May 24th, 2030

The strange, super beast with torn hipster clothes had unleashed the captive freakshows and set them on the path to freedom and control of their lives, and two particular ones were about to embark on a journey together.

Lindsey Sweetwater, a thirteen-year-old redhead with curly long hair, was happy to be out and about. She gratefully took pleasure in seeing the incoming night skies, as well as being able to feel the cool air move in the gentle breeze it had been, all naturally organic for her. She took a deep breath, just as the guards of Vial had pulled in, and the other super-powered people went ahead and launched an attack against them.

Lyle Jefferson, the seventeen-year-old whom she had been stuck with by cell, held her hand and kept her close while making her look away from the grotesque carnage that was taking place in front of the facility. "Don't look, Lindsey."

"I-I'm not a little girl, Lyle." Lindsey insisted, not minding the bloodfest.

"Still," the older teen denied. "It's not like the movies."

Lyle was a stranger she disliked at first when he was thrown in the same cell she occupied. Back then, he was a short-haired, sandy-blonde brat who had an annoyingly weak type of personality; he was soft, but sincere and strict at the same time, which was a little scary. But that was then, when the dude had changed so much in between. Even his hair had grown out to be long, so long that it wasn't impossible for people to mistake him for a girl. And that was more or less due to his scrawny build, which he blamed the Vial Corp scientists for.

They had a bumpy relationship up until they had grown to sympathize with one another, and stories were shared about their past lives. Lyle had come to care for Lindsey a lot that he had appointed himself the young girl's caretaker, no matter where they'd go, and even if they would be separated.

Lindsey was 5'3, while Lyle was 5'8, which made the girl feel discouraged at times, but the upside to Lyle's height was that she could snuggle him as a pillow when she wanted to feel something, and that was on most days locked away. Lyle played that person who took away Lindsey's loneliness and fear, and it went both ways, as they had each other and nothing but the unknown to fear.

They were practically like siblings.

Some of the other supers broke away and scattered from the scene. Lindsey and Lyle were both prompted to follow along, but ran in a random direction while they slowly began to formulate ideas on where to go. The dark night was going to mkse it hard to see, but Lindsey hoped they came across a miracle down their way. All Lindsey could gather in thought was how to get home.

"Which way... Which way is Ohio?" Lindsey asked, pointing fingers around.

"I don't know, Lindsey," Lyle calmly replied. "First thing to do is to hide, make sure we're not going to be chased or found."

Their lucky break was just as long as the time they would take to get off-grid, just as he was sure the others would try to do. They were heading westbound via the thick forest. They didn't hear anyone else around them, even though he was sure some would have been scampering off their direction.

Lindsey wasn't much for running, so Lyle swooped her up and helped her out while he went all out with his speed, free to move without being slowed down. "Hang on tight!"

"D-don't you drop me, Lyle Jefferson!" Lindsey boomed with fear, arms locked around the neck of her white knight. "I can't believe you're insulting me."

"Oh, you know just as I do that I don't mean to tell you how slow you are," Lyle huffed.

"Yeah, yeah! Either way, you're a big meanie!" Lindsey childishly sassed before going quiet for the rest of the ride. She had begun to drift off, already worn out by that bit of running she did.

Lyle couldn't blame her, it wasn't like they were fed with sufficient nutrition over there. Lyle just had quite the stamina that came from the serum they'd forced into his body; Lyle had all the pro features to that of a canine. They never said which one, but it didn't matter, really. This made the growth in his hair and facial hair go twice as fast, with the additional newfound adapted senses. It was weird, but he had to adjust his sharpened ear senses, and was glad that his vision didn't degrade to black and white, from what he understood about a dog's eyesight. He also came out with the rapid ability to detect nearby strangers, which would always send him into a frenzy back in the facility. It was Lindsey who tamed him most of those times.

"Sweetwater dreams," Lyle joked as Lindsey had finally fallen asleep in his arms.

Act I: Enter The Dawn, Chapter IV: Sweetwater

Later

Lindsey yawned, stretching her arms out, right before remembering she was last in Lyle's grasp and freaked out when she thought she would be falling. "SHIT!"

Only, Lindsey wasn't in anyone's arms at all, but was rather resting against something. She took notice of her surrounding, still feeling the same temperature like it had been outside. She and Lyle were still outdoors, only stopping for Lyle who needed to unload. Lindsay heard the sound of his piss dripping onto the ground. What a bad time for her to wake up from her nap. "Hey, there's a girl present!"

Lyle was behind the tree Lindsey leaned against, happy to relieve himself. "Hey, that's not something I can control, Lindsey," Lyle threw back. "Don't like it? Cover your ears next time."

"Well, how about a little warning next time?!" Lindsey moved up from the ragged tree, brushing away at her back. "Say, where are we? How long was I out?"

Lyle returned to her, feeling quite pleased from relieving himself. "I don't know the answer to both questions, sorry. So, are you still sleepy?"

Lindsey crossed her arms and scoffed. "I- I can manage...! I'm not a little girl, you know?"

Lyle smiled, amused by the redhead. "I need to get some rest..."

"What? D-don't tell me we're crashing here for the night!" Lindsey was cold and scared, fearing that the forest would be crawling with the fuckers from Vial Corp, and catch them while downed. "I just want to go home..."

Lyle appealed to her, and took off his white shirt when he noticed her shivering. "Listen, you can take this to sleep comfortably-"

"You and your briberies..." Lindsey moaned, then taking the shirt and put it over her own. She wondered if Lyle would be cold, and made the mistake of being mesmerized by his stone-hard body, which was built with perfect abs and an impeccable six-pack. She had never taken quite a shrine to it up close, for he was almost never without his shirt back at their captive home. She found him strangely attractive, despite him having the prominent role of big brother for a few years. It was rather an oddity to her, but she couldn't help herself, with what being a girl and all.

Lyle went down next to her, leaning against the tree with his bare back. He didn't feel just as cold as she did, but the breezy air that contacted his skin was cold enough. He made sure not to be moving around to avoid nasty splinters, but then moved, having changed his mind. He settled for the ground, and rested down completely on the dirt, shirtless.

Lindsey was still awake, and hadn't kept her gorgeous blue eyes off of him. She moved closer to him in a curious attempt to poke away at his chest. Stuff like that had only been seen in those hot teen movies she watched, and having been curious, she wanted to know the feel of a hard male body.

Funny, she saw this selfless teenager as a big brother, and yet had these natural notions to want to embrace him at contact, as if they were nothing short of boyfriend and girlfriend. Actually, strangely enough, she wouldn't mind dating him, and especially now that they have been liberated back into society.

Lindsey hadn't forgotten where she lived, or the basic facts around her family. She was the youngest of two kids, having a brother by the name of Aaron, whom she wasn't close to. Lindsey was a girl all about the pageant life, had been a diva with many hobbies on her part, such as the occasional dancing, ballet, and even had organized a club consisting of knitters. Lindsey had a mediate spoiled personality, which only came from her parents who had raised them on the idea that they would hand their children what they had never in their own past childhood. It wasn't the best type of parenting in the world, but at the very least, Lindsey wasn't a bad girl. Or, maybe she hadn't gotten to that phase yet.

Being here, there had been errors she had made before, but had never the time to reminisce about it before those imprisoned days in human captivity. She hung with the popular crowd, shitting verbally and constantly harassing the lesser of kids. She had it easy, and she mocked those misfortunates, because she didn't know.

Lyle was not one of those types she hung out with. The teenager had shared his story before she was forced to warm up to him. It turned out that he had run away from home, leaving behind his older sister Liena, last being seventeen at the time, without him. The reason for his running away was due to a fight with their old man, but that he didn't go in depth with, and Lindsey didn't pry it out, despite her little need for the gossip and drama. Whatever the fight was for, it had to be of meaningful value that meant a great deal to him.

What other he did end up sharing was that he was a shy person, not a completely socially outgoing person, having no real friends, or even some degree of status. He was one such boy who was bullied, and due to his build, there was no way to fight back the bigger predators. He had to take the beatings almost regularly for looking like a sorry excuse of a boy.

With Lyle's new gift, it was sure to turn the tide against any bully he would face again, and maybe more worse people he could deal with. With Lindsey, he appointed himself her protector so that she didn't have to face worse scenarios around their kidnappers, whatever they were doing, and now beyond that.

She had him as much as he had her, and she was grateful for it, despite her not having told him. She wondered if he had known she valued him, for she didn't know what went on through the minds of boys, apart from the common desire to elope with girls. For the record, she hoped that Lyle had known, but never needed to say it. She felt embarrassed when having fallen from her natural personality protocol. Soon enough, she'd come to desire his company in the long run, and then...

Why was this bad to her? Why did she label it as something to hide? Was it the fact that she, Lindsey Sweetwater, a cute little thing with a bitchy characterization, had actually been falling in love with this older gentleman, a selfless white knight she would have to tiptoe for just to kiss if she wanted to?

Lyle spooked her when she got close enough, startling her with a high-pitched scream. He leaned forward and pulled her into his arms, placing the short girl right over his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, thinking it could maybe warm her up, not that he wanted to be too warm. "Better?"

Lindsey blushed as she rested her face on his cold chest, baffled and too embarrassed for her own good. At least she was able to get a nice feel of his hot body. "Y-yeah..."

Her mind wandered off after a few minutes of trying to calm down and lowering her high-octane heartbeat. The fact that he was likely feeling her beating heart had put some degree of pressure on her, but it all stabilized dramatically.

May 25th, 2030

Lyle had no problem carrying the girl on his back, up until he'd get tired overall, which wouldn't be for awhile. They had gotten up early during the bleak of sunlight, and scattered around for anything that led to civilization. They were damn close to returning and explaining what had happened to whoever would be interested to hear. Maybe this was being reported to the police, had to be. There were so many of them back there that it could not have gone unnoticed, and there was no way that they'd all be captured in a matter of hours, especially when many of those guys were killed, leaving the remaining staff unable to contain this mess.

The two teenagers were home free. And then what? Lyle knew he'd be saying goodbye now that he recalled it would be the case. His mission right this second was to get Lindsey safe and sound, and that was while he had the secondary objectives, which were to hide, move around with no attention, and to get some help and directions to Ohio, where Lindsey lived.

The thing was, she hadn't told him where exactly she lived just yet. She held out some key facts about herself, including how she had come to arrive at Vial, and personals she wouldn't disclose even when he had. She'd have to eventually, whether or not she wanted to.

That bridge was soon to be crossed.

The two fleeing juveniles found a road, with Lyle running alongside, hoping to come across amy passing cars to hail down like a taxi. They went at it for the next half hour, keeping an eye out before one red pick-up truck came from behind, to which Lyle raised his leg and shot it out to the road. "Please, come on...!"

It stopped just before passing them, and the driver of the truck flapped his hand out, morning for them to get in. This brought joy to Lindsey's face.

The driver was a middle-aged lumberjack, coming from a delivery run of oak wood. There had been only room for one in front, so Lindsey got in the front, while Lyle took to the back, arranging himself in the front corner, positioned right behind the driver so that he could keep gaze with Lindsey just in case. In seconds, the truck started moving again.

"Thank you, mister," Lindsey expressed, rubbing her shoulders for warmth. Surprisingly, she hadn't gotten too cold to develop the sniffles.

"And just what were you two doing out in the wild? Don't you know what animals live around these parts?" The man kept looking back and forth between her and the road, having seemingly taken interest in her.

"Uhhh..." Lindsey knew to lie, but hadn't come up with one this fast. "It... We were exploring... But-"

"Oh, were you lost?" He noticed her clothes, then her legs. "Young lady, where are your shoes?"

Lindsey giggled nervously, unsure of how to respond. "It's a long story-"

"You're not hippies, are you?" He pointed to the back with his thumb. "Your boyfriend here looks like one."

Lindsey blushed a hard red, fingers twitching in response to those words. "I... Uh, no, he's not. But he j-just needs a haircut."

"Mmmph," the man went. "I don't suppose you need me to drop you off at a certain place, right?"

"Anywhere in town is fine-" Her stomach growled heavily, telling her that she had been starving. "Errr..."

"Oh, sounds like you're hungry. I know a good place where you can fill up without spending too much-"

If only they had money. She moaned in disbelief and opened the window, dismayed and cross all the same. "The thing is, we're actually broke..." She revealed. "And... This is gonna sound funny but... Where are we?"

"You mean to tell me you've wandered too far from...?" The lumberjack was sorely confused, questioning how far they'd been wandering into the woods. "Well, we're coming up on Little Peak in a few miles, and Dadetown is way far behind, which went under lockdown or something. Did you two hear about these sudden stories about a large... Creature attacking this science institute or something?"

Lindsey found herself stuttering, turning to Lyle to give a discerning look, to which he shook his head to tell her no. She then turned back to the man and gave out a, "I don't know about that, sir."

"Well, I think it sounds like a case of some wild animal, like a bear or something, running around. After all, bear attacks are usually common around here."

Here. She still didn't know where here was, but asking of him would let him know that they were misplaced not by town, but by state. The only reason she knew she wasn't in Ohio was because two of the labcoats had mentioned it around her while they did her physical examinations.

Lindsey's body had been screaming to come out with it, to tell someone, anyone she could get her hands on. She had been looking at it from a child's perspective, only thinking to squeal the wrongdoings of the cruel and sadistic faculty dressed like doctors. They robbed her of enough time that she would have given up anything to get back into the life she had, however small and insignificant it was.

She never stopped to consider that her own family had deemed her dead, because in her eyes, she was kidnapped, and therefore it had to only be a missing girl who made it into the headlines and news reports. She could see it now; her face on missing posters, one of her pictures shared on social media to spread the word to friends and strangers alike, and on the Kron news.

Lindsey was back and could see her parents and brother again, and all those kids she'd been associated with. Only, they'd have grown older for sure, and maybe... Maybe...

She delved into the possibility that things would not be the same when returning back to what she knew, her stomach badly churning when maybe she'd come home to find with pieces missing. She was afraid of this which was unknown to her, and she was unready for it.

What would she expect to find in the world of tomorrow?

"Aw hell..." The lumberjack uttered. "You two look like good kids, so I suppose I can give you a handout, as long as you stay safe around these parts, you hear?"

Lindsey's eyes flared up to him, silently joyed at the man's good Samaritan act. "Y-you'll-?"

The truck pulled into a town, where Lyle began scrolling his green eyes around the buildings and people walking around. The boy himself was one such person who lived in a town in the state of Oklahoma, had been raised there all his life, and, like Lindsey, he was the younger of two, with his sister ahead by four years. This place was more like a part of his own hometown that he hadn't explored yet, which made him feel off, but soon he wouldn't be, for the blond teenager would soon be back in Oklahoma, eating a delicious apple pie that had Liena's mark all over it.

He could taste it now, and since more than enough time had passed, it was safe to say that the heat between him and his old man had died down. They had to have been glad to see him again, that was certain and sensible to him. First thing was first; his mission was to return Lindsey, and then be on his way. He signed up to be her guardian up until that point, never a permanent one at that. The fact that he had achieved it for the most part had kept him proud, not to mention sane, as he had to give himself that objective to not fail the girl, nor to lose a sense of order that he managed to keep intact.

Lindsey took off Lyle's own shirt and hung it around her neck, feeling that he should have it back by now. "I d-don't know what to say..."

"No thanks necessary, miss," the kind lumberjack assured, finally pulling up into the side of the street right next to a diner. "See that? The best bacon and eggs are made..."

Lindsey eagerly watched as the man pulled out his wallet and actually pulled out a full hundred, inatead of what she felt would be forty bucks. It definitely showed her surprise, extremely grateful of the kind gesture. She nodded and gave a smile, raising her hand to take the cash. She froze right before taking it, wondering why this was happening, when she herself had never did anyone this type of favor before. Sure, she was only an actual girl who had barely hit the double digits when kidnapped, but still, did she have earned the right to accept this? Was Lindsey worthy of the aid of someone she would have considered beneath her?

"I..." She bit her lip as it quivered, overpowered by her radiating guilt that she developed while in her isolation. She had it all wrong, or basically saw everything in a cleaner perspective, which pushed her away from who she was. And she settled for it when she finally understood that she had actually changed to a different Lindsey somewhere along the way. A better Lindsey at that.

"Please," the kind lumberjack insisted.

Lindsey locked her fingers onto the bill and tugged it gently out of his hand, setting her hand down on her lap. "Thank you... Thank you s-so much..."

Lyle had jumped out and opened the door on her side. "Yes, much obliged, good sir," he thanked as Lindsey handed him his shirt.

"Just take care, and protect each other," the lumberjack said once more.

"We will," Lindsey promised, getting out and closing the door. The red truck pulled back into the road, leaving the two to go on their merry way.

Several Minutes Later

Lindsey ordered a vanilla milkshake and French toast, depsite having been hungry. She figured she needed shoes, so she planned to save their money. Lyle was alright with himself being barefoot, so shoes were not necessarily a priority for him, so he ordered twice the food she had, including eggs and bacon over easy, a double cheeseburger with a side of tater tots, and orange juice. While they waited for their food, Lyle looked around and noticed a bulletin board on his left, where they had taken the seats on the end in the half-full diner. He got up and looked at it, while Lindsey herself eyed it from a better view.

The bulletin board consisted of mostly missing posters of people over the years, either of this town of other neighboring ones he didn't recognize. People ranging from kids around Lindsey's age, to elderly folk. Various people whom he knew were actually nabbed from the world. These same people, victimized just as they were. He'd be lying if he told her he didn't feel any hatred toward the demons in labcoats, but the drive to go out of his way to hurt them was not there. In fact, he didn't plan for some sort of bloody retribution. The same could not be said for these others who got away. There would be some update on the news, he knew it, and it was not a gut feeling that told him.

"All of those... Randoms," Lindsey whispered. "Do you think they'll...?"

She wanted to ask if he felt they could be integrated back into society, but the answer might have been a scary one at that.

Even so, he did have one. "I don't know, but I hope so."

"Oh..." Lindsey twirled her long red hair, looking out the window. The glass was dirty than the squeaky clean glass she was so used to seeing, for a change. "I still... I don't know where-"

Lyle had then pinpointed where they were. "Colorado," he answered, pointing to an article;

Number Of Disappearances In Dadetown, Colorado Skyrocket

"What? But that puts us at-?" Lindsey was cut off when their plates and drinks were served by two waitresses. Lyle smiled and thanked the women as Lindsey ravaged her toast down her throat. She forgot about their location problem until she finished.

As for Lyle, he went about eating slow, depsite having ordered more, which implied that he had been quite starved for awhile. The plate of eggs and bacon was pushed in the middle, once Lindsey had finished, an offering to appease her if it wasn't satisfactory. And she didn't even know it. "We can share if you want, or you can take it all."

"You're not-?"

"My burger meal will satisfy me until later," Lyle informed. "I hate to be the one to suggest this, but we should... Borrow a car."

She gasped, thinking she had misheard at first. "You mean...?"

"And fast," he went on. "Who knows when they'll come here to find us or those others? We need to get a map, find our way to Ohio and fast."

Lindsey nodded. "Yes, I know, Lyle. So, you got any ideas?"

Later

She had to ask. And for that, she was lying in the middle of the road, pretending to be a corpse, which would ultimately hail down any passing car that came into contact with her. "Damn it, Jefferson!"

One such car, a red Mustang GT of the 2006 model, had appeared and stopped before her. The minute the buff driver got out to inspect the body of the girl, Lindsey swung a hand to knock him off his feet, subduing him as he hit the hard ground. Worse case scenario was that she killed him, but that wasn't the case.

"I can't still hear him breathing, but take it easy with your hardcore strength," Lyle called from a hidden spot behind a tree.

Did I mention Lindsey Sweetwater had the ability to harden her skin to whatever surface she touched? It made her hands morph out of place, but would never physically match the surface of that which she touched. At most, it was as if rocks or metal were mushed together to make hands, followed by a layer of human skin. Lindsey had disliked this, because it looked gross and felt pressure-hard for her. "I don't try to hurt them, Lyle," she retorted, leaning down to the driver. "Mmm... Forgive me, mister."

"Lindsey, we have to go!" Lyle had rushed to the muscle car and got in the driver's seat. "Oh, I'm so thankful for my uncle teaching me how to drive when I was twelve."

''What?! You, at twelve?!"

"That's what I said, yes," Lyle confirmed. "And get his phone! We'll have more of a head start before he can report this!"

"Right!" Lindsey complied and dug her hands into the knocked-out driver's pockets, finding his phone. She took it and raced to the car, rapidly getting in. "DRIVE, MY MAN, DRIVE!"

Lyle sped away, reeling in the joys of grand auto theft. "Use his phone to get us to Ohio. I don't care how long the drive will be, as long as we don't get tails on us."

Lindsey didn't reply, making him turn his head. She had actually been on the verge of going through the phone, when the time and date has appeared before she swiped to the home screen. It was May 25th, only three years after. Not one, not two, but three long years... "It's... It's-"

"Lindsey?" Lyle didn't know what was going on with her. "What's going on?"

Her heart beat irregularly, broken by strain from the horrid update. She had missed three full years, and it hurt her just as bad. Lindsay had known that she had gotten older, but had no idea as the concept of time was rendered non-existent to them. Anything could have happened in those three long years, which put her in a frightening situation.

"Lindsey?"

"Three- I've been away for-" She covered her mouth, voice breaking from her calm tune.

"Don't think about it, you'll be back home," Lyle promised. "You'll be back home, I'll make sure of it."

The redhead sobbed and closed her eyes, going uninterrupted by Lyle, who let her shed those deep tears. Lindsey pulled herself back shortly after, becoming the navigator of the two. They had been going westbound it seemed, and Ohio was behind them, which only enraged Lyle. They'd have to go around the two towns behind them.

"We can't go back there, is there another route to take us northbound or southbound? We can head to another town and book it from there."

Lindsey began looking at the map when she found the app for it. "I'm looking."

May 26th, 2030

Lyle didn't account for gas, but he filled up their ride, wasting the last of their money for. They had stopped just before entering Ohio, where they were in Indiana, only a few miles out of the state limit. They rested on the side of the road, sleeping in their seats they adjusted them down. It certainly beat being out in the cold, but Lindsey secretly wanted a pillow to make her more comfortable- or Lyle himself right underneath her.

They were damn close to the default setting of their lives, except that Lindsey had not had not expressed her gratitude to the force at work, not even some cheer or laugh that Lyle detected. He thought he knew why it was, but breaking the little girl down was not in his profile.

But he had a sense of what had been troubling her enough to suppress her voice, and decided to make her open up for her own good. He spoke out first. "Man, I'm gonna need to catch up on all that I've missed. Yeah, that's a few birthdays, world news, and... Well, too much, I'm sure."

Lindsey was closely listening.

"For all I know, my sister might be in college already, who knows? I just know that..." He faced her to see her reaction. "They'll be happy to see me again."

And Lindsey flinched, unaware she was being watched by him.

"What about you? What will the little old Lindsey Sweetwater come back to?" He asked fondly.

She opened her eyes and moved her head, unsure of how to respond. "I don't know..."

"Hm? What do you mean by that?" Lyle leaned up, pretending to have no idea what she meant, but he knew. "Why do you say that?"

"No, I... I just don't know if it's gonna be... You know, the same as I left..." She rubbed her eyes. "It felt like there... C-could be some new change, and..."

"You're afraid of coming back home to... A different setting?" Lyle hit it on so well in Lindsey's opinion. She was blown away by how quickly he was able to point it out. Maybe it was never that complicated to begin with. Who could possibly say what was and what isn't?

"Son of..." She muttered. "Yeah, okay, so maybe I do. Maybe I do!"

He smiled. "Can I tell you a secret?"

She raised her eyebrow and stopped before she could fly into a hysterical defense mode. "Why not, man?"

"I am also scared of coming back to my life completely changed, and to tell you the truth, I'm certain that there will be something new, and I'll have to get used to it. Maybe I'll end up hating it, yeah, but..." He sighed in between. "I've so much time to think back there, and what I know is that we all should value what we have, and to not take it for granted. I could have told my sister I loved her more times than I had. I could have said something-"

His stopping had gotten her attention. He started crying, but the gentle teenager did not want tp cut himself off. Lindsey was mined of her concealed feelings, thinking that Lyle had been hurt the same way she was. She was wrong.

"-And I'm grateful, Lindsey. I'm actually grateful for this... That it happened to me."

"What? I- I don't understand-"

He smiled at her. "Because I've been shown of my own flaws, Lindsey. And now that I'm free, I can change myself with the life I have left. I can be better than who I was before."

She figured out that his tears were of joy and gratitude of what came of this whole fucked up era of their young lives. His view of this was that this, a rare second chance, felt like a test he would not fail again. Thw way it had to end was for Lyle to reunite with his family, and live out the rest of their lives as it should have been. Maybe the other guinea pigs would go blabbing to the authorities, so he didn't have to do it himself, and neither did Lindsey.

"I can be better, and so can you," he concluded. "I may get scared down the line, but I know I won't be alone. I'll never be alone again."

Lindsey understood his message slowly; he told her that it was okay to be scared of change, for she didn't have to move forward on her own. She tried to speak, but her mouth was left agape, astonished by his lesson. "I... I'm..." She had to own up to what she feared. "I'm scared, yes... How can- How can I push past it?"

Hours Later

"You just need the push."

When they had arrived at her house, after everything they had endured together, Lindsey took her time, looking right at the house, wondering what was going to happen. The driveway was vacant, so no one had to be home apart from her mother.

Would her mother recognize her? What would be her reaction? How would Lindsey react to it? She had her hand on the handle, ready to pull and open the door, but the scared girl froze stiff in place, heart revving up to higher heartbeats. "What if-?"

"Lindsey, no," Lyle implored. "You don't know if you don't try, I know this."

"Yeah... But-" If she didn't try, she didn't have the expectation to be let down either. And she really didn't want to either. "I might need-"

Lyle got out and moved to her side, escorting her out gently. "Up you go," he said, leading her right up to the house, grabbing her hand. "Not alone, Lindsey. Remember that."

She looked up at him and gave a nod, still dreadfully nervous of what she'd find at the other side of the door. "Th-thank you..." Then, she hugged her caretaker tightly, we t on her tiptoes and kisses his cheek.

Lyle just smiled, thinking she was a sweetheart at most. This was the happy ending Lindsey deserved; damn be the devil who denied her a happy reunion.

Lindsey let go of Lyle and took her daring steps forward, coming at the wooden door. Then, she knocked, and looked back at him, smiling as widely as she could, with her eyes glittering in the sunlight.

Then, the door opened.

AN: Of course, this chapter was shorter, for Lindsey Sweetwater's story arc won't be too long compared to that of the other ones, so yes, more Lyle and Lindsey dynamic will be down the road. Also, yes, this is the same Lyle you would recognize from the Sin Kid roster, which might have been obvious already.

While Lindsey has started her journey, I've placed the stepping stones for Lyle. His will be longer, and more of a solo arc, so the two won't always be around together, as you'll come to see. Fair to say I'm proud at where I'm going with this, and how I portray these two, whom I've never had the honor of fully fleshing out my way.

With that said, we're almost halfway with the entire first act, and since we're coming up on the anniversary of the show, I may just drop a tease of the next act. We'll see what happens. Goodnight and take care.

P.S. I'm not exactly firm in how I listed this act on the first chapter.