O.C. #2 : Out's...taking a nap or something, but she isn't here, so I'll be talking.

To clear up any misunderstandings, there is a sequel to this in the making. So no, this 10 chapter story is not over with. We were really surprised when it ended in exactly 10 chapters, it's never happened before.

Chapter 4 - Part-Time

Darkness...

It was cold...

'-sigh- I wish Athrun was here...I wish he'd fall asleep already...Oh...that's selfish of me...His life doesn't need to revolve around me...I'm not that important...'

Flashes of the sneering, cold acrobats and animal tamers flashed in front of his sleeping eyes. He had to shake his head to clear it. No!

'Athrun makes me important. I can't dwell on the mean and hateful things in my life...Because Athrun is my good thing. He's...my light...'

Kira suddenly remembered his first moment of consciousness in 4 years. His eyes flashed for a moment.

'Athrun is real too...He exists outside this fabrication...I saw...his green eyes...so beautiful...I thought he was a dream...for the longest time...But he's real...and he's my friend.'

Kira began to cry silently, his knees to his chest and his arms around them. Light 'plip's of dripping water echoed in the dreamscape as it began to rain.

It wasn't a sad rain. It was a light rain. A rain of relief. Kira was so relieved that Athrun was real, that one of his few 'emotion moments' occurred. It was rare that he ever felt anything big enough to really affect the dreamscape.

A warm, comforting hand was placed on his right shoulder and Kira's head shot up. He stared, tears still in his eyes, at his best friend, Athrun. Athrun had a worried look to him, an aura that oozed concern. Kira nearly began to laugh. And the rain stopped.

"Were...were you crying?" the bluenette asked in concern. Kira smiled at him and Athrun sighed in relief. "Good, at least you aren't upset or something...That would be bad." Athrun smiled at him and Kira felt his heart lift.

'I'm happy to see you again...Athrun...' He signed in his own version of sign-language. Athrun laughed softly.

"Yea. Me too." he sat down next to Kira in the wet darkness, a simple light shining down on them, courtesy of Athrun of course. "So, what scene tonight? The beach?"

Kira nodded vigorously and Athrun outright laughed as he fell over, the scenery changing as he did so. His happiness at being there period shaping a sandy beach with a clear ocean. After his laughing fit, Athrun looked around. His smile faded and he picked up some sand.

Kira lightly shook Athrun's shoulder in concern for Athrun's mood. The sky of this beach was not sunny...As sand ran through his fingers, Athrun explained.

"You...don't see many beaches like this anymore." Kira gave him a confused look. "The water isn't clear, it's brownish. The sand is covered in trash and tourists, people who visit the beach whenever they're in town." he explained.

Yes, Athrun was slowly teaching Kira. Ok, slowly was a lie. Kira was a fast learner, so it was quite easy and fast to teach him anything. Kira seemed deeply interested in the outside world, Athrun had to wonder why he didn't know these things himself...it concerned him...

"The sky is almost never clear, like this..." he waved his hand in the air and the cloudiness vanished, replaced by a few white clouds and blue sky with a calm sun. "It's almost always like this now..."

He waved his hand again and Kira had to squint his eyes. The clouds disappeared and suddenly the sun's power was on so high it burnt his skin. He clung to Athrun in pain and Athrun stopped the heat. Kira calmed when the sky returned to it's peaceful ways once more.

"Global warming. It's what happens when car exhausts, aerosol cans, and other types of pollution happen. The layer of sky that protects Earth from the Sun's harmful heat and radiation...it gets damaged when this type of thing happens...and it's what made your skin burn..." Athrun explained sadly.

Kira nodded and seemed determined yet sad at the same time. Athrun smiled.

"You like learning...don't you?" Kira nodded. "I was wondering...why don't you know this stuff?"

Kira's eyes suddenly seemed far off, and Athrun saw the dead looking boy from the circus in him for a moment. He seemed to have frozen in place, not breathing, moving, or seeing. Athrun's heart sped up in fear as he reached out and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder.

Kira blinked and his eyes went back to normal. He turned to Athrun, confused for a moment at the look on said boy's face before he remembered the question and his own reaction. He looked at the ground sadly.

"It's alright...you don't have to say." Athrun assured him. "I was just wondering."

-

"Go boy, hurry up with that sweeping! The show starts in less than an hour!" Scott ordered, kicking up dust from the constantly dusty floor of the animal tent.

The man with black hair began to stalk off. He spotted some of the animal trainer girls and smiled brightly.

"Ladies! How's work?" he laughed with them as they all walked off, leaving the brunette to sweep slowly, not hindered even slightly by his recent wounds.

The beatings had become more severe whenever he didn't do anything to their liking, for the purpose of seeing if they would get a reaction from him...So far, every attempt had failed...

Kira raised his head from the ground at the sounding of a silent footstep. His eyes met Marmen's. The bald man narrowed his eyes, then turned and walked away, his cloak billowing behind him. Kira's dead eyes returned to the floor, no emotion played across his features in the least.

"Excuse me? Excuse me..."

He raised his head again at the sound of an unfamiliar voice.

"Oh, finally. You're the first person I've seen."

Her pink hair went to her waist, and sparkling blue eyes smiled at him. He didn't show any reaction to her at all really...Just an acknowledgment...Her smiled dropped when she realized who she'd run into.

"Ah, it's you." Lacus muttered, then smiled again. "My name is Lacus Clyne. I was wondering where the manager was."

Kira stared at her blankly, with his dead, dimmed eyes. Lacus cleared her throat slightly when he didn't respond. Kira could feel the slight distaste coming from her, and he couldn't understand it. She must've thought he was confused as to her reason being here.

"I was...hoping for a part-time job you see." Lacus said sweetly. Her eyes widened a moment later as she finally got a reaction from the boy in front of her.

He dropped the broom in his hands, his eyes fearful. She couldn't understand it...What was wrong with him?

He was suddenly right in front of her, hand covering her mouth. He was shaking his head no in a pleading way. But his eyes remained dead... Lacus didn't know what he wanted!

"What are you doing?" came a deep voice.

Kira froze before turning, mechanically almost Lacus noted, to face the bald man in the shadows. He seemed to be on the boarder-line between nice and mean, it seemed to her. Kira was instantly back to being the unresponsive one once more.

"That's not good. Assaulting a visitor. Leave. Go back to your...room and get ready for the show." he ordered softly. Kira walked over, picked up the broom, and left...in the dead way...all over again...

Lacus heard his soft tone, saw the small smile on his face...but his eyes...they glinted in a near-evil way when he stared at the brunette walking away. Lacus turned to said boy, noticing his outfit was missing a sleeve...it wasn't his performance costume...

But his arm...it was covered in bruises and a few healed cuts...She looked from the boy's arm to Marmen, and could see that man hitting the boy...No, Kira wasn't capable of beating himself...that wasn't masochism...it was sadism...

"Now, may I help you?" he turned his smile on Lacus and she couldn't help but take a step back.

"I..." she saw the brunette standing in the distance, that dead look was emanating from him still..."I just..."

"Lacus! Are you still back here?" a voice asked. Lacus, who still had her eyes on the brunette in the distance behind Marmen, saw the boy flinch slightly.

She turned to face Athrun as he walked into view behind her. When her eyes went back to find the brunette, he was gone.

"What are you staring at Miss?" Marmen asked kindly, looking behind him.

"Nothing...I just...came here to meet one of your actors. He was mesmerizing when I saw him...I'm sorry I barged in like this!" and Lacus hurriedly left the tent. Athrun following her in confusion. Marmen's eyes narrowed.

-

"Lacus! I don't understand! Why didn't you ask him for the job?" Athrun asked, looking around as they made their way quickly from the grounds.

Lacus didn't stop until they were a block away, yet could still see the tent.

"Lacus. Are you ever going to answer me?" Athrun asked in slight annoyance...

"I didn't ask because that boy asked me not to." she said softly.

"That...boy?" his mind clicked. "You met him?" he asked in excitement.

"Yes. He was...sweeping..." Lacus ignored Athrun's confused look. "He just...stared at me...It scared me...that dead look in his eyes..."

Athrun's mind flashed back to Kira in the dreamscape, when asked about the real world.

"I told him I was looking for the manager, to get a job. And after a while of no reactions, he moved...no...he was scared." Lacus confirmed, looking back at the tent still visible to her. "He was afraid. Not of me maybe coming in and stealing his glory, but...for me...Athrun...I think there's something we don't know...about Letlights Circus and Stage..."

"What makes you think so?"

'Besides the obvious?' he added mentally.

"The boy was scared...that man, his eyes glinted evilly when he looked at that boy...And he did everything he was told...like a doll...And Athrun..."

"Yea?"

"Even though he didn't speak to me...the boy's dead eyes were...pleading with me not to join their crew...His entire being screamed it...His arm was...covered in bruises..." she touched her left arm gently, as if it had been her own arm she'd seen injured.

"Bruises?" Athrun's eyes widened slightly. "How'd he get them? Do you think he-"

"I think that man...the manager...I think he did it..." she whispered. "I can't see him as a masochist." she smiled softly at that slight reassurance.

There was silence for a moment. Athrun was contemplating the information he'd learned. That circus boy...he never spoke a word to Lacus, and Kira never spoke...Could the dreamscape boy and the circus boy be the same person?

"L-lacus..." he asked suddenly. She turned to him. "Do you know...what his name is?"

"No." Lacus shook her head, frowning. The pink haired princess then smiled at her friend, taking his hands in her own. "But I accept him now...And you can like him...all you want..." she whispered, bringing his hands to her cheeks and enjoying the warmth of his hands.

"Lacus..." Athrun embraced her softly, a silent thank you...