Author's Note: Thank to those who are reading this, but don't forget to hit the little review button, it doesn't take too much effort. Big thanks to macrauchenia for being a great beta!

I don't own the FAYZ

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Chapter 2

As soon as Jace woke up he realized something was missing from his bed. He looked over his shoulder and Crissy was gone. His blond eyebrows came together as he began to get up. He reached high over his head and held of the top of the door frame, stretching out his lean, muscled body.

He was dressed in a pair of basketball shorts that began to slip over his hip bones so he tightened the drawstring. He walked to the other side of the house where Crissy had a made an office and a store room.

"Hey, babe—" The words died on his lips as he realized she was not there. All that Jace found was a locked box under the desk and an empty notebook on top.

Jace scowled but went to the den near the kitchen. It was a simple room with sliding glass doors that opened up onto the back porch and boring beige walls and wood floors. They had turned this room into a place for Dwight to sleep whenever they needed him and to act as Jace's personal guard.

"Dwight, man, you seen Crissy?" Jace asked but Dwight wasn't in his bed either. "What the hell?" he mumbled to himself as he went out the back door.

He went to the fence where a few planks had been torn out to provide an easy way to get to the house where the guards slept. In one corner of the guard's yard was a shed with windows were Sean did all his work of making alcohol in there. Jace slammed open the back door into the kitchen and saw one of his guards sitting on the counter eating a cabbage leaf with rat meat shredded up inside.

"You seen Dwight or Crissy?" Jace snapped.

"Dwight went to the market; the girls wanted him to get something set up in their house." The teenage boy took a bite of his food. "Crissy took a few guys and left, don't know where," he mumbled around a full mouth.

Jace didn't even answer; he turned on his heel and stormed out of the house. Anger was rolling his thoughts into vengeful ideas, but his thoughts broke easily as giggling rose up out of the other yard. It was the house next to his and the guards'. The girls' house.

Jace knew that this would be a good way to keep him busy today, so he sauntered over to the house where all the serving girls stayed. As soon as he passed through the hole in the fence, he knew he made the right decision.

Girls were lounging in lawn chairs across the back yard and dressed in skimpy bikinis. They had set out sliced cantaloupes for them to eat and if he ignored the dry, brittle grass in the yard it could almost look like a normal backyard party to him.

"Jace" called Mercedes as she waved him over from her lounging spot under the shade from the house. "What bring you here and dressed so appropriately at that?" The dark haired girl let her eyes drift over the length of his shirtless body.

Jace grinned as his blue eyes returned the favor and he looked over her body and purple halter top bikini. He made sure to raise his hand like he was pushing his hair back so that he could look through his fingers so that he could use his powers and see through the skimpy bikini material. "Just checking things out, you know."

"You know what we could really use here?" She sat up and motioned for him to take a seat on empty chair next to her.

"What's that?" Jace sat.

Mercedes smiled coyly as she sat in his lap and crossed her legs. "A pool."

Jace snorted. "Where am I going to get a pool in here?"

Mercedes wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her chest. She placed a kiss on cheek. "Think about it, we could get some sea water rolled up here in barrels. It'll be nice and cool."

Jace looked over a saw one of the guards coming through the fence. "Hey you, run to the market and find Dwight. Tell him to find one of those set up pools with the metal posts. Deep as he can find and get it get up in here. "

~x~X~x~

Will watched helplessly as Demi twisted in bed, wrapping himself in blankets as cold sweat dripped off his face. Demi could no longer hold onto Max. The little boy would thrash as coughing would wrack his poor body. Will had resorted to giving his little blanket that felt like rabbit fur whenever Demi begged for Max.

Will was getting to the point where he had no choice. Leaving his brother alone for the first time in who knows how long, he began to search his house for something to bribe with. He had traded all the drugs in his house, the food was for Demi, he didn't have any guns, and all he had was kitchen knives for weapons. Will looked through the stores of food he had and found little other than some water and old vegetables and a cantaloupe. He dug through empty cupboards finding nothing but old boxes and wrappers that had been emptied long ago.

Then he found a bottle in the back of his parents closest. He didn't want to trade this but he had no other option. A single dark bottle of wine from his parent's wedding would have to act as the delivery payment.

He took another trip to his room to find his old backpack and school stuff. He pulled out a plain number two pencil and began to write down his last shot at hope.

Dear Nikki,

I need your help right away. Please. Aerik and Athene too if they'll come. Demi has gotten really bad. A fever, coughing, that stuff. Anything you could do will help me. You three are our only hope.

Please,

Will

Will took the note and found a kid who was more than willing to deliver the note to the Jack house in exchange for the wine bottle.

With that done, Will went to the dark room where he hovered over Demi and hoped Nikki and the Jacks would come soon with some miracle in tow.

~x~X~x~

Kris huddled behind a bush trying to pull out the marker he had stuck in his pocket.

"Kris?" Jean called out and Kris began to fumble even more. Finally the marker was free.

"Kris, give me that!" Jean tackled the scrawny kid, ripping the marker from his hands and dropping vegetables at the same time.

"It's mine!" Kris growled and shoved at her face with his nails.

Jean bit him and yanked the marker free. She jumped to her fee and stomped the marker into the ground, cracking the plastic casing, spilling the liquid. As the fluid was soaked into the dirt, she grabbed what was left of the inside with ink and threw it as far away as she could.

Kristos burst into tears as grabbed at the dirt. He cupped his hands around the dirt and tried to inhale it.

Jean's eyes flashed and she kicked him in the ribs, sending him flying backwards onto his back. "Look at you!"

"I need that," he cried. "I need that. It's all I have!" Kris started to shake, his trembling as he wrapped his arms around himself. "I don't have nothing now!"

Jean sat down on her knees next to him. He rocked back and forth, staring at the ink-stained ground. She looked him straight in the eye and wiped a smudge of dirt from his nose. "No, Kristos. You don't need that anymore."

"It's all I have, it's all I have," he mumbled into his arms. "Nothing else. Nothing."

Jean's face scrunched together. "You've got me," she whispered to his greasy black hair.

"I've got you?" Kris looked up, his eyes were red and he still looked like he was crying.

Jean couldn't help it; she laughed out loud and then laughed even harder at the look on Kris' face. "Yeah. 'Cause you got me, and baby, I got you."

"Babe?" He swallowed hard, still trying to decipher why she was laughing.

Jean nodded. "I got you babe, I got you babe," she sang again.

Kris finally joined her laughing, mixed with a few tears. "I got you babe."

~x~X~x~

It wasn't very often that Athene went to the market. She avoided it most the time and she hadn't been allowed by her "keepers" since she had been sick. She wasn't sure is if it was her imagination or what, but it seemed like there were less people roaming the streets. She didn't mind it. She tried staying away from most people, but there were still some things she wanted. The hardware store wasn't completely bare; it still had some things in it, things like nails and screws. Athene knew that the most important things in life were the things you over looked.

She went into the wreckage of the store, no one really paying much attention to her outside. Most of the buckets were gone, but a couple five gallon ones were still there, of which she took two. She filled buckets with nails and screws, lengths of rope, glue, and duct tape plus any type of building material she could find and fit into her buckets or tie on her belt with plastic bags.

While she was tying a rope of tape rolls together, she heard someone come in and hid behind a rack, trying to see who it was.

"Of all the damned things to send me for, a pool? Just one more thing to take care of," said the tall boy.

Athene stepped out scales rippling up her arms. "What are you doing here?"

Dwight jumped back, she was right in front of him, her scales out and her brown eyes were angry. "Sorry," he said shoving his hair back. "I'm not here for trouble. I'm looking for a pool."

"A pool?" Athene scowled at him.

Dwight's normally calm composure melted off. "Yes, a pool for who knows what God damned reason. Jace decided he wants a pool. Next I'll be carrying water up from the ocean and bowing to two kings instead of one."

"Sorry, I didn't know." Athene stepped back, intending to just leave and ignore the outburst.

"No, I'm sorry." Dwight shoved his hands in his pockets. "I'm really sorry. I've been with Jace since this started. And he's…something else. I wanted to go to the lake, he tells me to stay. He tells me to break fingers, he tells me fetch a pool, and he tells me to shoot at people." His voice trailed off. "You weren't hurt when you were shot, were you?"

Athene shook her head showing him the scales across her palms as they retreated. "They're handy. You're not a freak are you?"

"No, but sometimes I wish I was." Dwight gave her a half smile. "I would like to start out fresh with you." He stuck out his hand. "I'm Dwight."

"Athene." She returned the grip. "I'd like to forget about the whole shoot out thing too. It wasn't even our fight you know."

"We just get sucked in, protecting the ones who start the mess."

"Loyalties are a real drag," she chuckled and looked back at her things. "I should get going."

"You want some help?" he asked suddenly. "I can get a wagon, pull the pool in it, and help carry stuff."

Athene regarded him with a steady eye. He wasn't who she would think he would be when they first saw each other. He wasn't malicious and cruel; he was a follower, protecting his friend. "I'd like that."

Together they pulled a big pool off the shelves and loaded it into a wagon. Athene helped him strap more building supplies onto the wagon until they finally moved out.

"You look like you're trying to start anew," Dwight huffed as he tugged at the wagon handle. "Are you going to the lake with your brother and his girlfriend?"

The words made Athene flinched. "No. They want to stay here. They're too wrapped up in themselves to worry about living in a monarchy."

Dwight shook his head. "Almost as bad as Jace—Ace is what most people call him. He's happy having girls throw themselves at him, guys beg him for everything, and he thinks he's got it made so he won't leave. His girl, Crissy, tried convincing him to go to the lake, but now she basically runs everything so she doesn't want to go either. Fun being the third wheel, huh?" he asked sarcastically.

Athene laughed. "Let me tell you. I have to creep around my own house so I don't bother them and Nikki's afraid of freaks to top it off."

"I have to act as a live-in bodyguard for Jace." Dwight chuckled. "He slams into my room to wake me up if he needs someone to walk him to the trench to take a leak."

"Seriously?"

"He's worse than a little."

"Unbelievable." Athene shifted the bag on her shoulders.

Dwight looked up ahead at the little compound. "I'm surprised he hasn't gotten the idea to call himself a duke and march into Caine's 'court' yet."

Athene got an odd look on her face as she looked at the make shift barricade of parked cars. "That would be something."

"Wait here." Dwight took the bags off the wagon. "I'm going to drop this off and rush back, let me walk you home."

Before Athene could reply, he dashed off with the wagon in tow, his long legs making quick work of the jog, before long he was back with an empty wagon.

"Let's move out." He smiled as he helped her unload most the bags of building supplies into the wagon and head off towards the Jack house.