The wheels clicked along the rails like a lullaby. The car door was halfway open and had allowed the light of the new dawn in. Surely that together could make anyone be sleepy. But not Butch.

After all that Blake had told him about Joe and being treated like a slave by her own flesh and blood, how could he sleep? It irked him more than anything. He wondered how horrific it was for her uncle to torture her mentally and turned her into a psycho so quickly. Then he remembered his own meeting with Joe.
'The girl snapped.'
'Blakely had no mental strength'
'That is why she is a cold hearted murderer...'

All those words... He couldn't believe it.

Butch looked down at Blake, all curled up next to him and sleeping peacefully. Butch knew that if she didn't tell him about the abuse, her life would just only get worse and worse. At least he was happy he helped her get over her past.

But the last words she said before she slept: "...You were like dad to me me more than anythin'. An' honestly, that meant alot ta me." Butch hadn't really taken that father-daughter relationship between them into consideration, but was that the feeling he had when they actually first met? And now that he thought about it...

~I am a question to the world
Not an answer to be heard
Or a moment held in your arms~

They watched as the girl and her gang left the bar. Butch smirked as they all got their spots on the bar. "Welp, boys! First rounds on me!" That really got the gang cheering. The bar keep brought them rounds of whiskey. Just as Butch was about to down his first round, he hesitated and put it down.

He wasn't sure what it was, but something about the girl looked awfully familiar. Her boy cut beige hair covering her right eye, in which he noted was really close to his eye color, only much lighter. She had a thug-ish personality only he could be like.

But that wasn't it!

Butch looked at his gang who were too busy getting drunk and took out a photo from his pocket. He took a good long look at it: it was a photo of a woman. From what he remembered, the woman had beige hair just as identical as the girl's. He vividly remembered her rusty eyes, but he didn't remember her having a full blue eye like that Blake kid's; only half of her eye was as blue as her's. So; could the girl-?

'Oh that was a damn coincidence! There's no way in Hell!' he thought.

He shook off the feeling and gently traced over the woman's face with a finger and muttered to himself, "Angela..."

~And what do you think you'd ever say?
I won't listen anyway, you don't know me
And I'll never be what you want me to be~

"Ey, boy! Git o'er here," Butch ordered. Blake rolled her eyes in annoyance from his nickname for her. She walked to him saying, "Ya know Imma girl, right?" Butch chuckled. "Yeah, yeah...," he said to himself. "Anyway, ya know why I called ya o'er here?" "No, sir," said Blake. Butch smirked. "I got a few things fer you ta do," he said. Blake gave him a questioning look. "Meaning?" she asked. He led her to the horses. "Ya see these?" Blake nodded. "Wha' about 'em?" Butch gave her a smirk that made her concerned. "I need ya ta tend them fer today~."

"... Are you shittin' serious?" she said. Butch just looked at her with his smirk. "You gotta learn somethin' useful, kid." Blake judgmentally gave him a look and replied, "Um. How 'bout no way in damn hell!" Butch glared at her. "You really sayin' 'no' to me, again?" She crossed her arms and protested, "Sure as hell I am." The two stared into each others eyes threatenly until Blake gave in to his odd request. "Oh fer God- FINE! I'll do it...!" He gave her a victorious grin. "That's what I thought, boy," he joked.

"I'll shoot yer damn head off if ya call me that again," she threatened. Butch walked away and rolled his eyes.

~And what do you think you'd understand?
I'm a boy, no, I'm a man
You can't take me and throw me away~

Blake watched him walk away and she turned to the horses. "God damn that ol' bastard... Think he can do this sorta shit ta me?! Well he's got another thing comin'!" she ranted to herself. She started taking the saddles off the horses and began cleaning them.

~And how can you learn what's never shown?
Yeah, you stand here on your own
They don't know me 'cause I'm not here
And I want a moment to be real
Wanna touch things I don't feel
Wanna hold on and feel I belong~

Later that night, Butch came back to check on Blake's progress with the horses. He thought that she would be beaten down by them and be in a foul mood.

But she wasn't. She was asleep. Blake had used her jacket as a pillow and had her hat cover her face. Butch shook his head, thinking she fell asleep on the job.

So, he checked the horses himself. He noted that not only were the horses cleaned and fed, but she also cleaned out all of their guns, even the backup ones. They were loaded and everything. He stepped back and took the moment to realize that this kid really did have what it takes to be an outlaw.

Butch smirked. He was impressed, that's for sure. Just a few seconds later, he heard the sound of wings flapping near his ear. He turned his head and saw that her albino eagle Japhet had perched on his shoulder. Butch remembered Blake saying that Japhet would only do that if he thinks he trusts the person.

"Seems like you believe I ain't all tha' bad now, do ya?" Butch said to the bird of prey. Japhet looked right back at him. Butch could tell in the bird's eyes that he could. Butch smirked again and took his jacket off, with Japhet getting off of him to do so. He knelt down and covered Blake with the jacket and stood up and walked away.

He didn't realize that Blake tiredly woken up and pushed her hat up a bit, just enough to see him walk away with Japhet on his shoulder. She smiled and pulled his jacket up a little and went back to sleep.

~And how can the world want me to change?
They're the ones that stay the same
They don't know me 'cause I'm not here~

Walliwitz was cowering a little as the argument between his boss and Butch. He never liked arguing in the first place. "Look. I'm jes' sayin' that if we take them Rangers down, I'm certain someone's gonna find out sooner er later about 'em bein' missin'." Butch looked at her like she was nuts. "Since when were you 'fraid o' the damn Rangers? Thought you ain't afraid o' 'em~?" Blake hesitated on her answer. "Fer one thing, I'm already in deep enough bat shit with them an' even if i were 'fraid of 'em, I still-"

Butch took his knife out from the fire and pointed it directly to her face, a dark grin appeared on his face.

~And you see the things they never see
All you wanted I could be
Now you know me and I'm not afraid~

Blake's gang became tense as the hot blade got too close to their boss's cheek. "Wh-whaddya think yer doin' there?!" she asked. Butch glared at her angrily. "Ya think yer gonna fuckin' talk back ta me?! Cuzz I will cut yer damn throat open. An' yer blood'll be spilt-" Blake grabbed his wrist, swept her leg under his and flipped him over. Blake then grabbed the knife and used it to her defense.

Of course, Butch wasn't really happy about that. "Why you lil' bitch!" he yelled before Blake ran off, her gang (mostly Freighter) held him back. Her gang knew about her hate, and possible fear, about hot metals.

Butch cursed at the top of his lungs but Blake got far away enough to where she barely heard him and his gang fight back. Once she found a place to catch her breath, she hid behind a tree and just waited. She examined the knife and saw that the blade was fairly hot. Next thing she did was toss it away from her. Blake might have told her boys about her past bad experiences with hot metals, but she never told them about being touched with a cattle prod; and that was not an accident.

Blake just sat there and never heard footsteps heading her way. A voice made her jump. "The hell did she go?!" She squeeked a bit under her breath. Butch was just around the tree when he found his knife in the dark. "Found you..." he muttered. His eyes caught her as he saw her cower, fearing for what could come next.

~And I want to tell you who I am
Can you help me be a man?
They can't break me as long as I know who I am~

"Look, kid. I can somewhat understand that you really didn't mean ta do that, an' that's okay," he told her. "...I. I didn't mean it. I-I took yer knife," she uttered. "No I understand-"
"You got mad. Because of me. It's my fault... An' I'm sorry."
"Did you think I was gonna beat the crap outta you...?" he asked. Blake cringed by those words. "Alrigh', look. I can see that you got real defensive back there. An' tha' you just kinda snapped."

Blake kept quiet. "An' besides, I won't tell anyone we had this conversation. Got it?" Blake looked up at him innocently. "An' if you want- Uh- Fer God's sake, don' look at me like that, kid! It was jes' a bit o' rough housin'. No big deal!" he assured her. From the look on Blake's face, she still didn't seem to trust him too well. Butch rolled his eyes in her stubbornness. "Okay. That's it. C'mere-" and he grabbed her arm; but Blake only resisted. "Kid. Come on! Quit-" Blake and Butch then fought again.

Butch managed to grab both of her wrists and that got her to stop. He then looked directly into her eyes in a stern way. "Trust me on this!" he said. She still didn't trust him. "...I won't try ta hurt ya this time," he admitted. She thought about it for a second before she relaxed. Butch got her back up to her feet but she got out of his grip and she started to walk away. "Wha- Hey! Where do ya think yer goin'?!" he asked. Blake stopped in her tracks. "You know you shouldn't 'ave grabbed me like that...," she said. He wasn't sure what she meant by that; she muttered: "Besides, you wouldn' understand what I been through..." and she walked back, wiping the tears from her eyes.

Butch stood there in wonder.

~And I want a moment to be real
Wanna touch things I don't feel
Wanna hold on and feel I belong

And how can the world want me to change?
They're the ones that stay the same
They don't know me 'cause I'm not here~

As the fire was dying out, so was the commotion around it. The last person to fall asleep was Freighter. Before, he had said he would stay up for a bit of night watching; so that didn't happen.

Blake and Butch were the ones ultimately awake now. Blake fed the fire while Butch just sat and stared into the flames. "Ya know. I- I was kinda thinkin'...," Blake mumbled. "'Bout what?" Butch asked. She shrugged and said, "What happened a few weeks ago." Butch turned his head to her without a word. She continued, "I never had to burst out like that... I even told my gang not to touch me like tha'."

Of course, Butch knew about the abuse in her past, so that didn't surprise him she said that. "An' I kinda wanna say... I'm sorry." His whole life, Butch has never heard anyone admit a flaw and then later apologize for it. "Why are you sayin' that?" he asked. She shrugged. "...I dunno. I... I guess it's somethin' I've been taught ta do fer years... Kinda stuck with me," Blake answered. The two stared into the fire again in silence. Butch kept taking quick glances at her, thinking about a woman he loved back when.

He couldn't help but note Blake's beige hair, the one blue eye, almost like his, and her maroon eye. He even realized her smirk matched his. He thought about his question to her. But he also wanted to know how she got her gang to be like this. After a moment, he asked, "How do you find these kinda people?" Blake looked up from the fire. "Whaddya mean?" she wondered. Butch shrugged. "I mean, how do ya find guys like them…?" Blake looked around at her gang, now noting what he meant.

"I dunno. I guess I jes' got lucky with them. Must be a fate sorta thing, if ya ask me," she answered. Butch nodded. "I noticed you glancin' at me." Butch's heart jumped a bit by her comment. "W-Whaddya-" Blake smirked and said, "You act like I remind you of someone." Butch felt his face flush a little. "That true~?" she finished. He wasn't sure if he should just admit it or try to cover it up. Finally, he said: "Um… I-I thought you did." "Who?"
"Someone I… Used to love…"
Now Blake wanted to know more about this. "'Used to'?" Butch nodded. "Yeah..."
An akward silence.
"Well we actually did enlope... But that didn' last too long..."
Blake asked, "What happened?" Butch tried to recollect his memory; he shrugged. "I'm not sure... She got taken away fro' me, but she died sometime later..."

Blake actually felt a bit sorry for him when he said that. "Wow. I'm so sorry...," she said. He shrugged and replied, "It's alright, kid. Really cain't do nothin' 'bout it now."

~They can't tell me who to be
'Cause I'm not what they see
Yeah, the world is still sleepin'
While I keep on dreaming for me
And their words are just whispers
And lies that I'll never believe~

After their little talk, Blake began to feel tired. She told him she was about ready to go to sleep. Blake took her hat off as usual for Japhet to nest in. Just as she had even allowed her albino eagle in the hat, she felt a pair of lips on her cheek. Right there her heart felt like it had stopped. Her skin flushed. She turned to the only person who could have done that as he muttered, "Night, Angela…" and turned his back to her and lay down. Blake watched him, looked back into the fire, and… smiled. A real smile.

She placed her hand on the spot where he had kissed her and eventually went to sleep herself. Meanwhile, Butch remained awake long enough to facepalm himself as hard as he could. He muttered a long line of curse words under his breath and kicked himself for what he had just did. 'Why... in the FUCK did I call her 'Angela'?! Why did I do that?' he thought to himself.

~And I want a moment to be real
Wanna touch things I don't feel
Wanna hold on and feel I belong
And how can they say I never change?
They're the ones that stay the same
I'm the one now 'cause I'm still here~

Butch clicked back to the present and remembered that Blake was still asleep on him. He looked down at her and stroked her hair. If he thought about actually giving Blake a chance at life, he would do it. Now his mind was settled: "Yer my lil' girl now," he said to her in a quiet voice. "Ya shouldna been brought up like tha'. I know it wasn't yer fault," he continued. He rested his chin on her head and relaxed. He looked out where the train door was opened and soon fell asleep.

Deep in his mind, he wondered if she would ever get revenge on her uncle for brainwashing her. He hoped she would. She deserves it.

Sitting across from them in the shadows, Lamia couldn't help but grin at the two. Lamia said to himself, "You always wanted someone to have your back. Now's your chance. Don't think to hesitate, Blakely." He looked out the door and watched the desert scenery zip by them.

Lamia refused to break the silence between them. He knew they needed it.

~I'm the one 'cause I'm still here
I'm still here, I'm still here, I'm still here~

((Author's note: Hi guys! Welp. I guess you all figured out what got me to write this chapter XD

Anyhoo: I finally figured out what my update schedule will be like. Depending on how many fics I got, I'll be updating at least once a month. Most of the other times, it will be for any grammar editings I never caught when I wrote it. So there's an update from me and my life! Stay tuned for more! ^^))