"It's to the left!"

"Right!"

"Left!"

"Who has the car here?"

Both siblings were in Jake's car trying to decide which direction they should take. They had entered the ruins' territory and had been in some kind of maze made out of rocks and stones that had once been part of the building where the explosion took place. From Sei's perspective, at first it was fun to watch Jake loose his marbles as he came so close to crashing his precious car, but now, she was getting anxious to see the damage.

"I don't care! We have to go left!" said Sei as if it were definitive. And it was.

"Fine. Fine." Jake turned the steering wheel to the left. It was amazing how even though he was the oldest, she seemed capable of manipulating him perfectly to whatever she wanted. And the weird thing was, that she wasn't a spoiled girl, on the contrary, she hardly ever asked for anything.

"This is as far as we go," he sighed, stopping and turning around to look at Sei, who was looking at the large rocks in the pavement right in front of them. She sat there for a few moments silently before she opened the car door, got out and walked away.

"Hey, wait!" said Jake, putting the car in "Park" and opening the door; he tried to get out but the seatbelt stopped him. He took it off forcefully and cursing, got out of the car and followed after Sei.

"What the hell's your problem?" he snapped, grabbing hold of Sei's arm and turning her towards him. "Are you trying to kill yourself?"

"There's no sign of danger anywhere." She said, trying to free her arm.

"Have you stopped to think of the reason nobody is out here?"

"They're probably afraid." She said, jerking free and walking away again. Jake followed close behind his sister mumbling things that could happen if she didn't stick by him. He was taken by surprise when she stopped walking; he almost walked right into her. He was about to ask what the problem was this time, but the fact that she looked in some kind of trance stopped him.

He followed her gaze and then saw an object on the pavement.

"What's that?" he whispered.

"I don't know…" she whispered back.

They stood there silently, staring at it. Sei was the first to break out of her trance, by running to whatever it was. Jake stood there a couple of seconds more before he realized what his sister was doing.

"It's a person." She called back to him. "A guy, to be specific," she added, when her brother was right next to her.

"How can you tell? It has long hair… and its face is so… feminine, you know?"

"His shoulders are way too wide and his hips are… well, masculine." She said. There was silence as Jake studied his sister. "Bring the car, Jake." She added.

"What?" asked Jake, surprised. "What for?"

"To take him of course." She said, patting the guys back gently.

"What do you mean take him?"

"What, am I speaking alien here? We're going to take him home."

"Why?"

"He's hurt," she began, looking up at her brother defiantly, "and now we have somebody to share the house with." At Jake's confused expression, she smiled and explained, "you know all those times you complain of 'why do we have so many rooms for if we don't use them'?"

Jake nodded and then he understood. He closed his eyes in irritation, cursing. Leave it to his sister to remember all his complaints, and curse his speaking-out-loud thoughts. With a hint of laughter, Sei asked him once more to bring the car. Jake had no choice. He left Sei behind while he started moving rocks out of the way to let the car pass through. Like that wasn't enough, it had started sprinkling again.

Meanwhile, Sei observed the males position. His hand was reaching out towards an abandoned house a couple of yards away and his legs gave her indication that he had tried to crawl over. At that moment she noticed a strange sound. It was a hissing sound, similar to the one produced when cold water touches a hot pan. She turned to her brother to see if he noticed it too, but he was too busy cursing, mumbling and moving rocks to pay attention. She looked back down at the male on the floor, only to hold her breath when she noticed something… strange and unbelievable.

Every time a raindrop touched the man's body, there was a slight hissing sound, but what surprised her the most was the fact that faint green smoke was produced as reaction.

The rain… why doesn't that happen to me? She looked at her hand confused. As the rain began to fall harder, and the smoke began to get heavier, she decided that now was not the time to try and answer her own question. As far as Sei could see, the cool rain, ironically, burnt the man, so she had to try and do something to help him. She looked around and then her eyes crashed into the house again.

The house… He knew and he tried to crawl to safety…

Without hesitating, she turned him around, and saw the wound on his forehead; she was about to focus on it, when the man's face twisted in agony, prompting her to forget the wound for now. She sat him up, came up behind him, hugged his torso and started dragging him towards the house. She was practically carrying dead weight, but adrenaline and determination made her inner strength came out to her aid and she managed to drag him inside the house successfully. Breathing hard to catch her breath, she laid him down on the cold and hard floor and then looked around as she stretched her back.

There were old and torn rags in a far corner. The inside of the house wasn't much better than the outside. It had a very gloomy feeling to it, and there was gray light coming into the house through the broken windows. She could hear water drops somewhere in the house; probably a roof leak.

She began looking for the bathroom, and when she found it, she opened the water faucet and released a sigh of relief when clean water came out. She took her shirt off and rinsed it, washing all the rain water away and cursing under her breath when she realized she should have worn another shirt under or brought at least a jacket; she would have to be wearing nothing but her bra in the open.

She was back to the male's side when another thought came to her mind. The rain water had hurt him, right? Well, what if the faucet water hurt him too? There was only one way to find out. Taking her shirt, she squeezed some water into the guys face and to her relief, there was no reaction. Quickly, she kneeled down and started cleaning his face with her shirt. Then she centered some attention to the wound on his forehead by pressing her shirt against it so it would absorb the blood. "Nothing a bandage can't cover." She looked him over a bit more; there were slight burn marks on his face and around his neck, but nothing too severe. Perhaps a bit of aloe would be enough to treat those once she got him home.

"Sei?" her brother called to her from the outside. "Where are you?"

"In the house!" she called back to him, turning her head slightly towards the door.

"How did you get in here?" he asked, stepping into the house but then stopped short. "Whoa, hey; what's your shirt doing all over his face?" he asked.

"Forget that. Where's the car?"

"It's right outside the house." He said.

Sei looked out the door and saw the car parked outside. To her relief, she saw that the rain had also eased up. She removed the shirt from the guys face and when Jake saw the blood stain on it, he began making a big fuss out of it. "Jake, forget the blood. It can be washed away. He needs help."

Rolling his eyes away from his sister, he bent down and picked up the male from the floor by the torso, dragged him out; she stepped out of the abandoned house wearing the blood stained, water dripping shirt. He looked at her disapprovingly, but as she was about to take her shirt off once again, he shook his head and told her it was better for her to keep it on until they got home. With her help, he was able to put the unconscious man into the car and settle him in the back seat as gently as he could.

"Man," said Jake, putting his hands on his lower back and stretching back. "How did you manage to drag him in there?"

She smiled.

"I don't think that's normal" said Jake when he and his sister were already home. They had put the male on the living room floor—orders by Jake who didn't want the couches to get wet— and Sei—who was wearing another shirt— had told him about the smoke that came out of the males body when a rain drop touched him. She was careful to leave out the part of the fact that the smoke was green.

"Neither do I, but when I splashed his face with water, there was no reaction."

"I think we should take him back to where we found him."

"No." said Sei. "We already brought him here, might as well just keep him." The way she said that was almost as if she were discussing the future of a new pet, which visibly bothered Jake. "Besides, we don't know what happened. We know there was an explosion, so I mean, what if he was on fire before and the smoke only meant the cold water touching his hot coat?"

"Probably, but he doesn't smell like—"

"Jake. Think about what if." Sei was about to lose her temper.

"Okay, okay." Said Jake. "So, we have… many rooms. Where do we put him?"

"How about the one next to mine?" When Jake eyed her warily, she explained. "It's close enough for both of us to keep an eye on him."

"Alright." Sei leaned over the stranger and touched his forehead."He has a fever." She informed her brother. "You're going to have to bathe him. Oh c'mon Jake," she added when she saw the you're-pushing-this-too-far expression on her brother's face. "Unless of course, you want me to see his—"

"Okay, okay! I'll do it!"

Sei almost laughed. Once again, she helped Jake carry the male, this time to the bathroom, where he was settled on the floor forcefully. Carrying him back and forth was beginning to seem like a workout; she could bet that by next day both of them were going to be sore. With this in mind, she began testing the water to see how cold it should be while Jake brought some of his clothes to put on the newcomer.

"There, the water's ready."

"Isn't the water too cold?" asked Jake touching the water.

"I think that's about right… if you think it should be a little warmer, then okay, but remember that the whole point is to help bring the fever down." Sei answered stepping out of the bathroom and into the kitchen to prepare some soup for the three of them.

Several minutes later, Jake had settled the male on the room next to his sister's and Sei forced a couple of spoonfuls of soup down his throat until he moved his head sideways in a matter of saying "No More."

They could understand that the man was more tired than hungry. While they both watched him sleep, Jake was getting a shoulder massage from his sister who kept thanking him for his help.

"I think your theory that he was on fire is accurate," he was saying. "I saw some burn marks on his face, but they're more prominent around his neck and his wrists. But that's it." He held his breath as Sei pushed deep into his shoulder blades and then released the air, relieved, before continuing. "That coat must be something else, alright; it protected the rest of his body just fine." When Sei had applied a bit of aloe onto the man's skin, they considered it all they could do for now and went out to eat something themselves.

Afterwards, Jake informed his sister that he would be taking a nap; after reassuring that she was okay with it, she went on to add that she would be taking care of the new guy.

Sei was beginning to think it was pointless to watch over the silver haired young man; he was sound asleep. Staring at him sleeping so peacefully made her go to sleep a few hours later. She was awakened by a groan. Her eyes opened slowly, her mind slightly foggy with sleep and her back and legs aching from the uncomfortable position she had been in for over an hour in the chair next to the bed. For a moment she wondered where she was but when she heard a groan again, she awoke quickly. She looked at the time in bright red colors the clock indicated next to her; 2:33. When the third groan came to her ears, she stood up and turned to the room, seeking blindly for a cloth. When she found one, she tossed it over the lamp next to the clock and turned it on.

The dim light reached through the fabric and touched the young man's face. His eyes were closed but his face was in so much tension and showed so much pain that Sei herself could feel it without explanation. She frowned worriedly when his breathing started speeding.

"Ma..."

"Hm?" Sei's frown turned to a confused expression. Had she heard something or was her tired mind playing games with her?

She stared down at him, half expecting him to say something else, if he had. She shook her head, trying to make herself believe that she was imagining things. Figuring that maybe he felt a bit hot, she stood, and walked towards the bowl of water set aside with a cloth in it; she took the cloth and squeezed some water out of it, but left most in before walking back to him. Bending over his body, she took a corner of the cloth and gently rubbed it against his face, the cracked aloe moistening a bit before peeling off. To her surprise, the skin underneath was already normal; a soft, almost ashen skin; there was a green tint to it, but that must have been because of the shirt she threw onto the lamp.

She went and rinsed the cloth in the bowl and then came back to rub the cloth on his neck; once again the cracked aloe moistened and then peeled off neatly. Sei gasped; Jake had mentioned that the burn marks were more prominent on his neck and wrists, but even so, it was as if they were never there. Maybe the skin hadn't been burnt as much as she thought; maybe it was only because it was right after the shower that she applied aloe on his skin that she thought the area was pink, when in reality it could've been as normal as it was now.

She stretched her back and walked towards the window. His breathing was more stable, just a small amount of pressure somewhere.

"…Der…"

Her head turned towards the bed again. She was certain she had heard something this time. But how could that be? He was laying so peaceful in that bed and even his breathing had gone back to normal. She went to go place herself in the same chair again, and then picked up a pen from the table next to the bed. She drummed it against her hand to a rhythm of a song she really liked. Before she knew it, she was already whispering the lyrics.

The hours passed by fast; when she looked at the clock again, the numbers had changed and the time now read 5:36.

She looked at the silver haired guy again; watching him sleep was making her tired. Perhaps a few more hours of sleep would—

"Ma…"

She saw his lips move. There was no way she could've imagined that if she was wide awake. And his voice, an edgy, strained voice, couldn't be imagined either. Without waiting, she scribbled what she had heard in the palm of her hand.

"'Ma'?" she said aloud. "What does it mean? Is it a foreign language?" She was concentrating so hard on whether what the man had said was a different language or not, that she almost missed the second thing he said.

"…Der…"

She frowned at him questioningly before scribbling down the other word in her hand. What in the world was he trying to say? And to who?

She spent two hours trying to figure that out. At 7:45, her brother came in fully dressed.

"Whoa, I slept all night… I'm sorry I…" he stopped. He noticed the thoughtful expression in his sister's face. "What's wrong?"

"Last night," she said, tapping the end of the pen against her cheek debating just what to tell him, "He was delirious. And he kept whispering two words I really don't know what they mean." She extended her hand so he could see the words written on it. He saw the word 'Der' under the word 'Ma'. She didn't think it was necessary to tell him about the skin burns and whatnot; she was sure that if she mentioned it, it would just reassure Jake that it was yet another reason why they should just dump the man back where they had found him.

"That's strange." He said, a thoughtful expression climbing on his face. "He only said 'Ma' and 'Der'?"

And then, Sei's eyes widened. "Jake, I think I just figured it out." She said, looking at the man on the bed and then back at her brother. She explained what her theory was and then Jake widened his eyes as well. It made sense.

Every time the male dreamed something, he would move. Every time he moved, his body would ache and then he would groan and utter cut words. Sei understood now that put together, 'Ma' and 'Der' formed a childish plea for "mother."