Kitania followed Drake and stood as close to him as she dared. She lowered her voice until she was sure only the two of them could hear it. "It's not you that rejects my lumen, you know. It's something else."

Drake sighed. "Yeah, I know. But it's become a part of me, so it may as well be me. I'm sorry I shocked you." He led her down a few hallways, up a flight of stairs, and out onto the roof. "I know it's not away from the building, but it's as close as we can get."

Kitania didn't reply. She felt listless again. Like any hope she might have had had been ripped from her grasp. Here was the only guy she didn't mind being friends with, didn't mind helping her out, and she couldn't even touch his hand. She was cursed, officially. She'd never be able to get close to anyone. It always backfired. Why did he have to be her opposite?

Drake walked over to a concrete fixture and sat down on it. "I like when it's dark like this. There's just something about nighttime that's calm. Serene. It's like all of space and time opens up and lets us see it. You can't get that in the daytime." He leaned back against the brick wall behind him and folded his arms behind his head.

"I like it for the moon. The symbol it presents." Kitania couldn't understand why he was so calm about having some weird shadow something egging him on. Nor could she understand how she was still speaking to him when all her hopes of friendship—of human contact—had been shattered.

"Yeah, the moon is nice. Paige used to tell me stories about how the moon was thought to drip water on the earth at night. She said that's how we get dew. The fairies collect the water and paint the grass with it." Drake sat there silent for a while. "It's been five days now. This is the fifth day. Most people who are kidnapped don't last more than a few days. Every day that passes is a day she might not be... around."

"I'm not sure I believe in fairytales anymore," Kitania confessed. "I like it because it reminds me the sun is always shining, even in the dead of night." She flopped to the ground right where she stood, keeping her distance. "Who... who took her?"

Drake glared up at the sky. "A horrible man. A murderer. A superhuman, like us, who uses his power to strike fear and bring death. He tried to take over the world a few years ago. Killed Paige's dad in the process. Now, he's come back for her. And there isn't a darn thing I can do about it."

Kitania rested her head on her palm and thought about it. "Loki? The guy the Avengers banished? Weird, I just saw Hulk the–" she sat up straight and clapped a hand over her mouth. Why was she gushing? She had said too much. What was it about him that overcame her timidity to cause her to blurt so much stupid drabble? Ugh, she was so confused.

"Yeah. That's the guy. Did you see the Hulk when he was on his way back to Stark Tower? He kinda broke me out of jail yesterday. The cops had me pegged as the kidnapper, all because I had some kind of mud on my tires. The Avengers are trying to get Paige back. I guess I'm kinda lucky that psychopath took her, instead of someone else. The only reason the Avengers are helping me is because of Loki. Otherwise, I'd still be in jail right now, and Paige would probably be in pieces. I just hope that creep has as much compassion for women as they think he does."

Drake sighed and placed his face in his hands. It hurt to think about everything Paige must be going through... how scared she must be... how much that madman must be playing with her mind... And there was nothing he could do to stop him.

As he sat there thinking, a dark shade slipped away from him and into the night.

Kitania shook her head and removed her hand only long enough to say, "Not on the sidewalk," before slapping it back over her mouth. Something suddenly felt off, but she didn't know why or how. And she certainly didn't see anything in the dark of night. She tried to shake the feeling.

"Then where did you see him?" Drake rested his arms behind his head again. The calm night was so quiet. Peaceful. If only it could always be like this.

Kitania dropped her hand and bit her lower lip. Glanced heavenward. Took a breath as if to say something, then stopped. She tilted her head, connecting dots as she thought on it. "But that means... he was... and she... and you were..." She brought both hands up over her mouth this time, eyes wide. "No way."

Drake tilted his head. "What on earth are you talking about, Kitania? 'No way' what?"

Kitania dropped her hands and scooted back toward the door. "Hulk smashed an enetire police station," she dropped her voice to a whisper of wonderment, "to break you out." Why? How did Drake know him? And why would Hulk break the law he usually upheld to save this kid? Who was he and why did it matter? She didn't understand why she was getting so attached so quickly.

"Yeah. One of my friends is a bit telepathic, I think," Drake explained. "She saw me in jail and got the Hulk to break me out. She's real tight with the Avengers... Wait, how did you know about that?"

Kitania skittered back across the flat surface of the roof and kept her head down. Maybe he'd let it go. Maybe he'd stop trying to put the pieces together. She really didn't want to explain. She hadn't done anything, but it was still embarrassing. She sighed, hoping he didn't put together the pieces.

"Hey, wait a second. I didn't mean to pry. I'm sorry." Drake held his hand out to her, inviting her back, but reconsidered the gesture. "Um, I guess that doesn't help much, does it?"

"No, not really." Kitania eyed the hand that she knew she would hurt if she touched it. Which made her not even want to look at it. Her lumen didn't come from her eyes at all, but it felt awkward to know he could be in pain if she came near him. She never wanted to hurt anyone. Especially not someone as nice as Drake.

Drake chuckled and pulled his hand back. "Hey, maybe we can get you a pair of those gloves the Avrils came up with. Or... get me a pair. That way we're not hurting each other." He grinned and stood, transforming his shadow apparel from jeans and a t-shirt to a dark leather trench and dressier clothes. Black leather gloves appeared over his hands, making him look like a dark suave villain, straight out of the comics he so loved. "I dunno. Do I really look like the kind of guy that'd wear gloves?" He laughed and tiled his head to the side. "I bet I look ridiculous."

Kitania rolled her eyes. "You look like that guy from V for Vendetta," she clarified. "Both victim and villain. Pull-eeze." She briefly allowed her lumen to flash, illuminating the dark around her. "I tried gloves once. It didn't work out so well. Besides, they only stand between the skin to skin touch people all want. Create a barrier between them." She shrugged and lowered her eyes to the ground.

Drake broke out laughing at the reference, then let his smile fade a bit. "That was Paige's favorite movie." He shifted back to his jeans and t-shirt. "I'll wear them. I don't want to hurt you, or you to hurt me." He shrugged. "I don't mind."

"But I do!" Kitania raged, standing and clenching her fists at her sides. "I'm tired of constantly hiding. Of keeping everyone at arm's length. Of always having a barrier between me and other people. I want to be able to touch, to feel. To love. But I never can, and it's all because of this stupid power!" The hot, angry tears ran freely down her face, crashing to the ground as they released her chin.

"It's not your fault, Kitania. If it's anyone's, it's mine. I'm the dark one." Drake stood, walked over to her, and placed his hand on her shoulder. Since they didn't have direct skin contact, he was fine. "Don't blame yourself. You haven't done anything wrong. I'm the one who let those monsters have me. This is my punishment, my curse... not yours."

"Why are you being so nice?"

Drake shrugged. "I don't know. I'm just... me. I guess if you think I'm nice, I must be nice."

Kitania backed away form his touch and leaned against a nearby door. She covered her face with her hands and allowed herself to let go. To sob her heart out. To release the misery that had plagued her for years. Things she never thought possible. Her intense emotions caused her lumen to flicker and sputter, sending brief bursts of illumination against her tear-stained face.

He frowned deeply when he saw her sobbing. His mind wandered back to when Paige first discovered her power, and how she had acted similarly.

Without saying a word, he walked over to Kitania, leaned against the wall next to her, and held a black handkerchief out to her. He knew that if he said anything, he would only make things worse. All he could do was wait for her to calm down.

Kitania breathed deeply, through her nose, and wiped the tears away with her fingers. "No, I'm good. I'm fine. Just... tired, that's all." She folded her arms around herself, as though to keep warm. One thought permeated her thoughts as the lumen continued to flicker. She needed a piano.

Drake nodded and looked up at the sky. "Would you like to go back inside? Or we can sleep out here. I think I can make pretty much anything out of shadows. Sleeping bags, beds... I'm not making you a house. I draw the line at houses."

Kitania laughed outright, the end of her tears forgotten. "I'm fine to sleep out here without a sleeping bag. It doesn't bother me." She neglected to say anything about the sleepless nights or the cardboard boxes, all the time waiting for someone to appear and hurt her again.

"No, no. I insist." Drake waved his hands and two black sleeping bags formed out of the shadows of the building. "Here. Now we can sleep under the stars. I guess I can't make a campfire, though. Well, you kind of have that covered anyway, right?" He tilted his head and smiled at her. "Ya know, I think that's a really cool gift, Kitania."

"I don't," Kitania confessed. And she left it at that. She didn't know him well enough to tell him the one thing she'd never told anyone else. And she sure wasn't going to let him in far enough to tell him the horrors she'd seen... and done. She shook her head. "So, what time is it anyway?"

Drake looked at his watch. "Just after midnight. You can go ahead and go to sleep if you're tired. I think I'm gonna stay awake for a while."

Kitania shrugged. "Who can be tired after the day I've had? Pretty sure I slept a full eight hours after... the incident." She wrinkled her nose. "Sorry about my rage fest, I'm not good with villainous encounters."

Drake laughed. "Who is? And me? A villain?" He flopped over one of the sleeping bags, face first. "Do I look like a villain to you?" His last statement was muffled by the black cloth around his face.

"You don't," Kitania said with a roll of her eyes as she sank to the ground. "But your shadow kinda does. He's very threatening. I've never taken threats well. Have a tendency to become violent. And by violent I mean blind people with lumen."

"By violent, you mean nearly kill Shadow Walkers with lumen." Drake glanced up at her and grinned. "Don't worry about it. I'm fine, you're fine. We got through it, and I'll try to keep my shadows to myself. Problem solved."

"Yeah. Okay." Kitania stopped trying to argue, but only because Drake made it nearly impossible to argue with him. He was so insistent. Besides, he had promised to take her to find a piano. She'd let him win every argument they ever had if he would take her to find a piano. And sugar. She couldn't remember when she had craved sugar more.

Drake sat up and sat cross-legged on his sleeping bag, facing Kitania. "So... aside from playing the piano, what do you do for fun? Surely you have other hobbies. N-not that playing the piano isn't a wonderful hobby. It is. But... when you don't have a piano... what do you do?"

Once again, Kitania shrugged. "I sing. In the past I've... I've never really... had time to have a hobby. I've been too busy. Running and things." She shuddered at the memories the word conjured up. "So I guess I've never really thought of it. I've been too busy staying alive to really live."

"Running?" Drake asked. "Like, running away? Is that why you were in the jail?"

Oh, so he had put the pieces together. Well, crap. She had hoped he might overlook all of that. Apparently not. "Technically I was only being detained, I wasn't under arrest. Yet. And, no, that's not why I was in there. I was running for... different reasons."

"I don't mean to pry," Drake said quietly, "but what were you running from? And why were you in jail? I can guarantee you that you couldn't have done anything worse than what real villains have done, so..." he shrugged. "It can't have been that bad. Did you kill someone?"

"Absolutely NOT!" Kitania used her hands to emphasize the word. "They said loitering or something. I couldn't help it! The food looked so good—" she clapped a hand over her mouth again. Why was she being so chatty? He didn't need to know all this. She needed to turn her filter back on. If only her brain would cooperate.

Drake shrugged. "You don't need to be embarrassed. You're a runaway. There's nothing wrong with that." He paused, considering his words, then continued. "You're not a drug user, are you?"

Kitania rolled her eyes again. "Even if I tried, I can't get high." She ran a slender finger over the opposite palm. She tilted her head to the side and studied him curiously. "Do you always assume the worst in people?"

Drake shrugged again and flopped onto his back. "I try to find the worst and get it out of the way. That way I can see people's good sides clearer. I used to look for the good first, but then... well, AVCORP happened to me. Now, I don't really trust anyone. Everyone has a dark side. It takes someone special to find the light."

Kitania shrugged coyly. "If you look for the light first, the dark doesn't seem like such a big problem. If it's even there. I know you're connected to the shadows, Drake, but that thing in my room... It wasn't you. I choose to see the light still left in you."

She ran a finger over her palm self-consciously. Was she flirting? Since when did she flirt with almost complete strangers? What was this madness? She quietly cleared her throat in an attempt to still her racing mind.

Drake shrugged and looked up at the night sky. "It was a part of me, I know that. Some dark, suppressed part that even I didn't know existed. And, I've found that if you look for the light first, you'll only be disappointed by all the hidden dark." He sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm usually not this morbid. I don't know what's wrong with me."

Kitania slid her eyes closed and focused solely on her power. She brought Drake's face to the forefront of her mind, still focusing on the lumen, and waited while she discerned what might be wrong with him. Aside from an abnormal heartrate, she couldn't find anything physically. What she saw next made her eyes snap open.

"You–you're fine. Your body is fine." She paused. She couldn't tell him what she'd seen. Heck, she could barely get the image out of her own head. He didn't need to know.

Drake glanced over at Kitania and immediately sat up, unaware of what she had seen or done. He was solely concerned with how terrified she looked. "Yeah, I'm fine. But... you're not. What's wrong?"

Kitania curled her knees to her chest and hugged them. "Nothing. It was... nothing. I'm fine."

"You don't look fine. You look like you've just seen a ghost." Drake scooted closer to her. "Please tell me. Was it another shadow?"

Kitania scooted away from him and shook her head. "Not exactly." She didn't know what else to do. If she angered him, or the shadows, they would send something after her. If she remained silent, he would hate her later. Her eyes roved quickly back and forth across the rooftop, looking for a way to walk away from this in one piece.

Drake noticed when she moved away from him and winced. It hurt to know he made her so fearful. "Kitania, I promise you, I'm not going to hurt you. I would never." But he knew his words would never reassure her. Not like action could. With a sigh, he stood, grabbed his sleeping bag, and moved to another area of the roof. "If I'm the monster you think I am, then it'd probably be better if I stay over here. Don't want another boogeyman to get you."

Kitania picked up the black sleeping bag and wrapped it around her shoulders. "I'm sorry, Drake," she apologized. In a moment of bravery, she lifted her eyes to meet his. "I wish I could find a way to tell you." Then she leaned her head back against the nearest wall and closed her eyes.

"Um, you could start by actually telling me." Drake's tone was harsh, but he couldn't control it.

He knew he had a tendency to become mean when he was angry, yet he had always been able to control it in the past. But, now... his anger rose up inside him like a beast. He clenched his jaw closed and tried to fight it, knowing it was only the darkness inside him. He wouldn't let them win.

He curled up on his sleeping bag, facing away from Kitania, and desperately hoped she would be wise enough not to respond.

Kitania glared at him in her mind, but didn't let it show on her peaceful features. She inhaled deeply and pretended to be asleep. Pretended she didn't hear. If it were possible, she would gladly let him know. But he would never believe her. And he'd hate her afterward. So she left him alone and let sleep find her where she was.

After he was sure Kitania was asleep, Drake stood from his sleeping bag and stalked over to a corner of the roof. He glared out at the city below him and watched the happy people sleep peacefully in their homes. Their lives could be changed in an instant, as his had been. So much could happen to them... in the dark. The sun had always been too bright, exposing too much. But, darkness... cool, calm darkness... was far better, far superior. If only everything could be turned dark, like flipping a light switch. No more sun, no more moon, no more stars... just the never-ending blackness of the Shadow Lands.

Drake slumped down next to the railing and continued to stare out at the lights of the city. The lights that were far too bright, too happy, too... comforting.

He remained in that position, wide awake, until the sky faded to grey in the morning. He scowled at the sun rising on the horizon. The darkness had ended far too quickly.