A/N: Shorter, yes, but I was delaying this chapter because I had to find a way to write this. And now that I've found what I want to write, I shall write. Sorry about the length. Kevin's POV.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. At all.

If it was ever possible to have an elephant that didn't even fit in the room, that was me. I don't think I had ever felt more awkward and out of place than I did at that exact moment.

First it was the scrutinizing eyes and the disapproving stare. Then she looked me up and down like she was sizing me up. At that point, I was suppressing my instinct to just come out and dropkick her. I wasn't a bit fan of being looked at like prey to be chewed up and spit out. And Gwen's mom looked like she was going to eat me for breakfast. Honestly, she did.

The funnier part about being the elephant in the room was that we weren't even in a room. We were standing on Gwen's freakin' porch.

So after Gwen's mom had stared me down, looking into my soul and digging around in there, she finally turned back to her daughter and continued to ooze about how much she had missed her and blah blah blah.

Don't get me wrong, I love happy endings as much as the next guy, but I was seriously feeling like the training wheel on a bike that just wouldn't come off. Like I was something not even a wrench could fix. No, it wasn't just the glare and the critical analysis I'd gotten from her mom. It was the way this whole neighborhood was something completely foreign to me. It took me a few seconds to realize that it wasn't just the neighborhood; it was this world, this realm, this dimension. This whole place was foreign.

And even Gwen was becoming foreign. In the Null Void, she had picked up on my slang, dropping the last few letters of words like I had a tendency to do. She was talking all proper with her ma again. We were on completely different wavelengths. I was still in the fight to survive mode whereas she had gone soft again in a matter of moments. She didn't need to worry about finding food or a place to sleep anymore. Gwen had a home to go back to. It was big and beautiful and incredible...

And it made me feel smaller.

I was pretty sure that we'd spent about a third of our lives in that dimensional prison and, for some reason, we had suddenly grown apart. After all we'd been through, I was on the back burner without even knowing it. I was always either the elephant in the room or the third wheel. Now wasn't any different.

They kept chattering like a couple of chimps. Of course, I never wanted to compare Gwen to a chimp before, but now that she had reverted back to the state I had found her in, she was someone else. Even after everything we went through, after everything I did for her, after all those times I protected her... All that was forgotten after being in the comfort of somewhere she could call home.

Love means nothing compared to family, does it? It's just another word in the ocean of this stupid English language. And after all the times I saved her goddamn life...

Maybe I wouldn't have been taking it so hard had I not been neglected as a child. I was usually pretty used to being on my own for most of my life. Met Ben, made a friend. Got trapped in an interdimensional prison. Friendship got me nowhere. When Gwen came along, I gave the whole friendship thing a second chance. Friends turned to best buds which developed into lovers and then we were in that one moment where I was the dust of a distant memory.

Yeah, fuck friendship. It gets you left behind every time. Fuck it. Two chances. Not a third. Not a third chance.

I hooked my thumbs into the pockets of my jeans and watched the sidewalk. I was losing the girl I knew each second. That girl who I had bandaged, who I had rescued, who I had loved...

Damn love. Fuck it.

Gwen's back was turned to me. I knew she wouldn't hear my footsteps as I walked away. I had a few scores to settle. She had brought me to the right place and then decided to leave me behind at the wrong time. If only she had been paying mode attention... If only the goddamn world had waited... Maybe if her parents hadn't been home... Maybe if they had moved... All these thoughts were running through my head as I carefully walked my way down the sidewalk without a sound. My footsteps were nearly silent. Gwen was too wrapped up in her conversation to even consider listening for me.

I was off her street in a matter of minutes. I had walked past all those perfect houses and past all those big buildings that looked like they had been ripped right out of those home makeover magazines. Pristine white picket fences. Gardens of red roses. Golden retrievers playing in emerald yards. This was where she belonged.

I belonged in a city of darkness. I belonged in a place where the crime rate was higher than I could count and where drugs were sold on every corner. I belonged in a place where my survival instincts could be put to use instead of just making me paranoid. I had to be somewhere else. This wasn't home. This could never be home. No. Not for me.

So I kept my thumbs hooked in my pockets and kept my eyes on the big blue sky. I was just glad to be free, out from beneath the bloody red. Free. And alone.

A/N: Next chapter could either be easier or harder to write… Sorry about all the angst. It's just how I want to express this chapter. Reviews are great!

~Sky