A.N: There will be a sequel! "Child of Darkness, Child of Light" if you wanna read it. Thanks for reading, I really appreciate it. And the reviews, you guys rock! Hahaha. I hope you like the end.

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Chapter 25/Epilog

Rocky opened his eyes to the sight of solid blackness. Could it be this dark outside? Maybe he was pressed up against something. Once, when he was laying in bed, he opened his eyes seeing nothing but solid white. He thought he was blind until he rolled over to see the rest of his bedroom. So, rolling over he waited for his eyes to adjust and the backs of police heads, or maybe Noelie, to come into focus.

"Guess again, lover." Said a quiet voice from somewhere, somewhere close.

He knew that voice. It was Maria. But how? Did she get out of the basement and get to him? Or was it all a dream? No. This couldn't be real. He drew in a sharp, frightened breath. "Maria." He said barely above a whisper.

The girl laughed. "Isn't it sad to see what things pop up your head when you're under a few grams of LSD?" She laughed louder. "And to think, you actually thought you would get out1" Her laughter rang in his ears, running down his spine to the very souls of his feet. How could she be right? There was no way she could be telling the truth. What happened between then and now? Did he pass out? None of this made any sense.

"You're such a shit head for trying to escape, but... as luck would have it, your not exactly Superman and you passed out from all the smoke."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying..." He heard foot steps. "I'm saying that it's gonna be a looong time before anyone finds us, or even knows that there's a bomb shelter underground. Oh, they'll find the burned down home... But they won't find us."

Rocky felt the bed shake where he lay. Maria must have bumped against it. "We will die together my love... You and me... frozen in a master piece of beauty." she climbed on top of him.

It didn't matter if Rocky could see or not, he clamped his eyes shut to block her out. "This isn't happening... This isn't real... She's not real, I got out."

Maria laughed again, reaching out a hand, caressing his cheek. "See Rocky... You can try all you want to convince yourself that it's not true, but as you can feel... I'm very real." The young boy felt his crotch getting hot and wet. He was naked! Apparently so is she. Rocky's breathing began to pick up. He felt his heart race yet his mind had slowed down to a stop. Was he having a panic attack? Is this what one felt like!

"No. No. Nooooo..." He shook his head, but the chain on his neck scraped and scratched him as he did so.

"Yes," she rocked back and forth. "Yes, yes, YES!"

Rocky titled his head back, screaming for someone to help him. It was then his body shot up to a sitting position. His heart racing, lungs working at full power as he tried to steady his breathing. He noted the things in the room. Florescent lights! But... White walls, not cold, moldy, stone. White tiled floor. Instead of damp, murky, cement. Cement? The air wasn't thick and choking. It was... thin, clean... the gentle smell of Lysol in the background.

"Rocky?" A surprised female voice asked.

Rocky jumped a foot where he sat. His whole body began to shake. It couldn't be her? His eyes scanned the room one last time, hoping to find a weapon of some sort. Because this time, if Maria wasn't dead, he really would kill her if it meant getting away.

"Rocky?"

That voice again. Where was it coming from? And why does it sound so familiar?

"Sam. He's awake!" The woman said.

Sam? My name is Sam? No... people call me Samuel. My Dad's name is Sam. Why would Maria be talking about Dad?

"Hey sport." Sam said from somewhere in the room.

Rocky turned his eyes to the voices. With all the relief in the world they widen, nearly falling from his head, before they slit back down, tears swallowing them as he began to cry. His shaking shoulders portraying his feelings as the actually sound refused to come out.

"Oh baby, it's okay." Jessica, whose voice was the woman he had heard, hurried across the room embracing her son in the tightest hug possible. But to her surprise she got no love in return, just a tight and firm.

"Don't fucking touch me!"

His mother's arms dropped him like a hot potato, and she took a step back. She had never heard her beloved son speak in such a way to anyone. His own mother most of all.

Rocky eyes looked set to kill as he eyes her departure away from the bed. His blue eyes then cast themselves onto his father as though challenging him to try approaching him. Jessica nearly caved in inside. She felt all the fears of any mother coming true right before her eyes. Your own child's rejection.

"Rocky, honey... It's me... your mother. Jessica."

Rocky huffed out a breath, then relaxed his shoulders. Blinking as though he were slowly starting to come back to earth, he nods. "I know... Mom... I just... please," there was a low huff of a cry in his voice. "Please don't touch me." Rocky ran a hand across his sleepy eyes. He couldn't be tired right now, not when he just woke up. He would die if he found out this were another dream. but it felt real. He certainly felt his mother touching him. But then again, he felt Maria touch him as well. Maybe the hand in my dream was actually Mom's hand and not hers... My brain was just responding to what was happening around me.

Turning his head to look around some more, he nodded as he took note to all the sights and sounds in the area.

"Sweetie?" His mother tried again, when she took a step closer she backed down seeing Rocky's gaze snap in her direction. He looked apprehensive, but so very scared. So she respected his wishes. Even though all of her wanted to snatch him up and never let him go. The psychiatrist in the hospital said that he might have some sort of trauma once he woke. This must be it. Rocky had been in surgery for days as they worked the poison from his body. He slept through it all. The wounds from the knife that had cut him were patched up, he only ended up getting forty seven stitches on his abdomen from where the demented woman had stabbed him. Luckily the stab missed any of his organs.

As far as, well... rape was concern. The doctors confirmed finding traces of sperm on him from the woman. But they wanted to wait for him to wake up before they gave him a psychical.

"Do you know where you are?" His father asked walking up to stand beside his wife but no closer. He didn't know his son could be so intimidating, regardless the ninja.

Rocky seemed to be in his own little world, drinking something in. He felt dry. Dehydrated. When was the last time he drank anything? Maria promised me lasagna. I'm so hungry I might actually eat it. He shook his head rapidly. Stop thinking like that! It's over now!

"Rocky? Do you know where we are?" His father tried again.

Rocky looked at them, shaking his head. Looking down at his body, he noticed what he was wearing. A flimsy little hospital gown. Once again, people were touching him in his sleep. Could he find peace anywhere!

"We're at a hospital, in Canada."

Canada! Well, that explains the snow. He continued to think as though he were talking out loud to them. Rocky was relieved to hear real talk that wasn't projected into his mind. He would have kissed and hugged them to death if he weren't so damn afraid.

Sam and Jessica exchanged looks because of their sons silence. They were worried. What if he lived like this for the rest of his life? Afraid. Silent. Jessica didn't know what she would do if her son were never the same sweet, kind boy he had always been.

Rocky looked at the door. There was a clock! A real, honest to God, clock! It read 10:16. Turning to his parents, he gestured with his head. "Is that A.M or P.M?"

They looked confused a moment. Then Sam noticed the clock on the wall. "A.M." He replied.

Rocky smiled, nodding. Real time. Real. "It's morning... What-..." his under used voice cracked. "What day is it?" He sounded so desperate Jessica nearly cried in full rivers from it.

"Monday honey... December seventeenth."

"December?" He repeated as though it were false. Had he really been gone for three months! Each day felt like one long night. But three months! No. It was too much to take in right now. Rocky shook his head, more tears coming on. He lay back in the, not so comfortable, hospital bed and cried.

Jessica looked so hopeful that her son would open his arms to her but he merely curled into a ball, choosing to hug himself as he let his emotions out.

"Oh Rocky..." His mother breathed out through her own sobs.

"Mrs. Douglas I... Samuel is awake?" Doctor Miller asked as he walked into the room. A thin tall man, about 6'2", sleek black hair and a smashed pug nose. His skin color was a pasty tan, and his green eyes were beyond their line of friendly. At least in Rocky's opinion.

Doctor Miller had been the one who treated their son through the drug test when they first brought him in. Rocky might have been bandaged but his body continued to deteriorate without anyone knowing why. It was then that they took any poison test they could think of, they found traces of a minor poison that could have very well killed the boy had they found out about it any later. Rocky was then hooked up to an automatic feeding machine so that his fluids would return and he could get what little muscle back that he could so he would stay alive to be treated. The Douglas boy was on the road to a full recovery if he just followed the doctors instruction of two vitamins a day as well as three other pills, and good meal- which would easily be provided by his mother- and of course, plenty of rest.

"Yes but Doctor he doesn't-..."

But before Jessica could finish her sentence the man had crossed the room, placing a stethoscope against their sons back. Sam and Jessica waited for the fireworks and were surprised when they didn't come.

"His breathing sounds good." The man said rather cheerfully. "Son can you roll over."

Rocky's body shook with every action. Jessica could tell her son was in agony, but he let the man touch him anyway. That was a good sign right? That he wanted to get better and knew that he needed a doctor to do so. Doctor Miller listened to the boys chest, nodding. Then, looking at Rocky- who turned his eyes away- he says, "We'll get you fed, and when you're up to it you'll get a psychical."

The doctor pats Rocky's head. Rocky jerked it away. "Don't treat me like a child." His voice was the same cold one he had used on his mother.

Doctor Miller raised his hands in defense. "Sorry." Shooting a glance at Mr. and Mrs. Douglas, an expression that read he gave his deepest sympathy. "I'll send a nurse in with your food."

When the man was out of the room, Rocky looked to his parents. "I don't want a physical." He said plain as day.

"I'll tell the doctor that you just want to go home, okay sweet heart."

Sam shook his head. "If the doctor thinks it's important, than he has to have one." Sam knew that his wife was trying to win favorites with the boy by babying him. But that was not the way to get him to be well. He had to be in perfect health before they got home, not matter how much time it took.

"I don't want one!" He snapped.

"Well that's tough, because if the doctor thinks it's necessary then you're going to have to take it like a man." He started walking closer to the bed, but backed away when he saw his son cower in fear of something that he would never do. Hit him.

Jessica wet her mouth, a sigh coming from her then after. "Let's just hope it goes quickly, then you can come home. You'd like that wouldn't you?"

"Yes." He said flatly. "More than anything." The truth showed in his eyes, even if it wasn't in his dead voice.

Jessica smiled at her son. Rocky smiled back, shyly, in return. He knew he could trust his mother and father. They wouldn't hurt him. They wouldn't... Would they?

"Excuse me?" Another female voice.

Rocky winced, rolling back over on the bed.

"Samuel," it was the nurse. She carried a tray with all the way over to the bed. "You have a visitor." The tiny woman pulled out a small table that was attached to the bed, then set the tray on it.

Rocky sat up in a flash thinking that it was Maria. He didn't want to be off guard. His parents looked just as curious as he was to see who would walk in the door. But their faces relaxed when a seven years old girl bounced into the room. Rocky's face lit up seeing her. "Noelie." He opened his arms to her.

Jessica felt sick with jealousy. Her son would want a hug from a complete stranger but not his own mother. It had been three months. Not three years! But she had to understand where he was coming from. She could tell just from the test alone what torture her son had been through, but emotionally she had no idea.

"I miss you," The girl said, though her voice was thick not having been used much at all in life, even though she could talk. "I was worried."

Rocky signed to her, though he made small signs because he didn't want to knock her off the small bed. He also spoke what he was saying so that it wasn't rude to his parents. "I was worried about you too. I thought that you might get lost because I was taking too long."

"No. I find cop on hill... He.. He saw me in the snow by the tree."

Rocky nodded as she spoke about what happened.

"What happen to Al?" Though her voice wasn't really concerned. Rocky could understand that. The jerk had done things to her. But still, he wanted to save him.

"I'm sorry, he risked his life to save ours."

Noelie nodded.

"She's been asking about your son for days." Mrs. Gonzolas said as she watched from the door. The family had said many apologies to the Douglas's when they found out what he had done for her daughter. Noelie left out that part where Rocky cut her hair. She didn't want her parents mad at her hero.

Rocky smiled at the girl, giving her a loose hug. "I told you we'd get out." Letting her go, she returned to her mother and father's side.

"We just wanted to say goodbye, before we left for L.A." The girls father said. "We hope to see you there soon?" It was a question of Rocky's health.

"One last check up, and we're out of here." Jessica confirmed.

The Gonzolas family waved goodbye to them and were on their ways home. Rocky hoped to go back to his soon as well. He just had to get through one last test. A rape test.

The test, in fact, consist of him bending over while someone shoved their fingers into him. He hated every minute of it. Tears welled in his eyes from the start. But seeing that his mother nor his father were going to stop them, he bent over growling. "Just get it over with."

After the test. The doctors told Rocky that the police needed to speak to him. He thought that it was about Noelie and they wanted to say they were sorry for accusing him of kidnapping. It wasn't. They wanted his confirmation on a dead body found out in the snow. A middle aged woman and a child. He knew before they even asked him that it was Maria and Alfonse. They were burned so bad, he recognized nothing but the body shape. With the way the girl had lied to him and tricked him, he never would have known her at all anyway.

But that wasn't what freaked him out, silencing his tongue when he went home with his parents. It was that when he looked at the bodies, he heard a faint voice in the back of his mind. It said,

I told you... we'd die together... I may have lost my body but... you lost your soul... Did you know the brain lives on a while longer than the body? Death isn't so bad my love, but... I'm scared and it hurts so much. There was screaming after that. So much screaming. She had done that to him on purpose. Saved that little bit of strength just to mess with him. And it worked.

Jessica, Sam and Rocky climbed out of the car. Rocky walked up to his home with his head down. His brothers- who have been waiting for at least a week for their other family members to return from the Canadian hospital- rushed to the door when they heard the car coming up the drive way. Robbie was there as well. He wasn't staying, he just came over from time to time to wait with them. Luckily, today was the day, and Rocky was home. But they could tell something was wrong with him, right away.

"Rocky you're back!" Tum tum shouted as though his brother had just went for a long walk.

"Rocky." Colt said as he too came at him, arms open, ready to embrace his brother.

Rocky jumped back about three feet. But to them it seemed like 30 miles. Rocky was usually the first to join in a group hug, that was usually initiated by their little brother. But now, he was acting as though they were strangers who planned to hurt him.

"Rocky wha-...?" Tum tum starts. Seeing their mother hold a finger to her lips, he quieted down. He knew when to take the hints.

"Rocky, baby... Would you like to go upstairs to your room, and take a nap?" Jessica asked in a quiet tone, her hands rubbing the boys tense shoulders. She had asked Colt to move back in with Tum tum for now and he gladly agreed to if it would make Rocky happy. They all knew that he would be rattled by whatever happened, but they didn't know to what caliber. But the boys could tell that they were going to find out. "I'll bring you something to eat in a bit."

Rocky seemed to be registering what his mother was saying, with a nod, he started for the stairs. He had long accepted his mothers touch when she held him after his break down in the parking lot from the girls words. Maybe not fully, so that she could hold him without him shaking. But one touch was enough for her.

Everyone gave him space as he walked slowly by. He looked so different, so thin... so lifeless. Their brother is wearing a pair of baggy sweats so they don't know to what degree of weight their brother had lost. His skin was a lighter shade of pale, and his hair!

"Look at that." Tum said as he watched his brother pass by. He reached out a hand to touch it but Colt smacked the boys hand away.

"Cut it out." He hissed. Though he was just as surprised as his brother. He couldn't believe that Rocky, Mr. Anal about looking 'just so' in public, could be so hip. It was probably the only healthy looking thing about him.

"Rocky wait!"

Everyone in the room turned to look at the speaker. Robbie walked around the boys and their mother so that he was face to face with him. Rocky seemed so different right now. Like a complete stranger. His eyes were distant, even though he was looking right at him. The brunette had so much to say and yet, didn't know how to sum it all up. He would have liked to kiss him but, well, with Colt and Tum tum- not to mention- the boys mother watching, it was out of the question. Figuring that Rocky wasn't going to answer him, Robbie finally spoke up.

"I... Miss... I'm..." He was stammering like crazy. What was he trying to say! "I'm sorry."

Rocky considered that. But everyone was shocked when the boys fist came up, slugging the boy right in his left eye.

"Rocky?" His brothers chirped.

Rocky was so thin and weak it didn't really hurt him, but Robbie felt he had to fall back anyway. If Rocky wanted to hurt him, he could understand, he probably found out about Marissa being his aunt. He has every right to be mad.

Jessica said nothing about her sons action. She'd like to ring the boys neck as well when she found out. The hospital trip was incredibly hard on her. She could still hear her sons screams when he woke up. she would never forget the pain that he had been through, whether Rocky spoke it out loud or not. Her son had suffered and he would never be the same again.

Rocky walked up the stairs, closing the door to his room. He lay down on the bed, pulling the blanket up. Then he wept silently.

Three nights later. The music was blaring from the speaks that were wall to wall in the large room. The strobe lights flashed in this color and that as a lithe body made its way across the crowded room of dances. Body bumping and grinding against each other. He had his destination, it was the bar at the back of the club. He needed a drink bad. It had been a rough week and with what the internet said this place was the best for anything and everything.

A leather clad butt took a seat on a stool. Legs crossed, one swung gently in and out under the seat. There wasn't an eye in the place that wasn't on him and he loved it. He knew he looked good. How could he not? with his tight leather tank top to match the bottom and the choke that decorated his slender neck. His hair turning the color of every change of light as it played against his blond. He was walking sex.

"What'll it be?" The bar tender asked, though his eyes were just as wanting as everyone else in the room.

"I'll have sex on the beach." Said a flat, in charge, voice.

"I'll gladly give it to you." The man replied and hurried to make the boys drink. He didn't care if the kid looked a bit under aged. Money talks. And so does the promise of better things.

"Hey there." A male said sitting down beside the boy. "You're pretty hot, can I buy you a drink?"

"Sure. I already ordered."

The man looked him up and down, the look in his eyes said that the body next to him was already undressed. "Come here often?"

"No." He said honestly. "But I might start."

The man laughed. "What's your name?"

"Well stranger, you can call me..." He took his drink, sipping from the thin straw before he replied. "Sin."

"Really? And what sin are you?" The mans eyes flirt.

"Come to the back and find out." He slid from the bar stool and began to walk to the back of the club, long blond braid swinging after him. Tonight, like every night after this, would be fun.