Writer note: I'm looking for a beta-reader for this series. Can anyone help??? Email me at coneflower24@juno.com. I did have a beta-reader, but she disappeared! Terra, if your reading this, I been emailing you but the emails keep coming back!

***

There was unusual tension radiating from Molly that night at the dinner table. She periodically glanced up at everyone with a weak smile stationed on her face. She picked at her food as if eating wasn't a need anymore. Baloo stared at her mostly, his gazing whittling her down. He always liked feeling Molly's sunny presence at the end of a long day of shipping cargo. But today, her wistful attitude was burning a hole in his heart.

"Hey Buttonnose, what's wrong? You been moping around; pickin' at your food. Why so dreary?"

Molly raised her head then cocked it innocently. "I'm not dreary. I'm just not hungry" she replied, downing a gulp of her water and taking a bit of spaghetti for good measure.

"Molly, Baloo's right" Kit added from across the table. "You've been acting all down since you got back from the Marina. Did something happen today you want to talk about?" said the ever-big-brother-parent-tone she dreaded from Kit.

She answered with a flat out, "No." Her audience was not fooled.

"Molly, honey, you can tell us what's troubling you" Rebecca said, rubbing her daughter's back. "Did you and Shawn have a fight?"

Molly almost burst out in hysterics, the pressure weighting severely on her brain. "This has nothing to do with Shawn." She dreaded to answer another question.

"What's bothering you?" Now Guinna joined in on ganging up on her.

"You don't want me to tell you this. You would not like it."

"How do we know if we don't want to hear it if we don't even know what it is."

Molly let out a defeated snort. She knew an ambush was hanging on the forefront of this conversation. How long did she think she could keep the knowledge of her secret meetings with Karange hidden? How she got into the prison to actually hold sessions with him was a miracle in it's self. It would take another miracle for her whole family not to murder her over it.

"You guys persistently keep hammering me about this, so I'll tell you." She took a deep breathe, dangling her audience in suspense. "For over two months, I've been going to the local prison and counseling Don Karnage." She sank in her chair, awaiting a blow or two or ten. It was either her mother or Kit who would blow up first, most likely Kit. His had been reduced to a pin-strip since he returned from war. For once, she hated to be right.

"What the…?!?!?" Kit barely swore, especially in front of ladies, but this was his exception. A hatred so severe he felt for Karnage, he didn't even realize how much his anger got the best of him. He smacked a fist against the tabletop, ultimately shaking the plates and persons sitting in front of them. "What the heck are you doing going to see Karnage?! You've been hanging around with that crazed lunatic! How could you?!" Kit immediately stormed out the building. Guinna flicked a panic look at Molly then dashed after him.

"Please, let me explain!" Molly yelled, presently standing. Never had she heard Kit's voice that harsh toward her. "Please, let me explain" she said more weakly now that he had disappear through the door.

"You better explain, young lady."

Molly's shoulders drooped at the stern voice of her mother.

"Because I'm going to loose my temper in a moment! And I won't be as kind of Kit to walk away!" Rebecca shouted.

Molly turned swiftly toward her mother, her face brimming with defiance. "You know I want to be a counselor. I've studied psychology all my teenage life. I'm practically a walking psychology book! I wanted desperately to know why Karnage is the way he is. I -needed- to know."

"Karnage is the way he is because he's a psychotic maniac who deserves every bit of punishment he gets in prison!"

"Listen to me, Mother! Karnage is not psychotic! I'm not saying he doesn't deserve punishment! I -had- to counsel him or I would never of gotten peace over what he did to us. I have learned so much from this experience, and I've learned so much about Karnage. He's not what you think he is."

Rebecca's eyes seemed to shoot arrow right through her. Not a word from Molly had seeped in. "Molly, you are just a child! Going into prisons and holding casual conversations with prisoners is ludicrous! It's also an insult to your family to be congregating with Don Karnage!"

"Mother, I am not a child! I'm almost an adult! You been gone so long you claim I'm still a little five year old who knows nothing about the world! If I want to congregate with prisoners, I'll dang well do it, because you can't stop me. I don't listen to you anymore!"

That did it for Rebecca. If a person was capable of spontaneously combusting, Molly and Baloo would of been torched. She wanted to come across the table, and give her daughter a good slap on the mouth for talking to her like that, but thankfully, Rebecca stayed planted in place.

"Molly Elizabeth Cunningham, as long as you live under my roof, you will obey me. Do you hear me?!"

"Loud and clear" Molly said before heading out the building calmly, trying to collect herself.

"Where are you going?!" Rebecca shouted, running out with her.

Molly didn't answer. She keep walking down the harbor not turning back.

***

Molly slunk down the harbor, shoulders turned in and hands stuffed in her capri pockets. She could see Kit and Guinna in the distance near their property. She was almost there when Kit caught sight of her. His face burned with madness. Guinna held her hand to his chest, said something in her soothing tone, and then walked up to meet her. Molly could read the question on her face.

"Why did you do it?"

With a passion Guinna made never seen in her little sister before, Molly answered, "All my life I saw Karnage as one thing - a thieving monster. I only went to the prison to get the answer of his reason for being the horrible person I thought he was. I found so much more than I bargained for."

Guinna gazed at her in desperation. Twice Karnage had taken a parent away from her, but the emotion of his need for her was permanently embedded in her brain. "What did you find?"

Molly breathed in a sigh, tears beginning to swell in her eyes. "Out of everything he has done to me, to you, to Kit, to everyone I love. The more I counseled him, the more I couldn't help but look at him as a person with a past that lead to his destruction; a childhood filled with no love. I can't see him as a monster anymore."

Guinna stared in disbelief. Molly was utmost serious of all she'd just said. Before Guinna could say anything Molly continued, "He said he was sorry for the hurt he caused you. You can believe it or not, but I believe him. He gave me this to prove it."

Molly slipped out the browned folded paper from her pocket, handing it to her sister. "Karnage never received love as a child. When someone actually treated him with care, he didn't know how to handle it. You showed him what it was like to care for someone, that's why he became so fixated on you. He didn't think he could get it anywhere but from you. Will you open it?"

Guinna looked down at the folded paper in her hand. She carefully unwrapped it to reveal a crayoned drawing of the seashore. In the far right corner was small writing: 'G.K. 1934'. She blinked in surprised, a hand covering her gaped mouth.

'I looked down at you and you looked right back into my eyes without a fear in the world then you handed me a paper. It was a little drawing you did of the ocean.'

"This is the drawing I gave him. He was telling the truth." She looked up. Molly face brimmed with sadness like a the loss of a friend. "What happen between you two?"

A gurgle escaped Molly's throat. "I'm not sure. I feel like I know Karnage as a real person now. Sometimes we could talk non-stop for two hours; sometimes anger would get the best of him and we'd ride it out until it faded. If he was going overboard with his flamboyance, I could somehow be able to put him in his place. We worked through his problems, and I was able to get to the heart of where his life went wrong."

"You grew close to him, didn't you?"

Molly bit her lip, nodding. "It wasn't supposed to happen." She heaved then turned and clinched her fist. "I wasn't supposed to like him, let alone befriend him. It happened anyway! There's nothing I can really do about it. I got the answer to my question, but found more than I bargained for." She grasped Guinna's hands. "I'm sorry I betrayed everyone especially you, but I needed to know him."

"I understand." Guinna reached out her hand, running her fingers through Molly's golden hair. "I'm glad you have the answer now." She wrapped her arms around Molly, pulling her close.

Molly's mind exploded in relief. She clutched Guinna's shirt. "I hope Kit doesn't hate me."

Guinna pulled her away to face her. "He could never hate his little sister." She glanced behind her to see Kit staring out at the harbor. "Go talk to him."

"He doesn't want to see me right now."

"Don't let his anger put you off. Go talk to him."

With that, Guinna pushed her little sister in Kit's direction. Molly walked cautiously towards her brother, preparing her metal brick wall for any harsh statements.

"What do you want?" Kit snarled, eyes still set on the harbor in front of him.

"I want to say I'm sorry. I had to do this; to answer the nagging question I've had in the back of my mind for years."

"What would that be?" Kit asked, half-mocking. Hr turned to face her now. His eyes burned still with the cruel glare Molly hadn't seen for years.

Molly hesitated, fumbling for the right words. "I had to know for myself who Karnage was, and why he did the awful things he did."

"That's not hard to guess, Molly" Kit said, as if she were dumb. He jammed a hand into his pocket leaving his other to sweep around the harbor. "He's a madman."

"Kit." Molly heaved in frustration. "You're being more immature than Karnage! Please let me explain!" Kit burned at her, but gesturing her to go on. "I found out Karnage had a cruel childhood. His father was a pirate, but treated him like crud he scraped off his shoe. His mother was basically a whore. He grew up around very violent people, and saw some horrible acts of violence. He had never known what love was."

"I didn't grow up in a loving environment either" Kit threw back. "Heck, I was apart of the air pirates for a year."

"But, you were born in a loving family. You're parents cherished you. You were barely thirteen when H&H became your home."

"So, you're just going to give pity to the murderous thief." Kit's mocking tone hadn't changed.

Molly stepped forward, suppressing the urge to slap him. "Kit, grow up! For the past few years it's felt like I've gone forward and you've gone backwards. Why are you acting so immature?"

Kit stepped forward as well, coming only two feet from Molly. "You don't know what I went through! Being shipped from orphanage to orphanage; getting caught up in the street gang and the air pirates; not to mention everything you know I've been through in the pass years."

"Kit" Molly said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Stopping looking backwards and look forward for once. You have so much before you. Focus on that, not the hurts of the past. You, of all people, should know that by now."

It was words Kit -had- heard so many times before, and he was frankly quite sick of them. What did that have to do with Karnage? He gazed at Molly with unreadable eyes. She stared back, desperation spreading across her face. It was the same desperation he'd seen in her when he was on the edge of quitting life all together after the war. The barely eleven-year old girl laid a hand on his shoulder, tears streaming down her pale cheeks, and the only word coming from her mouth - please.

He sighed, reaching out a hand and pulling Molly to him. He didn't know what to think of her right now. The betrayal was not gone, but he had to show her he still loved her.

"I'm sorry for blowing up at you."

Molly pulled away from him, wiping her cheeks with her hand. "I'm sorry I hurt you. Can you forgive me?"

Kit didn't smile, but his eyes held a lighter feeling. "How can I stay mad at my little sister?"