off of who I really am… if this is who I really am…"

Pulling her closer to him, Axe stroked her shoulder, "there are ducks out there that love you, Dej... remember that."

Deja cried silently in Axe's arms as he softly stroked her air and shoulders. 'I've never loved anyone before,' she thought tiredly as she fell off into a deep, dreamless sleep, 'but I love you Axe...'