The two gangs sat there in complete silence, not one of them wanting to say something. Butch had Blake close to him with her head on his shoulder. She just kept staring into the flames at the center of the camp. A sound, besides the occasional coyote howling, came from Scuzz who was still grieving his losses. Freighter gave him a sympathetic look and put his hand on his shoulder. Scuzz muttered, "I... I-I-I-I... I c-c-cain't! I jes'-! ...I j-j-jes cain't!"

Blake turned her face towards Scuzz and adjusted herself a little, letting Butch put an arm around her protectively. Frank was about to say something to her but Butch glared at him and mouthed, "Not now!" Frank sat back up and shuddered a bit from the glare. After some time listening to Scuzz's soft crying, Blake finally spoke up, "...It... it's so damn wrong." Butch looked down at her. "Somebody had to've been sick in their damn mind to begin with..." Butch brushed a hair out of her face and rested his chin on top of her head. Edgar shook his head with a sigh and thought aloud, "Well, if this so sick, then why in the-a hell would they be even doing this in the-a first place?" "All I know is, he coul'n't 'ave done it by himself..." Blake replied.

Then, to change the subject, something hit Walliwitz. "O-Oi, boss. Uh, how d'ya s'ppose we git rid o' these bodies? We jes' gon burn 'em, o' wha'?" Blake looked at Walliwitz, then to Scuzz, then back to him and replied, "I suppose we could burn 'em all... But not all o' them..." Scuzz knew what she was talking about. "Right?"she asked looking at Scuzz. He lifted his head and sighed shakily. "I...I, uh... I s-s-suppose so... But.. I... I wan' it ta be... a sp-special one, ya know..." he offered and wiped a tear from his eye. Blake nodded. "I understand..."

...

...

...

Butch couldn't sleep. Not one bit. And he knew the two youngsters couldn't sleep either.

He looked over to check on Blake, but she wasn't there. He sat up and looked around and saw that not only was she not there, but Scuzz was missing as well. He got up and brushed the dirt off his coat and quietly stepped over the sleeping thugs. The first place Butch checked was the school house.

The sound of clinking spurs quietly echoed throughout the skeletons of the once thriving buildings before he found the school in the dark of the desert night. He stood in the doorway and, by the light of the full moon, saw Scuzz embracing his late-fiance and daughter, just like yesterday. He knew he didn't want to bother the grieving kid and left him alone. His next destination was the govenor's office; and he knew where to find her.

He found the stairs and slowly treaded up the 20 flights of stairs, noticing the door was wide open. He walked over and peered in to find Blake sitting next to Monica's bedside, just looking at her body. He noted that she looked like she was in deep thought sitting there. He knew he couldn't let her suffer anymore like this and pulled up a seat next to her; Blake, however, knew Butch would find her and be there with her and didn't move. The two sat there in silence before Butch spoke up. "... Ya know you were righ' back there." Blake glanced at him before averting her eyes back to Monica. Butch continued, "I also know tha' it can be har' ta lose someone close to ya... I woul' know, cuzz... I been there b'fore..."

Blake finally took her eyes off of Monica and looked right at Butch, who was staring at Monica. "How so?" asked Blake in a curious tone. Butch hesitated for a while but then she noticed a tear or two fall down his scarred face. That made Blake raise an eyebrow. He sighed and told her his story, "Ya see, me an' my sister... We were very close ta each other. I never wanted anythin' ta happen ta her..."

"Wha' happened...?"

A tear escaped Butch's eye.

"We... We got raided by those damn Comanches..."

He had to rub his eyes when his mind flashed back to years ago.

Butch was forced to remember his father firing warning shots to the raiders and how he had taken an arrow to the heart. He had to remember his mother being taken away and never seeing her again. Lastly, he remembered his sister... and how a Comanche warrior took her and slit her throat while he couldn't do anything about it all.

"I... I dunno... I was... I guess I was too scared... Too scared ta do anythin'..." Butch said in a shaky voice, now not even caring that a few tears were rolling down his face.

Blake was speechless by his story and stared into the floor for a while. Then she looked up and said quietly, "I'm... really sorry, Butch." He shook his head and said, "Don' need to... I kinda learned how ta git o'er it an' move on." He wiped his eyes and turned to Blake. "You gotta do tha' yerself. Don' let it hang o'er ya. Jes' go on wit' yer life." Blake looked at him like he was out of his mind. "Y-You tryin' ta tell me tha' I gotta... Gotta let e'erythin' I lost jes' slip away?" Butch tried to assure her that everything would be alright. "Blake. I know it ain't easy, but jes'-" "No! No I won'!" she fired back standing from her chair. "Blake. Please-" "Butch! You don' understand! You don' understan' wha' it's like fer me! You don' know how much I had ta leave b'hind! After all these years!" Blake exclaimed as she choked up and had tears flooding her eyes. "Kid-" "SHUT UP! How coul' ya think that some damned murderer like me could forget th' feelin' o' regret hangin' o'er ya like a deadman on a noose!? It do'en't work like that!" Tears began to fall down her face.

Butch didn't say anything, he could only watch her. "Even now, I still live wit' th' fuckin' regret of killin' th' people who were meant ta be m' family! Why woul' I wanna live like that?!" Right there, Butch knew she had admitted to massacring her whole family; her secret she kept for so long. Blake and Butch looked into each other's eyes for a while before Blake began to breakdown crying. "I... I," was all she could say at the moment. She dropped to her knees and kept crying. She didn't notice Butch going down on one knee but did feel him place a hand on her cheek to wipe a tear from her eye. He brushed her hair out of her right eye which made her look up to him.

Even from the darkness he saw how bright her blue eye was compared to how dark the rusty red eye was. He saw the tears glistening in her eyes. Some reason, there was something about her eyes that fascinated him like nothing else. But for Blake, she was jealous. Of him. But then, why would she be? He had nothing against her, right?

The next thing Butch knew, Blake collapsed onto him and clutched onto his coat. He didn't care if she was getting his shoulder wet anyway; she needed it. He felt her shoulders move up and down as he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. The kid needed someone to cry on and that was okay with him. He placed a hand on the back of her head and gently stroked her short beige hair. "Shhhhh..." was all that could come out of him. He felt that her shaking was easing down, and before he knew it, she fell asleep on him.

He looked at her and gently smiled. He picked her up and brought her out of the building with Japhet following him by quickly gliding from one stopping point to the next. He was about to the camp when he got the feeling someone was following him. He stopped, and, while letting Japhet perch on his shoulder, heard the sound of dirt crunching underneth boots stop just a yard behind him.

He knew who would be following him at this time.

"Ya hear' e'rythin', di'n' ya?..." He muttered out loud. He heard the voice stutter, "Y-Y-Yeah... I... I never kn-knew 'nyth-th-thin' 'bout th-that. I... I,uh, I didn' r-r...re'lize sh-she e'en had all th-th-tha' regre'." Butch looked down at her and listened to him. "D...d-do ya th-th-thin' there w-was someth-th...somethin' I c-coulda done?" Butch thought about that for a moment. Could he?

...

"'Frai' not, boy..."

Scuzz looked at him in defeat. "E'en she coul'n'ta done not'in' 'bout it..." He took a few more steps towards the bank when: "S-Sir...!" Butch stopped and turned his head in his direction. He didn't know what made the scuzzy outlaw call him 'sir', but he had no choice but to listen to him, even if he had to sound like a broken record. "...Y-y-You don' th-th-thin' tha' you w-woul' a b-been… Er… n-n-n...never mind…" The two were silent for a long time. Then Butch said something that caught Scuzz off guard: "...Ya worry 'bout her, don 'cha…?"

Scuzz couldn't think of anything to say; How did Butch know that? "H-h-how did-"

"I can tell. Ya worry fer her life. E'en if she has had a broken past…" he muttered and brushed a hair out of her eye. "Am I right?"

Even if Scuzz had wanted to deny his secret connection with her, why would he want to? He was the only one to figure it out. Now in fear of him tellling the others, he sighed and admitted, "I… I kinda though' o' her as… as a s-s-sister. I… I th-though' sh-sh-she h-h… had some'hin' w-w-wron'..." Butch nodded silently. He looked up and said, "Son." He felt his eyes on him. "We didn't have this conversation. Righ'?"

Scuzz nodded and replied, "Yessir." and the two walked back quietly to the camp. Scuzz fell asleep right away. Butch, however, couldn't make Blake get off of him. So, he decided to let her sleep with him for the time being. As he lie down, he watched as Blake adjusted herself in her sleep. He smiled gently and put his arm around her shoulder, then he leaned down a bit and put his lips on top of her head and said quietly, "I'm sorry, Blake…" and fell asleep.

Unknowingly, Blake had woken up and heard what Butch said. In her own response, Blake slowly smiled and said in a barely audible voice, "I know, daddy…" and drifted off to sleep.