Before Tina could move, could react, could even think, the pain came. It was a screaming, burning, stabbing pain that ripped through her leg, her hip, and finally in her gut. She doubled over, clutching at her abdomen, and the pain screamed louder. It screamed and burned and burned and screamed until it was so loud and so hot that white spots exploded in front of her eyes and the planets gravity shifted. The change in direction of the planet's pull was so sudden that it sent poor Tiny Tina careening downward, landing on her side.

Then the pain was silent, and dark. The silent dark pain was even worse than the screaming hot pain. Instead of the hot pain forcefully shooting inside of her, she felt the warm blood pool out from her insides, and a terrifing cold filled the space. She couldn't scream, she could barely breathe. A taste like copper began to fill her mouth. The white spots that had filled her vision were replaced by a darkness creeping into the edges of her sight. She thought that the darkness and the silence and the cold would consume her.

"Target neutralized"

Until she heard that voice.

That inhumanly deep voice of that deeply inhuman man.

"Well hello, princess"

Her eyes shot open-she didn't even remember closing them-to see the man of her nightmares in front of her.

"Long time, no see"

She made an attempt to stand, only to fall back down in a ln even more painful lump, but there was a fire in her veins as she tried to crawl away form the monstrosity before her.

"What? No love for your old friend Wilhelm?"

He casually walked up to her injured form, plucking her from the ground by her neck like one would a pretty flower.

"That hurts"

He launched the small girl outwards.

For a moment, she was flying. It was a single beautiful moment without pain or fear or any inhibitions. She was weightless, free. If it had lasted long enough to be processed, it would have been the most joyful thing Tina could remember since the death of her parents.

But then the moment was over.

When she hit the wall, a blinding darkness of soul-tearing pain coated her being, killing her thousands of times and bringing her back thousands-of-times-plus-one all in a single second. Air was ripped from her lungs and replaced with shards of broken glass.

"It hurt when you ran away too"

He leaned down to face her, the optic that had replaced his eyes was to large for his face. An inctinctual fear caused her to back away, only to end up pressed against the wall.

Something small and irregularly shaped was pressed into her thigh, and she reached down to grab it, only to find that it was in her pockets.

The detonator.

"I go through all that trouble, getting you and your family alive"

The detonator was in her pockett.

He was going to kill her.

She would not give him such pleasure.

Keeping eye-to-optic with the monster in front of her, she slowly reached downward. Wilhelm was inches from her face and his breath was unbearable. He brought a handgun up to eye level, a sick snile spreading across his features.

"Any last reqests?"

She felt the detonater, thumbed the top, and took in a deep breath through her nose. Aside from Wilhelm's rancid breath, she was able to smell her own blood, the damp smell of her cave mixed with explosives, and some sweet smell, like spring. She smiled, holding on to that smell, and closed her eyes.

"Wilhelm? Scream for me."

She pushed the button.

Her ears popped, and everything became warm. It got warmer and warmer and hot and hotter until she was sure that she would melt into a pool of heat and-

Then, everything was gone. Tina opened her eyes, stood up, and realized just how good she sufdenly felt. She looked around for Wilhelm but saw no one. Her home was empty, save for a silhouette at the mouth of her cave.

"Hey Tina,"

She fell to her knees-oddly there was no more blood-at the sound of that voice.

"R-Roland?"

"Yes?"

"Is that you? They said you were dead," He walked up to her, helping the girl to her feet, and held her in a tight embrace. "I'm here, it's ok," he gently stroked her hair.

And it was ok. As Tina looked around, everything was perfect. Her stock of explosives were in a neat, large pile, the cave was as clean as she had ever seen it, and a beautiful tea spread was on her table, steam steadily rolling off of the crumpets while there was a porclin cover on the ornate and clearly expensive teapot.

Roland smiled down at her and went to sit at the table. She followed and took the seat across from him. "Did you do this?" she eyed him curiously as he poured her tea. "Yes I did, but i will admit I was hoping that you would take a bit longer getting here, quite a bit longer, actually..." he looked a bit sad as he said the last bit and Tina wasn't exactly sure why... but she was pretty sure she had a way to fix it. In one swift moment she grabbed her glass from his hand, took one large gulp, and sprayed the entire thing in Roland's face.

"Well if you made the tea then there's no way it is drinkable," Tina smirked. Roland looked as if he had been shot-an uneasy thought for the young girl-before cracking a grin and grabbing a handful of crumpets and throwing them in Tina's face with a laugh. "Food fight!" Tina screamed gleefully.

The subsequent battle seemed to last for hours, but they never seemed to run out of food. It was only when Tina was about to smash an entire strawberry cake-where it came from was anyone's guess-over the soilder's head that he held up his hands in surrender. "Say it," Tina said, still holding the large cake. "Say what?" he panted, a smile plastered on his pastery-ridden face.

"Say that I am the supreme leader and champion of all culinary wars, now and forever."

He smiled at her statment and said with all the dignity of addressing genuine royalty, "You are the supreme leader and champion of all cullinary wars, now and forever," Tina beamed at him. "Good," she said plainly, and dropped the cake directly on his face.

After another much shorter playful round of debauchery they began to settle down and actually have a tea party, albiet a chaotic one givin the mess. Eventually that sad look came back to Roland's features, and Tina noticed the seriousness in his eyes. She met his gaze, "you have to go, don't you?" she asked. "No,"-her heart rose at his words,-"but you do," and it fell just as quickly. She didn't want to go, she didn't even know where to go, but she knew he wasn't lying.

"Where am i going?"

Where most thirteen-year-olds go."

"Home, to your parents."

SMACK*

The smack laid across the soilder's cheek after his last statment was loud and echoing. "Don't lie to me Ro-Ro, we both know where they are," Roland looked up, rubbing his cheek, a somber seriousness still on his face. "I would never lie to you, Tina, They're just outside."

She looked out of the mouth of her cave, but only saw blinding light. "What is it?" She asked earnestly. He looked to her, then back to the outside and gave a slight shrug. "Beyond," Was all he gave.

Tina inched closer and closer until she was almost to the light before turnibg around to her guardian. "You'll come too, right?" she asked. He let out a long sigh and a sad smile, "I have more people to wait for, but thats not a no."

It wasn't a "yes" either, and they both knew it.

"I'll come back all the time," She said, and for the first time she doubted herself, mabu even flat lied.

"Go, Tina."

And she did.

A/N: Three things: one, I am SO sorry for the delay!! i have no excuse. please review and suggest any new ideas you have!

Two: The reason this thing is split in two parts is due to a bug on the mobile version of the app, which is what i use, that limits the doc. at around 2000 words. I am so sorry for the inconvience.

Three: GleefulHeretic updated! The story "nothing is never an option" is what got me into this. But it was Two years so i tried to finish it on my own and i still am unless i am told otherwise. Also, GleefulHeretic's chapter has some consistancies with my own, which is a cool coincidance, but thats all it is. Our stories should be seperate. Goodbye for now friends.