Chapter Title: Memory: David's arc

Rating: PG-15/R (chapter/story)

Chapter: 12.2/?

Warnings: gratuitous violence, torture, mentions of rape and abuse, ...

Disclaimer: Gackt owns Moon Child. (Doesn't that mean he owns Kei too?)

Pairings: all random characters that nobody knows so it doesn't matter

Jaded's fore-words: So here it is guys. More about David's past and stuff. Enjoy it. ...check the warnings. Thanks for the awesome reviews soubi and satchi. Soubi, you made me lol with it and Satchi, the long review was great and you made me lol with parts of it. Like the part about me posting everyday.

"No," David whispered and finished his cigarette. "No, they got us all out… It's actually how I met Lindsay."

"Get up you pathetic bitch!" The burly man shouted behind the then-not-yet-David, who was only twelve or thirteen by his own reckoning at the time. With a snarl he brought the cat-o'-nine-tails back down on the boy's exposed back, making him shriek as his red, stinging skin was split again.

Ignoring the next insult the man yelled the boy tremblingly pressed against the floor with his hands to get himself up into a crouch. From there he tried to stand, shaking, only to realize too late that his ankles were caught in the chain that was attached to the cuff around his right ankle. He lost his balance and tripped, throwing his arms out to catch his fall. His left knee collided with the wood floor a second before his right cheekbone cracked against it, sending a blinding pain into not-yet-David's face. Nausea welled up in his throat and he swallowed it down several times, breathing heavily and scrunching his eyes shut.

"I SAID GET UP, YOU PATHETIC, USELESS, FUCKING WHORE!" The man practically bellowed and a heavy, steel-toed boot collided with the boys ribs, causing him to fly into the air before hitting the floor again in a roll. He stopped on his sore back with an inward hiss of air, sweat mixing with blood and stinging. His arms wrapped around his smarting ribs as breathing felt increasingly more painful.

A hard whop to his arms with a bamboo rod had him jerking them away just in time to feel the white-hot smack of leather against his chest and stomach. He howled, clenching his fists at his sides until his knuckles were white. His skin burned and stung so harshly he didn't even feel his own hot blood dribbling down his sides from the welts. He trembled in agony for several long moments, gasping and choking as he tried to block out the pain. The welts weren't healing and his sweat was seeping into them now making them burn and sting all the more for it.

"Get up," the man murmured threateningly and the end of the rod was jabbed brutally into his solar plexus.

Not-yet-David choked and gasped rolling onto his side, gripping his stomach with one arm and holding himself up on the other arm's elbow. He gasped and groaned, tasting the putrid sting of bile in the back of his throat. He grimaced, glaring at the dark, black grain in the stained mahogany wood of the floor. At that moment he wished nothing more than to snatch the whip from the man and strangle him with it while kindly explaining that if the man would quit hitting him after every demand he might actually be able to do it. The boy hated the burly man with a blazing passion. More if there were words for it. But not-yet-David wasn't yet extremely eloquent so he couldn't yet hate him more.

As the boy was finally able to push himself to his feet he realized tears were streaming down his face. They almost felt cool against his hot, damp skin as they traveled over his jaw and slid down his neck, mixing with salty sweat. He wouldn't wipe them away, though. He stood straight and stared unyieldingly ahead with defiance, even as his muscles twitched uncomfortably and his vision blurred slightly from his pain-induced nausea.

"Have you learned?" The burly man growled with a scowl, appearing in front of the boy. The boy glared at him, knowing that the man wanted him to defy him so he could continue beating and breaking him.

And to get out of it not-yet-David could just say that yes, he had learned. But that would be too easy, too weak. The boy hated feeling powerless and weak. And so in the few seconds the burly man waited for an answer and David contemplated his options he decided. He could handle the pain and the hunger. The pain and hunger were familiar. Besides, not-yet-David almost never passed up a chance to piss off one of his Sirs.

"Go," he gasped quietly, meeting the burly man's gaze. "Fuck… Yourself."

His head suddenly jerked to the side so fast whiplash stabbed through the side of his neck. He stumbled and caught himself against the wall, the chain attached to his ankle being pulled tight from the middle of the floor where the other end was attached to a thick ring - that hurt like a bitch to fall on, the boy thought to himself. He swallowed, his already bruised right cheek smarting and his taste buds recognizing blood in his mouth. More of it mixed with his tears and dribbled down his cheek, a thick scratch on his cheek the cause. The boy focused on the burly man's hand and saw the very rough-looking, studded, large gold ring the man always wore on his middle finger.

-"That ring was probably stained with my blood from how many times he liked to backhand me while wearing it. Sometime I would imagine it getting hooked on something and ripping his finger clean off."-

"Get back over here," the man demanded and gestured with the rod in his right hand. In his left the cat-o'-nine-tails dangled in his grip, the lashes brushing over the floor. Not-yet-David straightened up and shuffled angrily over, defiant till the end he tried his hardest to be.

As soon as he was close to the man, a powerful blow to the backs of his thighs from the rod had him falling with a cry to his knees, his hands barely catching him. The thin material covering his legs did nothing to lessen the pain of being hit so strongly. And just as suddenly, the whip's lashes cracking across his back had him arching his chest and stomach forward to get away from the torturous whip. Another hoarse shriek left his throat and he shuddered from the pain, about to fall forward again.

He was stopped by a hand in his hair, pulling so savagely he could feel individual hairs leaving his scalp in large numbers. One of his hands instinctively flew up to grab at the man's arm as he grit his teeth to keep from screaming at him.

Not-yet-David glared up at the man through watering eyes and saw the disgusting smirk peeling across his face. He glanced at the man's other hand briefly and saw only the whip in his hand. The bamboo had been cast aside somewhere.

"You know what I should do?" The man inquired with a familiar, repulsive lilt to his voice. The boy looked back at him and tasted stomach acid. "I should make you fucking suck my cock, you slut, since you're too much of a stupid moron and pain isn't getting through to you."

-"I think, in that moment he forgot that I did that kind of shit everyday. I was used to it. I'd been forced to do it before. …But then again, he probably knew that I hated it, loathed it, so much that I'd do practically anything else not to. …I suspected he hated me as much as I hated him, even though at the time I thought it was impossible for anything to hate more that I did."-

Not-yet-David spit bloody saliva into his face and the man growled. He jerked the boy closer to him by his hair and not-yet-David stuck out his free hand to push against the man's thigh. He writhed around, trying to tug himself free as he pushed at the man with everything he had, which wasn't much. The man laughed repulsively at his struggles.

Just then the door splintered and swung open, banging loudly against the wall and bouncing back. The man jerked his head up, half an order falling from his lips when he froze. The boy tensed too, wondering just what the hell was going on.

Then his hair was released and the man's heavy boot was kicking him violently to the side where he sprawled, clutching his cracked ribs and feeling sticky clots over some of his welts. He gasped and forced his blurry eyes open, still curious despite everything.

What he saw shocked him entirely.

Standing confidently five feet from the burly man and holding a gun pointed at the man with a stony expression was a blonde teen. His green eyes were sharp and locked onto the man as though he were the sole purpose of him being in that room. He wore a pair of jeans and a black shirt without sleeves. An equally black gun holster was strapped around his shoulder and a knife was strapped to the side of his thigh. Strapped around his forearms were some kind of leather braces.

-"Telling this all now, it seems pretty cliché, like a fairytale. The whole 'Prince Charming' bursting in to save the damsel kind of bullshit that people say never really happens. I mean, obviously it does, or no one would know about it."-

"Gonna shoot me pretty-boy?" The man laughed and the blond boy fired his gun with barely a sound. Blood sprayed from the back of the man's right shoulder and he gasped in shock.

His face contorted in rage a second later as he growled, in pain or maybe in anger, and he swung the whip at the blonde. Without even a twitch of surprise in his expression the blonde launched backwards, avoiding the whip and sliding his gun back into it's holster. The man moved forward, swinging the whip again and the blonde boy raised his arm to catch the lashes. They smacked against the leather on his forearm and he twisted his arm, wrapping the whip around the appendage and the palm of his hand. Gripping it tightly he tugged and the burly man appeared shocked as his arm jerked, an awkward snap sounding from his wrist as the wristband was wrenched off. He yelped and clutched his wrist with his other hand.

Swinging his arm with the motion of the jerk the blond spun the whip around and painfully whacked the man in the head with the handle. The burly man's head twisted to the side and he stumbled back, closer to the wall. The blonde flung the whip away, letting it slither off his arm, and drew his gun, firing off another shot. This one went into the man's foot and he fell back, colliding against the wall and falling to the ground. He groaned, grimacing at his foot, before he lifted his head and let out a screech of wrath at the blonde.

Not-yet-David curled up tight then, squeezing his eyes shut and just waiting for whatever might happen.

-"I can't remember really what I was thinking or feeling at that moment. I just knew that I wanted it all to disappear. I wanted to sleep. Everything hurt and the more blood I lost the hungrier I got. I felt sick from all the pain. I wanted to throw up. I wanted to get out. I wanted to go to sleep and wake up somewhere else. I wanted to be alone in that moment. …I think I even wanted to just die for a split second… But I'm not sure since everything was a big mess in my head, all of it kinda fogged over with pain."-

An arm pressed against the backs of his knees and a hand gripped his leg while another arm pressed against his back, that hand grabbing his shoulder. Carefully he was turned onto his back and held in the blonde's arms. There was a shuffle and suddenly the boy was suspended in the air, a strong chest pressed against his side along with the hardness of a gun. He opened his eyes and looked up at the blonde for a second before closing his eyes again, too tired to care about whatever he was going to do.

The arm around his shoulders tensed and the boy flinched when the one supporting his legs suddenly shifted, slowly sliding out from behind them. He was lowered onto his knees gently and he opened his eyes again to see the burly man in front of him, glaring at him. Not-yet-David was kneeling between his legs. Why?

Another's presence crouched down behind him and he was scooted closer to the man, who raised his good hand to hit him, or something. His wrist was caught by the blonde behind the boy, his other hand tenderly slid into the damp-from-sweat-and-blood locks of his hair and guided his head to the man's neck. Not-yet-David squirmed, not sure if he wanted to drink the burly man's blood, but the hand on the back of his head insisted and his mouth was pressed into a quivering pulse. He latched right on after that, his hands grasping the man's shoulders as he bit deeply into his neck and began sucking down mouthful after mouthful of blood.

The hand left his hair and the boy barely noticed, too exhausted and thirsty and sore to wonder. He drank until his wounds were healed, welts sewing themselves closed with barely a trace of what had been as bruises faded quickly, changing colors too quick to notice. Then the hand was in his hair again, easing him back from the man's leaking neck.

"Are you okay?" The blonde asked and not-yet-David nodded, staring curiously at him. "Good. Here."

He lifted his pant-leg and pulled a small gun from his boot. He handed it to the boy who took it apprehensively.

-"At that moment, holding a gun, knowing what it was and having seen one before and what it could do, I had no clue how to feel exactly. I was actually afraid of it. I didn't want to touch it. I didn't want to use it. Guns were something only Sirs and gang members had. I hated them too by default, just because I'd only ever seen someone I hated holding one. But yet here was someone holding one, using it, to help me."-

"Point and pull the trigger," the blonde said and that was it for explanation. Not-yet-David was hauled to his feet and he once again wondered what the hell was going on.

Suddenly a new, female voice filled the small room, crackling and somewhat distorted.

"Lindsay, do you copy? Over."

The blonde, Lindsay, grabbed the unnoticed-until-now radio on his belt and responded.

"Lindsay here. I copy. Over."

"Where are you? Over."

"Second floor. I found one of the kids chained up and being flogged. Over."

David looked down at his foot and realized the cuff had been unlocked and removed without him noticing.

"Well keep moving, dumbass. You only have twenty minutes left to clear your part of the building of kids. Over."

"Yeah, we're going. Over."

And then Lindsay re-hooked his radio to his belt before heading toward the door, motioning with his gun for not-yet-David to follow. Together they crept around the house, looking in rooms and ushering any of the kids they found out of the house.

"There's a guy with red hair on the bottom floor at the bottom of the stairs, go find him and he'll tell you how to get out," Lindsay explained to three of the kids, the third time doing so as he shoved them out the door to what had been their room. Each of them looked at the boy with the blonde, one of the two girls actually glaring.

-"She seemed jealous, although I had no clue about what… that is, not until much later."-

When they started down the stairs at the end of the hallway Lindsay moved on with the boy right behind him.

"You're the only one who hasn't taken off at the first chance," Lindsay stated conversationally and glanced back at not-yet-David. The boy didn't know how to respond to that so he just shrugged.

Around the next corner they ran into a short man stepping out of a room and Lindsay raised his gun, took one glance at the handgun in his hand and fired. Blood erupted from behind the man's head and he dropped to the ground, a neat, little, red circle right between his eyes. Neither moved for a second before creeping forward carefully towards the closed door.

They reached it and found it cracked open. Lindsay pushed the boy to the side of the door, out of sight, and readied his gun. He took a deep breath and shouldered it open. He swept into the room, scanning around it with his gun held ready to shoot. In the middle of the room was a girl wearing a robe and a pair of loose pants. She stared sharply at Lindsay, holding a knife in her hand.

Not-yet-David stepped cautiously into the room and when he saw her he ran to her.

"Gabe!"

-"Gabe was one of the few in the place who had a name, but that was because she knew her name from before. Her parents had named her Gaberiella but she said she didn't want to think of them and instead told the few friends she had there to call her Gabe. Names weren't allowed in the brothels because they gave us personality. They made us individuals. We were supposed to be goods and goods only."-

She flinched, her eyes widening and she opened her arms to receive his hug. When they pulled apart Gabe looked at the closet in the corner.

"Come out, guys," she said and the doors to it opened and not-yet-Max, along with four small children, stepped out, the blonde girl holding one of them.

"What's going on?" She asked and one of the children grabbed her pant leg, terrified upon seeing the guns. They'd all been witness at one point of their capabilities.

"Uhm, I think we're leaving," not-yet-David said, giving Gabe a confused look. "This guy-" A motion towards Lindsay. "-is going around telling everyone to get out. There's supposed to be a guy with red hair downstairs showing people out."

"You all need to go," Lindsay stated, holding his gun at his side and stepping closer to them. He placed his hand on the back of not-yet-Max's shoulder and nudged her toward the door. "Go down the stairs to the guy with red hair. Follow his instructions."

"What about the Sirs?" Gabe questioned, receiving another confused look from the boy. "My brain kinda froze and is having trouble thawing."

"Don't worry about the Sirs," Lindsay said and nudged her after the blonde girl and children hovering near the door. Not-yet-David nodded and Gabe returned it, herding the others out of the room, disappearing around and down the hall a moment later.

"You really should follow them," Lindsay said quietly, placing his hand over the boy's hand holding the gun. The boy glared at him and tugged his hand away, heading for the door. His shoulder was grabbed and he was pulled to a stop.

"Fine. Don't follow," Lindsay stated, staring him down. "But you stay behind me at all times."

Not-yet-David nodded once, acquiescing to his order.

Clearing the rest of the bunk rooms out was easy after that, nearly everyone running for the stairs as soon as they were told it was safe to go. Barely any Sirs or gang members were around and the boy found this quite odd. They were in the attic room not-yet-David shared with Gabe when Lindsay pointed it out.

"Maybe they're hiding," the boy suggested, pulling a vase-like object from under one of the beds. He took the lid off and requested a backpack from its depths and a teddy bear one appeared a second later, being pushed from inside. The boy raised his eyebrow but replaced the lid and slid the vase into it, slinging it over his shoulder a second later.

"Is that it?" Lindsay asked and the boy motioned toward the door in an 'after you' way with a quiet "yep."

They were halfway down the stairs of the attic when the female voice from before crackled over the radio.

"Lindsay, do you copy? Over."

Lindsay unhooked the radio and brought it up to his mouth.

"I copy. Over."

"Are the kids cleared out? Over."

"Just finished in the attic. Over."

"Fantastic. Akio requests your help in the Sirs quarters. Over."

"Right on it. Over."

"You have thirty minutes. Over."

"Got it. Over."

The crackling disappeared and the radio was reattached to Lindsay's belt. He continued down the stairs and when they were at the bottom he holstered his gun and grabbed not-yet-David's wrist, placing his hand over the gun in the boy's hand.

"Go downstairs," he commanded and started slipping the gun from his hand. The boy tightened his hold on it and glared at Lindsay.

"No way. I wanna know what's going on," he argued and tried twisting his arm from Lindsay's grasp.

"We're getting you out of here," Lindsay said and tightened his grip on not-yet-David's wrist with bruising force. "So go downstairs."

"No."

"Just my luck," Lindsay muttered, jerking the boy closer to him. "That I get stuck with the defiant kid. That's what you were getting beat for, wasn't it."

"None of your business," not-yet-David enunciated with ire. Lindsay sighed and let go of him stepping back.

"Fine," he said and held his hands up in defeat. "But if you get shot, it's not my problem."

"Good."

Lindsay ignored him and took his gun back out and started down the hallway toward the door that is always locked near the top of the stairs going down to the bottom floor. It was the door that no one was ever allowed into because everything on the other side belonged to the Sirs. Lindsay went right to it and after the boy was standing out of sight to the side of it he lifted his foot and kicked it near the handle.

It cracked and swung open, catching a man standing on the other side in the face. Lindsay shot him as he stumbled into the wall, the bullet going into his cheek. Not-yet-David stepped into the narrow hall and saw a man entering from the door at the other end, pulling out a gun. He froze and his mind went entirely blank, no thoughts, no emotions. His breathing stopped as a shot echoed in the hall.

He blinked, seeing the gun in his hand pointed at the man falling to the floor, gurgling and grappling at his neck, gun forgotten on the floor.

-"It was that moment, when I realized the shot had come from the gun in my hand, that I felt powerful holding a gun. It was thrilling feeling that way. Nothing could touch me as long as I pulled the trigger before the other person. The moral aspect of it all didn't even come to my mind until way later, when we were safe in the group's hideout that night."-

Lindsay touched the boy's shoulder and he turned to look at the blonde with incredulity.

"That was a good shot. Did you mean to shoot him in the neck?" Lindsay asked gently, not wanting to startle the boy in case he went into shock or something.

"I- I don't know. I just… Pointed and pulled the trigger," not-yet-David said almost breathlessly. Lindsay's eyebrows rose in surprise.

"I don't know if that's a lucky shot or if you just have good aim but next time you shoot, try for the head."

"Yeah. Will do," the boy muttered and turned toward the now dead man at the end of the hall. "You first."

Lindsay stepped forward and jogged down the hall, the boy following right behind him. The blonde picked up the fallen gun and shoved it into the back of his jeans before he nudged the door open with his foot, slipping through the opening. Not-yet-David counted to ten and when he didn't hear any shots he followed.

They were in another hallway again. One that turned to the right after four doors on the left and two on the right. Each door was open and laying half in the hall out of the second door on the left was a man in a blue shirt, slumped in a pool of blood. Each room was cleaned out of men, dead or just empty. All except the door at the end of the hall, the fourth door on the left. It was one that looked right down the hallway.

In that one, Lindsay and the boy entered it to find a tall girl wearing black combat boots with a knife handle sticking out from one boot, black jean-shorts with another gun strapped to her left thigh, an olive-drab tank-top with a black gun holster over her shoulder, similar braces as Lindsay's on her arms, and two more guns strapped to her lower back. A small duffle bag was slung over her back from shoulder to hip.

In her hand was a gun like Lindsay's, pointed at the man's head whose neck was being pressed on with the bottom of her boot.

She jerked her head in their direction, left hand going to the gun on her thigh but not drawing it while her right stayed trained on the man. Her ponytail swished over her shoulder with the motion of her head.

-"In that moment, she was the most badass person I had ever seen. And I was used to meeting gang members who would boast about any accomplishment that they could, just to get complimented and fawned over. I wanted to be like her, since in that moment, when she was standing with her boot on that man's neck, the same man that seemed so frightening before when we were all defenseless, and holding a gun so steady, she seemed like the most independent, strong person ever. Especially since she was a girl and I'd only ever seen fragility and weakness."-

"Hey Lindsay," she greeted casually, dropping her left hand from the gun. "Who's the kid?"

"One of them," he responded, jerking his head over his shoulder in the direction they came from. "He insisted on following me. So what's going on here?"

"All the fuckheads locked themselves in their leader's room and this idiot has the key," the girl said, momentarily pressing harder on the man's windpipe, causing him to gag and flail. "Didn't want to take them all on without help."

"Understandable," Lindsay stated and holstered his gun, walking closer to the man. "Are you waiting on anyone else or is it just me?"

"Just you- HEY!" The girl was saying but turned toward not-yet-David who had kicked the man on the floor right between the legs with his heel. She stepped harder on his neck when he tried to curl into himself, holding his injured groin.

"What the hell was that for, you dipshit?" She barked and Lindsay eased the glaring boy back with a hand on his chest.

"He's a fuckhead," the boy said, spitting the word at the man. "What does it matter?"

The girl actually started laughing at that, her whole mood toward him changing.

"Well," she said, smiling at the boy. "Since I have help now, lets get the keys from this dumbshit and go in. You, boy, c'mere."

She motioned for not-yet-David to step closer to her and the man.

"Hold your gun on him," she ordered and once the boy was pointing it at him she holstered her own, crouching down to rifle through the man's pockets. Moments later she pulled out a ring of keys and held them in front of the man's face.

"Which one?" She asked him and he glanced nervously between her, the gun pointed at him, and the keys.

"Th-The- It's the-the brass wuh-one th-that has a- a- an english letter on- on it," the man stuttered out, seeming terrified.

"Good," the girl smiled and stood up, looking through the keys. "Shoot him."

"What?" Lindsay exclaimed just as not-yet-David pulled the trigger and sent a bullet spiraling into the man's eye.

-"It was odd shooting someone like that. Just pulling the trigger and seeing them just stop moving, knowing they were dead. It was exhilarating at the time. And just like before, none of the moral aspects of it entered my mind."-

"Nice," the girl said and clapped the boy on the shoulder.

"What the fuck was that, Akio? You can't order a kid to do that shit," Lindsay said angrily, grabbing her shirt.

"And why the fuck not?" Akio muttered, only paying attention to the keys. She held one up. "AHA! Lets go! …Let go of my shirt, Lindsay."

Lindsay glared at her before releasing her and walking over to not-yet-David where he was still standing and staring at the man, his gun at his side. The blonde placed his hand gently on his shoulder and the boy kicked the dead man's head and walked away, going for the door where Akio had just turned left out of. Lindsay stopped him with a hand on his shoulder again.

"Are you okay?" He asked softly and the boy held the gun in his hand up, looking at it and then at Lindsay.

"I'm great," he murmured and grinned. Lindsay frowned but let him follow Akio.

-"Lindsay probably thought I was insane or something in that moment. Maybe I was. I had never felt better than when I was holding that gun, killing the men I'd hated and feared for most of my life."-

At the door in the alcove she waited, holding the key in one hand ready at the door handle and gripping her gun in her other hand. Once the three were ready, the blonde and the boy standing on either side of the door, she spoke.

"Kill everyone but the leader," she ordered then looked at Lindsay. "Shizuka and Jewel want him for their message."

Then Akio slipped the key in, turned it and the lock clicked. She turned the knob and kicked the door, whipping out the gun on her thigh.

-"Well we swept in there, shooting at anything that moved, Akio first then Lindsay with me behind him, shooting at every man I recognized as a Sir. In about two minutes half of the men were dead and Lindsay was pushing me behind a recliner in the corner of the room, crouching behind it a second later. He ejected the empty clips in our guns before he pulled out two more clips from his back pocket and reloaded the guns. Then he handed mine back to me and we were back in the fray, taking everyone still alive down.

"I remember shaking so bad from the adrenaline when all the men were dead, I could barely stand. Akio grabbed my arm when I almost tripped over one of the bodies on the ground. She seemed extremely pleased with me or something, grinning like a maniac and clapping me on the back, like I did something amazing."-

"You hit everything you aimed at," Akio said brightly, gesturing around the room with one hand.

"Maybe that's not such a good thing," Lindsay said and interrupted her moment. He was carefully walking around the room, poking his gun at the bodies and looking at their faces. "Where's the leader?"

Akio spun around on her heel, sweeping her gaze over the bodies immediately around her. Not-yet-David looked up and saw the door to the left of the shot-up desk near the back of the room.

"Think he's in there?" He suggested and pointed with one hand at the door.

"Definitely," Akio said and strode over there, smiling like the cat that trapped the canary. "Get ready."

And then she pulled out the guns on her back, raised her foot, and kicked in the door. She disappeared into the room, shots sounding from inside, before Lindsay and the boy could make it over.

-"Lindsay seemed pretty freaked. He bolted over there and flew through the doorway in less time it took me to blink. And I mean I was pretty scared too, but not like him. I was scared because I didn't know who was dead. Was it an ally or an enemy? He was freaked because he knew her."-

"Akio, holy shit," Lindsay breathed once he had taken in scene in the room, not-yet-David behind him, seeing it for the first time.

Groaning and holding his right wrist with a bleeding left hand was the leader, a knife handle protruding from the palm of his right hand pinning it to the wall. Four holes were dotting the wall in a steady line to the left of the door. They stopped at the couch Akio was sitting on the back of with her legs apart like a guy while holding her guns between them in her hands. A smug smile was on her face as she stared at the man.

-"It was all too easy for me to piece together what had happened."-

"Was that necessary?" Lindsay questioned in exasperation. Akio shrugged.

"He shot at me," Akio said matter-of-fact and motioned with one gun at the man. "With his hand stuck like that he can't reach his dropped gun."

"Whatever. Toss me your pack," Lindsay ordered and Akio holstered her guns at her back and unclipped the pinch-buckle on her chest. She tossed the bag from her back to Lindsay who unzipped it and pulled out a bundle of thin climbing rope. He unrolled it and tied one end with a slip knot, leaving a long tail.

Then he walked over to the man and jerked his bloody hand away from his wrist to slip the loop over his hand. The blonde pulled the loop tight and twisted the man's arm behind his back, wrapping the rope around his neck and then back down and around his wrist. He paused then and reached up, ripping Akio's knife from the man's hand before tossing it to her, since she had jumped up from the couch and sauntered over. The cord was wrapped around the man's neck again - knots tied around the first wrap of the rope on each side of his jugular - and brought down to his free wrist, where it was wrapped and tied. His wrists were tied together then and the rope was wrapped around his hands held in a prayer, except with his palms facing out.

To finish it all off, Lindsay slipped the rope around the many loops holding the man's wrists together before doing the same with the rope around his neck. The tail from the slip knot Lindsay tied with the remainder of the rope in a complex knot not-yet-David couldn't follow.

"There," he said with a huff and kicked the man onto his knees. "That should hold 'im… and stop the bleeding in his hands. He won't pass out on us."

"Good," Akio muttered, examining her newly cleaned blade to make sure all of the blood previously on it was wiped off with her shirt. "Should we tie his feet together too? We have the rope for it."

"Do you wannta help me carry him if we do?" Lindsay said with his eyebrows raised.

"Good point," Akio said and and slipped her knife back into the sheath in her boot. "We make him walk then. You keep your gun on his back, I'll lead us, and the kid can follow behind you. Got it?"

-"It was odd, very strange in fact, to see these two people who looked to be about fourteen and fifteen handling guns and tying a full grown man and practically joking about it as though it were nothing. At that moment I felt as though there were oceans of time between our ages and it bothered me quite a bit because to me it was just another way I was miles more inferior. In that place you were treated subpar, and even if you didn't show it, you knew that wasn't how things were supposed to be. Fairy-tale-like stories from the kids kidnapped with memories of their old life attested to that. Some Sirs made sure you felt every day that you were nothing but third-rate merchandise.

"And I never once believed it completely, like I did when I saw them like that."-

She pulled one of her guns and swung it onto the boy when she said "got it" as though she were making some important point. Not-yet-David nodded promptly and she twirled it away on her finger.

"Grab my bag on your way out," she ordered and waltzed out the door, motioning them to follow her.

"Wait," the boy called and Akio leaned back in, staring at him to make him continue. "Uh, he... has a lot of money right? He's the one who keeps it up here? Why don't we take it? With us and- and- If we're all supposed to be leaving how are we expected to live without money outside? If I'm going out there I want to make sure I'll survive."

"That's actually a good idea," Akio muttered and came back into the room. She stopped in front of the man, pointing her gun at his head. "Where's your safe and what's the code?"

He trembled in silence and she rapped him on the head with the barrel of her gun.

"I-In the corner, behind the closet door, o-over there," the man sputtered out, nodding in the direction of the door by his bed. "The c-code is thirty-six, ni-ninety-seven, fourteen and there's a-also a key that I ke-eep in the gold box on the dresser. It h-has a f-false bottom."

Akio sauntered over and opened it, dumping out the precious jewelry she found there before ripping the false bottom out. There was a key no bigger than her pinky in it and she took it over to the closet door, opening it to find a big, squat safe behind it. The key she inserted into it the middle of the lock, as per the man's instruction, spun in the code, turned the key to the left, and pulled the handle down.

The safe clicked open and she jerked the door open to find tight piles of money stacked neatly on shelves inside it.

"That's a lot of cash. Why the fuck isn't it hidden in some bank or something?" Akio wondered out loud.

"B-boss wanted this place a- a complete sec- cret. No one b-but customers and u-us were supposed to know. The c-cash would create sus-spicion," the man said as Akio rummaged around the room, looking for something to carry the money in. Eventually she found a backpack and started tossed the bound bills into it, filling it all the way and zipping it. She glanced at the almost half-full safe and shrugged, pulling the backpack on.

-"Remember, Sho, asking me about the money I used when I went shopping after I first came here? Well that's how I 'acquired' it. It was stolen from that place. It was all split between everyone but Akio gave me and Lindsay more because it was my idea to get it in the first place and she was practically in love with Lindsay. The two were like incestuous siblings, I swear, fighting over the stupidest shit one second like siblings then fooling around like old lovers the next."-

"That should be enough," she said and picked up her gun from the dresser, pocketing the jewelry. "Lets get going."

And with that she practically skipped from the room.

Lindsay stooped and hauled the man to his feet with a hand under his arm. The man groaned as the ropes pulled on his arms and neck with the jerk. The excess rope Lindsay twisted around his hand and held onto tightly while he press his gun to the man left shoulder-blade in a silent, ushering threat. The man started walking immediately and Lindsay followed Akio, leaving the boy to pick-up Akio's nearly empty bag.

-"There was a shit ton of knives and saws and instruments of the like all rolled up in a thick cloth. I know because I looked before I zipped it up and ran after them. I hated knowing later what they were for."-

"Time's up." A male's voice crackled over the radio this time, startling not-yet-David as it echoed from the fact that it was traveling over two radios.

Akio unhooked her radio with her free hand as they walking cautiously down the hall that led back to the kids' bunking quarters.

"You're supposed to say 'over' at the end of your transmission, Shizuka. Over."

"The house is empty," Shizuka said flatly and then just as monotonously stated, "We're in the show room."

-"The show room was a large room in the middle of the house with couches and armchairs and one large table where we were to be from nine in the morning to midnight. It was where our customers chose which whore they wanted."-

"Just because we've killed everyone doesn't mean you drop protocol, the one you agreed upon just so you know. It's just unprofessional, something you've always said we should act as, professionals I mean. Over."

"Akio, shut up and get your scrawny asses down here."

"You're definitely skinnier than Lindsay, he's a beast. And yeah, you're skinnier than even me, and I'm pretty thin for my build. Don't be calling us 'scrawny!'"

The radio crackled but no voice came over and then it fell silent after three seconds. *

"You pissed him off," Lindsay said and yanked the man back, sensing he was about to bolt. Not-yet-David wondered about the intimidating-sounding guy on the radio. He also wondered again why he and someone else named Jewel needed the leader of the house. What was this message they had to send? Who was it for?

They were at the stairs and descending then, the boy wondering if the red-haired guy the other kids were told to go to was still at the bottom. Where were the other kids now? Would he ever see Gabe and Max again? Oh, they were at the bottom of the stairs. The guy was no where but Akio was saying something. What was it?

"Hey! You! Kid! Gimme my bag! …And give Lindsay back his gun while your at it."

That's what it was.

Not-yet-David blinked owlishly before slipping it from his shoulder and tossing it to her. She caught it with a sinister grin and jogged toward the show room, Lindsay pushing the man into a faster pace. The boy, not knowing anything better to do, trotted after them.

They reached the show room where a young woman, she had to be at least 17 years old by not-yet-David's reckoning, sat on the show room table with her legs crossed, comfortably reclining with her palms on the tabletop behind her. Her long, black hair spilled over her shoulders and she wore a pair of black boots with red laces up the front to her knee and a red miniskirt. Her shirt was practically nonexistent, just a black strip of fabric covering her breasts with wide, fluttering, gossamer strips hanging from it. On her hands she wore a pair of elbow high black leather gloves.

-"That was Jewel, though I didn't know it at the time. Apparently she was the girl from before who had scarred her face to get out. Over time the scar had faded as she fed better, eating better meals and drinking more blood. It was barely visible after all those years of living better with Shizuka, whom she had met when she had been running from some gang members that recognized her as she told me one day long after that one, when we were all living at their base."-

As soon as she caught sight of the tied up man her once pensive-appearing expression changed to a grimace of purely wrathful-repugnant-detesting. The man's eyes widened and he shuddered when he saw her face.

Leaning on the arm of a chair with his arms crossed was a short man wearing all black as he stared at the floor intensely, looking extremely pissed off at something. At the tied man's movement he lifted his head and from his young face not-yet-David believed he was about as old as the girl. His eyes burned fiercely with a potent amount of many powerful emotions and he immediately strode over to the tied up man. He grabbed him by his hair and dragged him away from Lindsay, slamming his face into the table causing his nose to bust in an eruption of blood.

Then he let go and turned away, looking directly at Akio. It was as though he had completely missed the boy's prescense.

"Shizuka?" Akio questioned tentatively, seeming worried and fearful. The boy was a bit taken aback at this not used to her being anything except confident and reckless in the short amount of time he'd known her.

"Tie him to the table," Shizuka commanded.

The young woman rolled off the table in a flutter of gossamer as Lindsay and Akio moved to untie and retie the man, laying him on his back on the polished wood of the table. Shizuka went over and plopped himself down in the chair whose arm he had been leaning on. The scantily dressed girl strode over and sat in his lap sideways, leaning on one arm and throwing a leg over the opposite.

When the man was tied to the table Lindsay came over to not-yet-David and gently took his gun back, the boy letting him since he was feeling the stir of dread in his stomach as he watched Akio in fascination when she unzipped her bag and retrieved the roll of bladed implements. She unrolled them on the table next to the man and he glanced at them, a sweat breaking out on his forehead as he whimpered. Akio removed a glinting, scalpel-like knife from a sewn slot in the black fabric and held it up for the man to see. He trembled and keened in terror.

Everything clicked in that moment for not-yet-David and he gasped, stumbling back and kicking over the vase nearby.

-"I- I couldn't believe what they were going to do. Being on the other end of something similar, it was- it was… It was sickening in the worst sense. I just couldn't believe it."-

Shizuka and the girl in his lap both startled, sitting up and glaring in the boy's and Lindsay's direction.

"What the hell was that?" Shizuka demanded and pushed the young woman from his lap, flying to his feet. "Why the fuck is there still a fucking kid here?"

Akio looked up at them, appearing to have forgotten all about not-yet-David.

"Fuck Lindsay, get him the fuck out of here," Shizuka growled, marching over to them and pushing Lindsay in the chest toward the door. Too surprised to react, the blonde just staggered into the doorjamb. Not-yet-David's arm was seized and he was yanked after Lindsay whose shirt was being grabbed and jerked on to get him moving.

"Continue as planned or we'll be behind," Shizuka ordered and Akio did, a small sob being heard from the man on the table as she started.

-"And I was terrified, being dragged through the house by Shizuka. Any trust I had in these people was wavering and thin with this information. The thought of them killing these horrible people was giving them the status of amazing super heroes in my head but then… Then that was cracked and I wanted to throw up. They were still kids, like us. They were only a handful of years older than me and they were going to- I just couldn't hold onto the situation at the time."

The three reached the foyer, at which point Lindsay wrenched himself free from Shizuka's grasp and he glared at the shorter, slighter male. Shizuka's returning gaze was black.

"This is fucked up, Lindsay. It's fucking bullshit," he whispered harshly, shoving not-yet-David in front of himself, unconsciously shaking him a little. "Get him the fuck away from this place now. And get a shirt an some fucking shoes on him too. He's covered in fucking blood."

Then not-yet-David was thrust from Shizuka's grasp into Lindsay's chest and the dark young man was spinning around and angrily stomping back to the show room. Another sob, this one louder, was heard from the room.

Lindsay let go of not-yet-David and instead ripped open the closet in the small entryway and tore a brown jacket with a large hood from a coat hanger with a creepily calm sense of urgency. He threw it over the boy's shoulders and not-yet-David slipped his arm in and just zipped it up, fumbling with the zipper in his haste to just 'get away, get away, get away.' Lindsay dropped a pair of unlaced sneakers in front of him next and his feet were shoved into them. A scarf was tied over his eyes and the hood pulled over his head, much to his terrified whining protest.

"Cover your ears," Lindsay said and not-yet-David did as he was asked. Hands grabbed his waist and he was pushed forward and through the covering of his hands he heard a loud, agonized scream right before the chatter and clamor of outside washed through his muffled hearing.

"Focus on your breathing," Lindsay's familiar voice murmured near his covered ear and not-yet-David took a deep breath, letting it out in a extra loud whoosh. His heartbeat pounded in his head, he noticed for the first time, and suddenly it was the only thing he could hear, the only thing he could feel as he was steered stumblingly away from the house.

Not-yet-David couldn't tell how long it had been before the scream of police sirens blared through his hands, making him jump. Lindsay's hands clasped over his, holding them pressed over his ears in an attempt to help drown out the wails and honks of firetruck sirens as they whizzed by, not even ten feet away.

When they were gone Lindsay's arm went around his waist and they continued on, walking for who knows how long. Not-yet-David couldn't tell time without seeing time. He could only tell by the burn in his legs. But they'd been sore since before the police and firetrucks and not-yet-David didn't know how far he could walk without his legs hurting.

Then there was shouting, not-yet-David not even paying attention anymore to anything but his even whish-whoosh breathing and his steady ba-dump-ba-dump heartbeat. Even the soreness in his legs had left his mind.

There was a bang, barely registered, and suddenly the air became warmer. The bang was heard again along with the rasp of a bolt sliding into place and the chinking of a heavy chain moving. He was held at a stop. Then his hands were eased away from his ears and the hood was pushed down. Gentle fingers worked on the knot of his makeshift blindfold and suddenly light was blinding him. He was standing in a small concrete room, with one heavy door right in front of him and a figure to his right in front of him, partially hidden in the light.

"Welcome back, Lindsay," the figure said and, with some blinking, not-yet-David was able to see a tall guy with bright, red hair looking curiously at him.

"Am I the last, Raei?"** Lindsay murmured quietly since he was standing behind not-yet-David.

"Yeah. I asked about sending a car out to get you, but Shizuka said it was punishment for your fuck-up," Raei explained and then casually waved a hand at not-yet-David, grinning. "Is this it?"

Lindsay only grunted and nudged not-yet-David toward the door in front of them.

* - looks like "..."

** - pronounced like RAY

Jaded's after-words: Wow... okay so yeah... I'm not sure what to say for the end of this chapter ...BAI