A/N: So I haven't posted anything on this, you know just in case some one out there is still reading my normality series or anything, s I thought I should finish this up.

Anyway, leave a review, and let me know what you think.

I don't own anything.

Chapter 5

Jace heard a knock on the casino door. He looked over at Marshall; the big guy didn't appear to move. Jace sighed. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

He went to the door and opened it to see Dwight. "Finally come to your senses?"

Dwight shook his head and looked over Jace's shoulder to Marshall. "I need to see Crissy about Casino guard business."

Marshall looked up from the comic book he was reading and strolled down the hall to Crissy's office.

"So I heard you're running out of town with some chick." Jace leaned against the wall and looked at the big red duffle bag Dwight had on his shoulder. "Good for you, man, finally getting some. It's about time. Kinda big for my taste, but much better than that whore Mercedes."

"Shut up, dude." Dwight's grip on the bag tightened.

Jace nodded for a moment; he knew how to get under people's skin. This girl he heard Crissy and Nikki talking about must be that itch that got to his old friend. Dwight would have to learn people were either with him or against him. "So she's that good that you don't want to share? I get it, I get. I heard you were both in the hardware store too, picking up some knee pads for her?"

Dwight's dark eyes turned on him and in a flash of anger Dwight shoved Jace back, flipping the lanky boy over backwards onto the couch. "I said shut up, Jace."

Jace's face turned red as he jumped to his feet and he saw an audience. Crissy, standing with her arms crossed, was watching him. Marshall was at her back. "I'm guessing you came for your last paycheck since you're getting ready to leave?" she asked.

Dwight nodded. "I want to be out of the guard dog business."

"You wouldn't be a dog to me, Dwight," Crissy put a hand on his shoulder. "Marshall, help him take his bag off. Come on, Dwight. Let's get you your money."

Jace watched his old best friend and ex-girlfriend wander down the hall together before he got an idea at one parting shot with Dwight. Jace ran to the bed that he was given to sleep in inside the house that the other guards and dealers for the casino stayed in as well. He grabbed his duffel bag and dug through it until he found what he wanted. He had two gallon sized bags and a quart sized Ziploc of foil wrapped condoms. Jace grinned. He had expected to use more of them when he was running the casino and so he paid money for them when kids brought them to him or gave them credit. A bag of these would be a great parting shot at Dwight, the prude.

He ran back and stuffed the Ziploc in the duffle bag without anyone seeing him.

"You have the early dealing shift tonight. " Crissy came out of the hall with Marshall and Dwight. "I expect to see you early," she told Jace. "Good bye, Dwight. Take care of yourself."

~x~X~x~

Will watched his brother's coughs rip through the little boy. They were getting worse as the hours passed. He heard about the coughing that led up to the other kids' deaths. Soon the cough would be so bad that his little brother would bend into a C shape and his lungs would fly out of his mouth.

A tiny crack in Will's face started to appear as his mouth shaped a hard line. He was pushed into everything that had happened. He starved. He protected his home and his brother. He dealt with thugs and thieves, maniacs and freaks. He dealt with everything like he has been given, treating it all like a forge heating and tempering him to be better, to keep Demi safe until he could turn fifteen. Then Will would be done. He could just get over the rest of it. He could actually rest.

This was pushing him too far though. It was like he was dunked into an icy bath. His brother's death was taking Will and ripping him apart. They hadn't had food in a day and barely any fresh water. Will couldn't take it anymore. It was all just too much. Too much.

He wasn't the sword being sharpened that he wanted to be. He was like a glass that had been heated and stuck in the freezer. There was no warning. He just shattered.

Will jumped to his feet and started walking backwards. His mouth was dry as he grabbed the door knob and fell back. His eyes were still wide as he held himself up against the wall. He couldn't do it.

He couldn't sit there and watch Demi die. He just couldn't do.

He ran and didn't stop running.

Everything blurred together as tears overflowed and leaked down his face. He couldn't hear the others yelling at him or the sobs he made.

He crashed into an empty house and found an old mattress was on the floor. He fell onto it and finally the noise reached his ears. He yelled and screamed and cried. His hands grabbed at his sandy colored hair and pulled. Patches of blond hair fell to the floor and he sobbed.

He sobbed and he screamed and nothing could fix it. He had to forget about the dying boy in his old house. All he could do was scream.

~x~X~x~

Kris prepared to haul in his next basket of cabbages. Sweat fell across his eyes. But this would be his last load for the day; he had been working enough that both he and Jean would be fed well tonight. If he kept at it, she wouldn't have to go after the far artichoke fields that barely anyone watched late at night.

Dirt and grit clung to his arms in sticky streaks when he wiped his forehead and brought his produce in. His basket came in with a good set and he was even given a whole cabbage to take home with him.

Jean had spent the day still flabbergasted about Kris's complete turnaround. He smiled when he saw her in the kitchen, reading a book.

"I'm home." He smiled and held up the food.

"You look awful," Jean pointed out but didn't push him away when he kissed her cheek. "Maybe you should wash."

"You're going to come with me, right?" Kris' hopeful face was funny as his dark eyes looked up and his lips pulled back into a grin.

She started to walk off to the room where she had her bed. "We can go to the beach. Make a day out of it."

Kris took off and ran into his room. "Afternoon, you mean?" he called. He emerged wearing a pair of shorts, a tank top, and bare feet.

Jean was wearing a pair of cutoff jeans and had her hair wrapped into a pony tail. "Let's go!"

Together they hurried down to the sandy shore line of the beach. Farther away there were some kids splashing around by the remains of the desalination plant Albert had tried running. Most kids played in the huge rain cloud that never left and bathed there. Kris had sat down right in the middle of the sand, his lead pipe sticking out of it next to him. Jean flopped down next to him and used the large kitchen knife she carried to slice their cabbage in half.

They sat in silence except for the crunching of the cabbage.

As the last leaves were eaten, Jean hopped to her feet and ran into the water.

Kris laughed as he ran in to follow and tripped, stumbling into the ocean. Jean grabbed him and pulled him up, laughing at his disheveled state.

Today was going to be a nice day.

~x~X~x~

Athene poured the contents of a five gallon gas tank into a big ATV. She turned to look over the work she had done. Everything was ready. All she needed was a few more food preparations and Dwight was going to go to the market with her later that day with what money he had from working at Ace's Casino.

She heard Dwight clear his throat and mumble a strained hello. Athene walked around to the other side of trailer and her lips tightened.

"Athene, I was hoping to talk to you." Nikki gave her a small grin. "About what you're doing here."

"I'm going to go outside for a second," Dwight said and walked out the door, feeling the tension in the room.

"What is it, Nikki?"

Athene leaned again the edge of her tent trailer, scowling. The differences in the girls were astronomical. Where Athene was tall, broad, and dirty from work, Nikki was narrow, shorter, and barely mussed at all, having done nearly nothing the entire day.

"Your brother doesn't need you looking for attention like this." Her hand touched Athene's shoulder.

"Attention? You think I'm just looking for attention?" Athene snarled. "I'm not going to live under 'the King.' You've seen what he will do for power and I refuse to bend a knee for Caine."

"Athene, you know as well as I do that you don't like me living here. Your brother and I like each other a lot. That doesn't concern you."

"You're not even making sense, Nikki." Athene jerked her shoulder away. "And keep your hands off of me."

"Athene," called Nikki and went to reach for the girl again.

Athene's hands slid up her arms and her thick scales rippled across her skin. Nikki jumped back, staring wide eyed at the other girl.

"I said don't touch me. And get out of my garage." Athene snapped.

Nikki nodded and backed away, the whites of her eyes focused on Athene's arms. The moment she was in the shadow of the doorway, she ran.

Dwight was standing in the doorway that led to the back yard. "Hey, you alright?"

Athene turned to look at him and nodded. "I'm not doing this for attention. I'm doing what's right."

"I know." Dwight put both his hands on her shoulders so she could look him in the eye. He didn't even flinch from the feeling of the rough scales where smooth skin should have been. "Sometimes the people you're around just don't get it. You wanna go to the market now?"

Athene nodded and looked back at the door that Nikki had fled through, her scales retreating. It hurt to have Nikki scramble away like she did when the scales came out, but it hurt worse to think that Nikki thought she was doing all this for attention.

"Let's go! You never know what we'll find while we're there." Dwight held the door to the outside open for her and locked it behind them.

He grinned a bit as they walked down into the town. Together they walked through the town with a couple of plastic grocery bags. They even got a good deal on two big bags of cabbages. Dwight and Athene didn't talk that much, but they did look intimidating together so most people avoided them.

Except for a tall blond guy with icy blue eyes. "Dwight, man, what are you up to?" Jace came strolling up, carrying a backpack over one shoulder. "Hey there, Athene."

Athene scowled at the other boy. "What do you want, Ace?"

"Ouch, dude, muzzle her." Jace's friendly persona was dropped.

"Shut it, Jace." Dwight glared at the other boy. "What do you want?"

Athene smirked. "I could give you a matching mark." She looked over at the scar across his cheek.

A dark look crossed over Jace's face before it lightened. "I'm just getting a few things for the casino." He hoisted the backpack higher. "I should probably get going. See ya."

"Yeah, see ya," Dwight started to pull Athene away.

Jace chuckled and started to walk past them. "Oh by the way, nice piece there, Dwight." He reached out and grabbed Athene on the back side.

Athene jumped as scales rippled across her knuckles, her face turning bright red. Dwight dropped the bag of cabbages he carried and knocked Jace to the ground.

"You worthless-" Dwight cried as his fist connected with Jace's face. The blonde's own knuckles smashed into the other boy's nose.

People were starting to gather right away. "Dwight, come on!" Athene grabbed the other bag of food before the kids eyeing it could grab it. She wrapped her hand around his arm and tugged him off of Dwight. "Let's go, Dwight."

Dwight listened to Athene and followed her away, still glaring at Jace over his shoulder.

"Yeah, better get going, Dwight." Jace called up from the ground and started to climb to his feet. "Better get out of here before your tail cuts you off."

"Just ignore him, Dwight." Athene walked faster as she watched him try to stop his bleeding nose with his shirt sleeve.

Dwight mopped at his face as a red stain spread. "I'm really sorry about that."

They made quick work of the walk back to the house. They were already heading there anyway. Aerik was there when they walked in the front door.

"Oh and now he's fighting too? What other trouble are you going to be getting in and dragging my sister into with you?" Aerik demanded as he leaned against the wall.

"Go to my room. I'll be right there." Athene nodded at the stairs as she set the bags near the garage door and turned on her twin brother. "No, that creep Ace copped a feel on me and Dwight hit him. You done now?"

"Jace would have ignored you if Dwight wasn't with you!" Aerik called up the stairs after his sister stomped past him.

Athene ignored him and slammed her bedroom door. She saw Dwight sitting on the floor with his head back against the wall. She grabbed a jug of water off her desk and soaked a washcloth. She started to wipe the dried blood off his face.

"Thanks," Dwight mumbled and took the cloth to finish. "It seems like the world is against us, huh?"

"They'll get over it, won't they?" Athene sat next him and bumped his hand with her own, startling him and making him bump his sore nose. "Sorry."

"If not, I guess it's us against the world." He laughed for second until Athene joined in. They sat there together on the floor with their shoulders pressed together in a happy and comfortable silence.