Bittersweet

"Please! I'll do anything, just don't hurt my son!" Seamus watched, hidden in a cabnet in the corner of the room. His mother and father stood, sobbing, trying to fend away the Nietzcheans.

"I'm sorry..." his mother kept on repeating, over and over again. "I'm so sorry..."

"Where is the boy!" the biggest asked, smacking his father across the face. It sent the smaller man to the ground, and Seamus started to shake as blood dripped from his mouth and onto the dirty work books that he shot through every day.

Come to think of it... red was everywhere. Seeping in at the edges of his vision, blurring over people and shapes, until it was so thick that the only way to tell one thing from another was the density of the redness.

"I'll ask you one more time," the Nietzchean said venomously. "Where. Is. The. Boy."

"I'll never tell you, Uber!" his father screamed couragously. His mother sobbed louder, falling to her knees. She raised a shaky hand towards the cabnet.

"Thank you, kludge," the Nietzchean sneered. But he didn't go for the cabnet; no, he slapped his mother, causing her to fall to the floor as well, then turned on his father.

The last things Seamus remembered, was silently crying for his parents...

His eyes snapped open, sweat practically pouring from his skin. He whipped the sweat from his brow and looked back outside. The rain had slowed down somewhat, and a short relaspe would occure if he was really lucky.

"Shay?" he snapped around, still edgy. It was only Kiki.

"Yeah?" he asked gruffly. He fingered the lump in his sweatshirt, from the clothes and rations stuffed there for Tasha.

"If you hurt her in any way that is unfixable," Kiki threatened; her voice was never higher then a whisper, yet never ceased to make him shudder. "I will not kill you... no, I will do much, much worse, until you wish you were dead."

"Too late for that," Seamus chuckled dryly. "Not only do I wish I were dead, but my heart and most of my mind really are; only so long until my body follows."

"Don't talk like that," Kiki said, glaring at him. She leaned against the entrance beside him. "What's black and white and red all over?"

"Betrayal," Seamus answered. "Why can't you ever just ask me normally?"

"Why can't you ever just answer me normally?" Kiki shot back. "Now... are you going to leave now? Or later?"

"Now," Seamus nodded to himself. He tugged up his hood over his dirty hair, and without another glance at Kiki, stepped back outside and hurried along the streets. The last bits of rain burned holes into his sweatshirt, and then into his skin, but it barely registered into his mind...

What did register was when, several minutes later, he ran into something. Something large. Something large, tall, and living. And that something large was mad.

Seamus stepped back and looked around him quickly. He was on the sidewalk; how crazy could he get! There was a small ally to his left, but he would have to cross the street, so that wa out of the question. There was a sewer entrance below him... but the Nietzchean was too close for him to make it that way alive.

He muttered an appology, and stepped off of the sidewalk. He tried to get away before the Uber thought twice about him, but he wasn't that lucky...

"What do you think your doing, kludge?" he asked, grabbing hold of his shoulder. Seamus winched, and almost immediately, red started to shimmer at the edges of his vision.

"Jus' out fer a walk..." Seamus mumbled, trying to do one of the stupid impressions that Brendan used to do all the time. "Why? Izzit a crime?"

"It's a crime to disrespect those of higher rank than you," the Nietzchean snarled, whirling him around. Seamus' hood fell, and it clicked into his mind that the rain had stopped. He hoped against hope that the Nietzchean didn't recognise him... "And you, kludge, have done that."

"Sorri," Seamus said, keeping his eyes low. He rolled his shoulder slightly, in attempt to hide his data port... thankfully the Nietzchean didn't notice. No, he was too busy swinging his fist back...

In moments Seamus was sprawled out awkwardly on the ground, he didn't dare move more then to groan pathetically and raise his hand to his neck, or to curl up as the Uber kicked his gut several times. It was only a few minutes before the Nietzchean grew tired of him and walked away to find new pray...

Nietzcheans were too easy to predict.

Seamus listened carefully until he was possitive that no one was near by before he cautiously stood up. Out of habit he looked both ways before slipping into the small ally he spied earlier and walked down it. It was better to be safe then sorry.

He was relieved to see that the street continued on the other side, and walked down it carefully. It wasn't until he had walked three or four blocks when he realised where he was. He was so used to getting to his home from the other direction, that he hadn't realised he was right at it! In fact, if he looked up, he could see his window, and the very tip of his burnt out candle...

He strained his ears, but couldn't hear anyone crying.

He made his way around the building slowly, looking this way and that for Ubers. He found none. He entered the building, still being careful. Each step seemed to take forever, and straying just a little weighed down his heart.

'I knew I never should of gotten attached to anyone,' he thought to himself. 'But wait... I've only known her for a week! It's illogical that I could be attached to her! Unless she's a witch...'

"Great Seamus Z.," he muttered aloud. "Now your thinking like your primative forefathers..."

When he finally reached the final entrance to his ghetto, he shut his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. He tried to prepare himself for whatever would be waiting for him... when he did finally step into his home, he was quite shocked.

There was Tasha sitting at his desk, humming as she organised his papers... in fact, his entire home was neatly organised. Everything from stains on the floor to tears and rips in material to the blood on his knife was cover up, stichted up or cleaned in some way. And when Tasha looked up to greet him, there was no tears or sadness in her eyes.

What shocked him even more was that she jumped up and ran to give him a bone crushing hug.

"Your back!" she giggled. "Hope you don't mind... I got sort of bored so I cleaned everything up! I even found a needle and some thread, so I could fix some things up. Good, no?"

"Tasha... I..." Seamus blinked. "Okay, what happened?"

"Nothing!" she said a little too quickly. She walked back over to the desk and finished organising the papers before turning to look at him. "So... did you get what you leaved for?"

"What?" he blinked again. "What did I leave for?"

"Nothing!" she repeated. "It doesn't matter! Did you have fun while you were gone?"

"This is Earth Tasha," Seamus looked at her curiously. "Okay... spill. What's up with you?"

"I told you," Tasha giggled again. "Nothing... can't you trust me?"

"I barely know you," Seamus sighed, and sat down on his bed. "I got you some clothes though... and some food."

"That's nice of you," Tasha sat down in his chair, looking at him. "But I really don't need anything... thanks."

"No really, you do," Seamus replied, pulling the clothes and rations out of his sweater. He tossed them to her, and she looked through them slowly. "Well... what have you been up to since I've been gone?"

"Just cleaning," Tasha said slowly, distracted by the clothes. "Why?"

"Well... um..." Seamus fell back onto his bed, and looked up at the cracked ceiling. Now was the perfect time to ask... all he had to do was say 'because I was wondering if whatever I did before I left effected you... speaking of which, what did I do before I left?'. Or maybe, 'I'm sorry, I suffer from some god forsaken mental illness that makes me black out, and I have no clue what I did to you. Please tell me I didn't rape you!'. "No reason... though you should change, you'll want to look nice for Kiki."

"Kiki?" Tasha's voice sounded nervous, and slightly scared. "Why would I be seeing Kiki?" Seamus propped himself up on his elbows to look at her panicked face. He didn't know why he was saying this... it was as if he didn't have controll over himself.

"Because you'll be living with her," he answered. He closed his eyes for a few moments: when he opened them, Tasha's merky hazel eyes glistened red with tears... He was getting close to another black out. "It's safer, and more logical then for you to stay here."

"But... but..." her tears fell freely now. "But I want to stay! Please! Forgive me, I'm sorry!"

At these words Seamus' vision swam ever more with red, and his mind span as if he were intoxicated.

'--Never, -ever- call me that again or else I'll throw you out!--'

'--No... please don't! I'm so sorry! I won't do anything like that ever again! Please!!--'

'--Shut up! Your too much of a liability to have around you bitch!--'

Seamus shook his head. Where had that come from?

"It's logical Tasha," Seamus said soothingly. "Eat some food and get changed, and then I'll take you to the tunnels... and don't worry. She'll treat you well." Seamus stood up and headed for the door.

"Wh-where are you going?" she asked, her voice small and shrill.

"Just to look around," Seamus reassured her. Tasha nodded feebily, and curled up tightly on the chair. That was the last time Seamus saw her for awhile, and forever as he would remember her...

Bittersweet memories never fade.