Lync: With Dream downstairs, I get to be in charge.

Yumeí: Why are you so good at rock, paper, scissors?! It should be me doing that part.

Lync: It was chance, okay? Anyway, enjoy this chapter, readers.

Yumeí: Volt the floater. *snickers*

Mylene: Don't laugh. I don't find it very funny.

Time ceased to have meaning. Volt became a drifter, barely aware of the world around him. Hunger, thirst, exhaustion, he took them all without any thought of himself. The talk of putting him into a foster home had stopped the moment the adults had seen his depression. Doctors said he wouldn't live much longer than another year if he didn't come out of it.

Dead eyes. That was what Volt had now. Acts of both cruelty and kindness stopped having meaning to him. He was left alone most of the time, but whenever he wandered too close to the slums, he was beat on. Not that it hurt. His injures were only flesh wounds. Nothing could reach deep enough into him to change anything.

Volt wondered why he hadn't died a long time ago. Everyone he knew was dead. Why should he be any different?

During one of his wanderings, he found himself far too close to the slums. He didn't care. As he traveled, he heard a sound that wasn't unusual in this area: cries for mercy. When he turned the corner, there was a girl with dark pink hair surrounded by a pack of Gang members.

"Someone! Please help me!"

Her cries were in vain, Volt knew. No one would come. He stood and watched as the Gang members drew their circle around her even tighter, whispering threats. Volt just watched numbly.

Then her panicked eyes met his. In that moment, Volt realized that he was the only one who could help her. And for some reason, he wanted to.

The numbness inside him vanished to be replaced with hot anger. He strode forward.

"Leave her alone."

His voice cracked from lack of use, but his volume still attracted the attention of the girl's oppressors. They circled him now, taunting him. Volt paid their words no heed, concentrating on where they were standing. Then, his chance came: one of the Gang members had his weight unevenly distributed. He shoved the boy's left shoulder, knocking him over and starting a miniature game of dominos.

His victory was a small one, and it didn't last long. Volt found himself buried under the Gang members within the next minute. He pushed back, injuring many.

He had to give them credit for trying: his arms were covered in scratches, his ear was ringing from a well-place elbow, and his left cheek throbbed with a bruise. However, Volt had the advantage of size. The Gang members left, all nursing multiple injures and some broken bones.

Volt was surprised to find himself completely exhausted. Lack of food, water, proper rest, and regular excercise had weakened his muscles, and endurance; he was gasping and sweating more than he had in years.

The girl who'd been attacked walked over to him.

"Thank you," she whispered. "Are you okay?"

"I...think so," he gasped. "Just...a little...winded."

He tried to take a step forward, but then the ground rushed up to meet him.

*.*

"Dang! He's big! Where'd you find him?"

Volt cracked open his eyes and found the face of a child hovering inches above his own. He blinked, and the face moved away.

"He's awake!"

Volt sat up and twisted around. He was in a tiny house, the walls painted yellow. Out of an open doorway, he saw the navy blue haired child hiding behind the pink-haired girl that he'd rescued earlier.

"Good Morning," she greeted him. She calmly approached and placed a steaming bowl of soup on the bedside table. It took all the self-control Volt could muster not to swallow the whole bowl in one gulp. He paced himself, taking sips until it was all gone.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"Our house," the girl said, sitting on the floor next to him. "I brought you here after you fainted."

"Why?"

"You helped me," she answered. "Now its my turn to help you."

"Isha," the little boy complained. "I'm hungry."

"Just wait until Deru gets home," Isha called. She turned back to Volt. "Do you want to stay for dinner? Your family must be worried..."

Volt tried to ignore the flare of pain that accompanied her supposed harmless sentence.

"I don't have a family. They're all dead."

Isha's hand touched his.

"I'm so sorry. Mine too."

Yumeí: Strange how similar we all are.

Lync: We all have tragedies.

Mylene: What is going on down there? Dream and Shadow haven't come up yet.

Dream: *from downstairs* Everybody! Stay up there! I'll bring the pizza up in a minute or two!

Lync: I thought eating upstairs was against the rules.

Yumeí: It's still pizza. And I still want more reviews. So: PLEASE!