Luke glanced back at Scott and Lance as he walked out of the room with Nikki, 'So what were you and Scott talking about?' He asked casually as they started off towards the trail Lance had told him about.

"Oh, just meds." Nikki replied nonchalantly.

Luke suppressed a shudder, 'Ah. So what do you want to do this week?'

Nikki gave Luke a blank look." I can't think that far ahead." he said, as if Luke had just asked a really obvious question

'How 'bout fishing or something?' Luke asked, at the same time trying to remember the last time he had fished and where they could actually -go- and fish.

Nikki look slightly puzzled. "I've never fished before." He said.

'It's really easy,' Luke looked up at Nikki, 'All you do is... well we need a fishing pole first and some bait...' Luke looked away, 'Maybe not.' He thought to himself.

"Bait? Like jailbait?" Nikki asked, confused.

Luke's ears twitched, 'No, no... Bait as in worms or insects.'

Nikki stuck his tongue out. "Gross. Let's not go fishing?" He asked, slightly hesitant.

'Yea, I think you're right,' Luke chuckled mentally, 'I didn't like fishing much anyways... now that I think about it.'

"Where are we going then?" Nikki asked curiously.

'Just walking I guess.' Luke looked around at the trees that now surrounded them; some tree trunks were scared with three deep slash like marks. He furrowed his eyebrows and sniffed the air, they weren't recent he sighed.

Nikki walked over to a tree, running his hand down the bark mesmerized. "Cool..." He said softly. He turned to Luke. "This is better than the asylum, isn't it Luke."

'Much better.' Luke agreed.

Nikki walked along with Luke for a little while, lost in his own thoughts, scatty and chaotic though they were. He stopped suddenly and turned to Luke. "Luke... why were the people there so mean to us?" he asked, emotionlessly.

Luke stopped in mid step then continued shaking his head, 'I don't know Nikki; some people are just like that I guess. Bad parenting...'

"Where we bad boys?" He asked plaintively.

'No,' Luke narrowed his eyes briefly, 'we did nothing to disserve that... disserve what they did.'

"How do you know Luke?"

'Because I don't remember doing anything that disserved that kind of punishment, and neither did you.' He looked up at Nikki.

Nikki was quiet for a while, then said quietly. "Mummy said I was a bad boy..."

Luke sighed and looked away, 'She was wrong Nikki, she was the one who was bad.'

Nikki shook his head. "No... she can't be bad... she must be right, she was my mum." He held his head. "No... I was a bad boy. I always made too much noise." He looked up at Luke. "I'm sorry. will you tell Mummy I'm sorry? I didn't mean to."

Luke's head snapped up, 'Listen to me Nikki; you need to stop blaming yourself for everything your mom did to you. You need to realize that it wasn't your fault and that something was wrong with her. She was sick Nikki, very, very sick and it was -Not- your fault.'

"If it wasn't my fault why did I get punished?" H asked. "If she was sick why did I get put in that place and not her." He started crying silently, apparently not even aware of the tears as they fell down his face. "I wasn't THAT bad was I? I didn't mean to be..."

Luke stopped in front of Nikki and shook his head, 'I don't know how to explain this to you Nikki, really I'm trying. You weren't bad at all, you did nothing bad to disserve what happened to you. I don't know why your mom wasn't put in there instead of you, it's an awful world and something's aren't fair,' He flattened his ears and made a soft whimpering sound, 'but we have to live with what we get.' He finished.

Nikki absorbed this but still didn't believe it. He couldn't believe that his mother had really been that abusive to him for no reason, and he'd stick to trying to justify what she'd done as much as he could, even if it became illogical and irrational.

Luke made a noise then turned around, 'I think there's a river up ahead, wanna go swimming?' He asked trying to lighten the mood and change the subject.

Nikki paled. "N-no..." He said. "no thanks... b-but you can if you want. Can I just watch?"

'Yea sure, if you want.' Luke trotted up the path a little ways. A wide slow moving river suddenly came into view and he walked up to it taking a drink.

Nikki hung back, sitting down on the bank under a tree and wondering to himself how Luke could stand to be that near so much running water. "Careful Luke." he called worriedly.

Luke let his wolf side out and began chasing a fish around in the water.

Nikki watched intrigued, then laughed at the silliness of it all.

Stopping, Luke glanced over at Nikki and shook himself spraying beads of water everywhere. He looked back down at the water and panted trying to find that fish again.

"There's some inside you know Luke." Nikki called, moving nearer to the waters edge in his curiosity. "Why don't you get one of them?"

'This is more fun!' Luke responded pouncing at a fish just missing it.

Nikki got even closer to watch how Luke was doing better.

Luke stopped suddenly and bared his teeth at the water before moving swiftly and plunged his head into the water. When he pulled it back out a fish dangled out of his mouth, it's mouth opening and closing as it gasped for breath.

Nikki sat back, watching the fish silently. "Is it dying Luke?" He asked gently

'Yea, it is.' Luke answered back hesitantly. He wanted so bad to eat it but once he saw the look on Nikki's face he hesitantly opened his mouth and dropped the fish back into the water.

Nikki watched the fish float. "What you gonna do with it now?" He asked.

Luke stared down at the dead fish and licked his muzzle, 'Can I eat it?' He looked up at Nikki with wide eyes.

Nikki shrugged. "I dunno, can you?"

Nodding, Luke picked the fish back up in his mouth and brought it to the bank and laid down. He carefully held the fish still with his paws as he began chewing on its head.

Nikki watched in sick fascination. "Is that... nice?" He finally asked

'Nice?' Luke repeated managing to bite off a chunk of the fish and swallow it whole, 'You mean good?'

Nikki nodded, his eyes not leaving the fish.

Luke bit off another piece, 'I guess so. It always tastes better when I catch 'em myself.'

"Oh..." Nikki said. "C'n I have some?"

Luke looked up at Nikki as he licked bit of the fish from his muzzle, 'I don't think you'll like it.' He went back to eating the fish.

Nikki looked away then, distracted by something that he just as soon forgot. He stood up and walked off up the bank, back towards the trees, where he stopped, looking up at the sky.

Finishing off the fish and leaving only it's bones, Luke followed Nikki to where he now stood looking up at the sky.

 'Searching for your home planet?' He asked jokingly.

Nikki swayed slightly, and then closed his eyes, falling to the ground bonelessly.