Pretty Momma & Her Baby (Private for Muzica-chan)

"The only work around here besides what the ships offer is prostitution and I am not losing my only friend because she gets caught without a license," Trazin told her bluntly. He didn't know that she had been implying it, but that really was the only other option. If they were lucky and fast enough, they could get work for a merchant, but most merchants had families and children that they could put to work, and if their wives were pregnant with their first child and they didn't have other relatives, they surely had friends. Even if they didn't, there were strangers that didn't have a bad reputation. For them, it was the ships or the streets.

Well, at least figuratively speaking, because they were already homeless and there weren't any real streets on the god forsaken planet.

Hugging Cat close, he told her sweetly, "Pretty lady, we'll wash up and be careful with the rest, but don't think about risking it." Smirking, he touched her cheek and told her, love so apparent in his eyes, "You're too beautiful to trade it off in hourly shares." Though he didn't consciously realize it, Trazin really did love Cat. She was his only friend anymore, and they kept each other alive. On that planet, it was more than he had the right to ask for.

Sighing, she leaned into Trazin's embrace. As much as she didn't want to believe it, she knew logically that at some point in her life, she would end up selling her body for the pleasure of others. Trazin's words inspired hope deep inside of her, just like they always did, but that hope would soon die out again until they actually had enough to eat like they did now. It wasn't that she didn't believe him. No, she hung onto his praise like a starving animal. It was having a future that she doubted. How could a desert rat have a future beyond starving?

She opened up one of the bottles and handed it over to Trazin with a grin. "You go first. I can wait until you are done."

Petting the dark, tangled hair, he told her softly, "I mean it, Kitty Cat. I will marry you before I let you sleep around. That will shut them up a bit." It was impulse, but true. Trazin held marriage sacred, viewed it as something to be dreamed of and treasured. He would go against that core belief just to protect her. It nearly pained him to think that way, but he knew that it was true. There was no point of dreaming of meeting a man to marry him, so there would be no pain in marrying Cat, even if it broke his heart all the same.

Taking the bottle, he hesitated. Biting his lip, he suddenly felt nervous and giggly, an utterly retarded feeling. "Here I go," he said weakly before tilting the bottle and pouring a few drops into his hand. It felt so weird, so wasteful, as he scrubbed it over his arm, but as the water washed away, more black than brown, he felt an odd thrill of happiness.

She ignored his threat to marry her, pretending she didn't know how much it would break both of their hearts if he followed through on it. For a few seconds, she let herself imagine how it would be if the two of them got married. Yet, for every good point, she found a way to contradict it and ruin it. While the attacks would come to a halt, that was about the only good thing that she could see coming out of it. She kept her head ducked down, her eyes adverted to stare at Trazin's arm, to hide the conflicted feelings inside of her. There was genuine love for Trazin hidden in there, and she could only hope that one day, they did fall for each other.

As he poured the water into his hand, she got the insane urge to yelp that he was being wasteful. Giddiness welled up and bubbled from her lips in a high pitched giggle as the dirt began to wash away from Trazin's caramel skin. She took the bottle from Trazin and tipped a little into her palm then rubbed at his other arm. Another laugh burst forth as more of his skin was rediscovered underneath the grim. She beamed at him, feeling an odd happiness that she hadn't felt in a long time.

Trazin couldn't help it. When Cat laughed, he laughed. The noise was rough, jerky, nearly painful as it escaped him. He hadn't had a reason to laugh in so long. Was this a reason to laugh? He wasn't sure. It was certainly a reason to rejoice. Still, he was more nerves than mirth. At least it wasn't the bitter, self mocking laugh that usually bubbled out of him. No, this was cagey, edgy giggles that nearly hurt on their way out, but sounded so sweet in the air that he wanted to giggle even more. He was confused, conflicted and elated all at once. This was a mix of heaven and hell, emotionally, but he couldn't seem to stop himself long enough to think about it rationally.

Once his arms were clean, he turned towards Cat and, very carefully, began to help her scrub her own arms. While there was plenty of dirty and grime built up elsewhere on his bodies, just having his arms clean was enough. The cold was already biting into him, a reminder of the wind that was everywhere, but he felt so amazing that he didn't care. While his skin was still dark, it now shone with a beautiful inner light that was as radiant as it was handsome. His eyes couldn't even compare to the color of his skin when it was actually clean.

The noise that Trazin was making, what should have been a laugh but wasn’t, brought Cat out of the unusual happiness she was in. The sound made her want to wrap her arms around her best and only friend and hide him away from the rest of the world. She hated that he lived a life harsh enough that he didn’t have a reason to laugh regularly. Even though she rarely laughed, herself, she knew that Trazin held a lot more bitterness inside of him than she did, allowing the laughter to flow smoother. As her friend kept laughing, she had to close her eyes against the sudden sting of tears, and kept giggling to help hold them back.

The water on her arms was a foreign feeling, and she tensed up. Instinct screamed at her to stop, and she hated how she almost gave into the urge to jerk away. Once the dirt started to wash away and her skin went from unhealthy black-ish brown to a creamy, milk chocolate color, she could feel the laughter pouring out again. It took only minutes, but soon her arms were clean. The wind was already raising goosebumps and made her shiver, but she ignored it in favor of admiring her skin. Even though it was only her arms and hands that were clean, it still felt incredible.

They still had over half a bottle left of water since they had been extremely careful with it. Glancing between the bottle and Trazin’s face, she debated how mad he would be. Instantly, she knew he would probably be really mad but decided she didn’t care a split second later. She soaked her fingers in the water then raised them to gently rub at Trazin’s cheeks. A bright, genuinely happy grin was sent his way, a small attempt to stop him from getting too angry with her.

Trazin's laughter didn't even out. He kept expecting it to come more naturally, more easily, more happily, but it didn't. The pain in it wasn't the sort that would fade quickly, if ever. Finally, he stopped it in his throat. A broad, stupid grin brightened his features with none of the roughness that his laugh was forever marred with. Smiling was always easy, because it was something he did frequently. Half of the smiles were fake or half forced, but this was different, precious. He was happy with it. So what if he looked like a retarded monkey that had been struck in the head by a rock. He certainly felt about as civilized as one, rejoicing in something as simple as being clean. It was impossibly painful to think that it had once been a requirement. In fact, the memory hurt so much that he blocked it out.

When Cat tensed, he did as well, worried about her jerking and spilling. Of course she didn't. Of course she was too controlled. Still just sixteen years old, still just a child, and she had so much self control that she didn't risk ruining precious resources. They both were, but he was still awed by her, and he loved her so much, especially when she stared at her own skin with admiration. She was paler than him, though not by much. Both of them had coffee colored completions that were beautiful, brilliant especially under the dry sun. Now that they were clean, they practically glowed, and he loved how he looked, loved how he felt. It was amazing to finally be clean.

Shivering in the wind, he wondered if he would catch his death and die happy. He wasn't sure if he should hope for it or not. Of course, they would get sick and die together like this, but that was fine. At least they would die clean with relatively full stomachs.

The cold shock of water against his face stunned him. Looking at Cat, he felt her fingers trace patterns on his face, drawing designs in the ground in dirt. For a moment, he was irrationally angry, but then he smiled, a soft, slight smile, completely different from the goofy grin from before. Dipping his fingers into the water bottom, he mirrored her gestures, painting patterns that slowly dripped down, taking the filthy blackness with them. There was a beautiful woman beneath the grime, and he was happy to reveal her, to show her off to the world. She was truly the most ravishing woman in the world, and he was the only man that could ever say she was his. His train of thought put a tender smile on his face and such love in his eyes. He wanted to want her, just because she was so beautiful. He wanted to desire her body, because she was so strong. He wanted to lust after her, just because it would fix everything. Slowly, he realized he wanted to love her, because if he loved any woman, no, not just any woman, but anyone, it was her.

The anger that she was waiting for lit up Trazin’s eyes, and she held back a wince. She didn’t know what she was expecting him to do, maybe hit her or yell, but the gentle smile that he gave her was not it. Blinking back the shock, she jerked back from the feeling of his cold fingers on her cheeks before she realized what he was doing. The grin spreading nearly split her face in half. Clean arms were one thing, but also being able to wash her face filled her with more joy than before.

On Trazin’s right cheek, she drew a heart. On his left cheek, she traced an intricate pattern that didn’t make sense even to herself. She wiped carefully around his eyes, marveling at how stunning her friend was. Royal purple eyes gazed at her with more affection than she had ever seen from someone in her life. Combine with his skin color and strong features, she knew without a doubt that Trazin was a rare, exotic treasure. One that she wanted to show off to everyone yet never let them near enough to touch. Trazin was a gift, and she was greedy enough to keep him all to herself.

Taking care to get rid of the last of the dirt from his face, she stuck her tongue out at him in a random moment of childishness. “Has anyone ever tell you that you’re a gorgeous man?” She asked, relishing in the feel of the sun on her clean skin. Life suddenly didn’t seem as dark as it had when she had gone to bed. They had enough food and water for the next few days, they were clean, and they had each other for company. In all, Cat could honestly say that she was happy with being alive right then.

Feeling the patterns he drew, he wrote the word love all over her face, in every language that he knew and as many times as he could fit it. Smiling at her, he told himself that someday someone would look upon her beautiful face with the love she deserved, not the flighty lust that drove so many to her, but real love, the kind that she deserved. She was a beautiful woman, but more than that, she had a beautiful soul. She could look upon the cruelty of this world and still laugh so sweetly. Even though she had never known anything but hardships, she was always happy, at least on the surface.

Pulling his sleeve up a bit, he scrubbed at her cheek to get everything. There wasn’t much left anyway, but it was like polishing a rare gem: once you started to uncover the beauty, you wanted to reveal all of it. The idea of dressing Cat up in lace and frills, not cumbersome ones that would impede her, but delicate ones that would accent her ever movement, struck him and he imagined her dressed all in the same vivid gold of her gorgeous eyes. It was hard to say if she would look like an angel or a temptress demon. Either way, she would be ravishing.

"Has anyone ever told you that you’re a beautiful woman?" he asked in returned. Abruptly, he stood up and began gathering up the bread and water. Holding his hand out to Cat, he declared, "Come on. We can find somewhere to stash this stuff and then go see if we can find work. Things are good now. Let’s keep them that way. Maybe we’ll find another captain that we can skin for money." There was mirth in his voice, a dark amusement that spoke more of resentment. He hated having to cheap captains, had taken a class to understand the prices that went into running a ship, but what other choice did they have? He couldn’t worry about others when his own starved to death in their sleep. Such was the way of the world.

Taking his offered hand, she sprung to her feet, barely tugging on him to get to her feet. She took some of the supplies from him, wanting to haul her own weight even if it was something as simple as this, and instantly set herself to walk close enough that their shoulders brushed. Trazin being the same height as her was something that she loved. It meant she could throw her arm over his shoulder easily, or look him in the eye without having to tilt her head.

"Where are we stashing our bounty?" She asked, confident that they were far enough from people that she could say that and not worry about being attacked.

(((OOC:/ Short reply is short~)))

Trazin let her take her share. It wasn't a lack of trust that made him keep a hold of most of it, it really wasn't, but he still kept his arms tight. He didn't want Cat to wear herself out since they would have to walk far today. Once they were quite a ways out, he stopped near a rock and declared, "Right here. No one will come out this far, and the rock will protect everything from the sun." Digging with his fingers, he carved out a basin beneath the rock that would keep them farther hidden and safe. Stowing the goods in there, he straightened up and flexed his fingers. They hurt a lot.

Turning towards Cat, he waited for her to put hers in as well and then caught her around the waist. Trying not to think about it, he pressed his lips to hers. It wasn't a friendly, passing kiss that they had shared. It was passionate, not demanding, but desperate. "Feel something. Please feel something. If we both do, then everything will be perfect." But he could already feel his own numbness.

"Brilliant thinking, Trazi," she praised him with a smile. She dropped her part of their food and water into the hollow in the ground. Even though she knew that this was probably the safest place for them right now, she still felt wary about leaving it. There had been too many times that someone had stolen her food or water when her back was turned. She had quickly learned her lesson in that regard. Food and water was to be guarded as if it was gold. Clothes and money were something that one could go without as long as they stayed nourished and hydrated.

Trazin's arm around her waist did nothing to prepare her for the kiss. They had been grabbing and holding onto each other within days of meeting, had even jokingly kissed a few times. This time was nothing like the others. She caught desperation, longing, pain, and love. Though she pressed back, her arms sliding carefully around his shoulders, she knew it was pointless. Her heart stuttered and cracked right down the middle as she pulled away a few seconds later. Gazing at him with agony in her eyes, she whispered, "I'm sorry." Her fingers gently massaged at the base of his neck, trying to get rid of the tension residing there.

Even after breaking the kiss, he rested his forehead against hers, his arms still around her. His heart didn't race, as it should have. His body didn't react, like he had hoped it would. His mind wasn't even awed. All he fell was the hollow betrayal of his heart. He was angry with himself, more than he could put into words. Kissing Cat so desperately...it was selfish, and Trazin knew that, but what else could he do? All he had was hope and dreams and a desperate need for everything to be right, or at least close enough that he didn't feel like he was fighting to breathe.

"Then we both are, so don't be," Trazin told her with a laugh. Letting go of her, he stepped away and then grabbed her hand. Dragging her after him, he tossed over his shoulder, "We were made to love each other, not be in love. That isn't something to be sorry about." There was a smile on his face that said how sorry he was for kissing her, but he couldn't put words to it, didn't trust himself to. If he did, there was a high chance he'd cry, and then what? Tears were just wasted water, and even if they did have their stash safely tucked away, that didn't mean they could waste any. He could only hope that she would let it go so that they could get on with their lives and their newer mistakes.

Once they were near the port, he was disappointed to see that there weren't any ships, new or old, in port. Frowning, he walked to the base of the dock, just before metal mixed with sand. Crouching down, he declared, "I shall wait here until something comes."

Humming a short reply because she didn't entirely trust herself to speak, she let him lead her to wherever he felt like. He could take her to the middle of the desert and leave him, bring her aboard a ship and kick her off in deep space, or drown her in one of the small lakes on the planet and she would let him. It probably wasn't a healthy way to think considering they had only been friends for a few months, but she knew it was true. Trazin could kill her, and she would lay back and let him. She would rather be killed by her best and only friend than some random stranger who would most likely defile her body before and after she died.

When the reached the port, she giggled and crouched down beside him. "I shall wait by your side as any loyal kitty would," she said, wrapping her arms around her knees and resting her cheek on them to stare over at Trazin. With his skin clean and dry, it practically glowed in the sunlight. She had noticed quite a few looks being directed at her dark friend as they had been walking, though all of them had been from females, so Cat hadn't bothered to point them out.

Trazin never would have betrayed Cat, though he had to question himself if that kiss counted as betrayal. After all, neither of them wanted it even if they both wanted it to work. It was confusing, and he put it out of his mind as he chuckled and teased her sweetly, "No cat is loyal, Kitty cat. That is why you're also my pretty lady." Despite his words, he scratched behind her ear as if she were actually a cat. Though he could see her eyes were elsewhere, he focused on her for the moment, until movement caught his own attention.

His eyes flickered between Cat and those walking past them. He wondered just how many women were burning up of envy towards Cat, because of how beautiful she was. It never occurred to him that they might envy her being next to him. All he knew was that she was beautiful. Every time a man glanced her way though, he had no doubt that none of them were looking at him, so he moved closer to her protectively. He may not have been much bigger than her, but he would try to be her body guard all the same.

What were friends for, after all?

"This cat is loyal to the only person willing to feed and shelter her," she countered, purring roughly when he scratched behind her ears. Her head tilted into his hand and her eyes slid shut to block out the people passing by. The looks that were being sent their way were one part lust and admiration, one part pity, and one part jealousy. She had no doubt that some time during the next day or two, they would both be harassed because they were clean. Only the rich or the suicidal could afford to be clean.

Shifting to lean comfortably against Trazin, she murmured, "Do you think another ship will come today?"

Trazin laughed at Cat's reply, but didn't say anyting. He kept rubbing her until he grew bored with it. Wrapping his arms around himself, he tilted his face towards the sun. He had forgotten how amazing it could feel on clean skin. It no longer had to cut through a layer of grime, but caressed his flesh with its warmth. He suddenly remembered how much he had loved its touch as a child, how many times he had sat doing the same thing as a kid, smiling at the sun.

Feeling Cat lean against him, he fell onto his rear so he could support her weight more easily. Hooking an arm around her waist, he leaned his head against her and answered honestly, "I don't know kitty Cat. I hope so, but I honestly don't know."

They waited until nightfall, laughing and nudging each other occasionally. When the sun began to decent towards the horizon, Trazin's heart fell with it, but he said nothing and kept her smiling. They both knew when it was too late, and Trazin stood up, offering her his hand. Once she had taken it, he headed into the dessert.

"We shouldn't eat tonight, save it for tomorrow so we have breakfast. We know what it is like to sleep with an empty belly," he declared, his voice phrasing it as a suggestion, but he knew she would listen. They would walk straight to the market town where they had slept before. Trazin was certain of this, because they would both want to look at what they could buy if they were a little less wise, what they could waste their money on if they didn't want to survive.

"Sounds like a good plan. I'm pretty sure I won't waste away over night," she agreed easily, trotting along with her hand still clasped around his. Now that they were outside of the docking town, the darkness felt denser without the small glow that came from the dimly lit houses. Cat knew that just outside of her vision danced the nighttravelers of the planet. They were the rejects of the rejects and preferred moving around during the night. Most of the time, they were harmless. If you were carrying something of worth, they weren't quite so harmless.

The trip through the desert never seemed as long during the night as it did during the day. In what felt like only half of the time, they were entering the rundown town they had left just that morning. All of the merchants had already closed shopped except for a few here and there, and even those were putting away their wares in preparation for the night. A couple of homeless stragglers were making their way from the middle of the town to the outskirts where they could sleep in peace. Without the bustle of the crowds, despite how small they were, the place looked more desolate and broken. A former shadow of what had once been the center for trades.

"Are we splitting up again tonight?" She asked as they slowed their pace. Soon, they were the only ones left on the street except for a man passed out on someone's doorstep.

Trazin actually loved walking through the desert at night. It was serene to him, far from the insanity of the town, and the cold hush of dark secrets that lingered in their alleyways. People died every day in the desert, but there deaths were somehow less evil than those in town. Maybe it was because they died slowly, fading from lack of food and exhaustion. Maybe it was because true monsters got them in the desert, rather than those that dwelt in human flesh. Regardless of the maybes, he felt safer in the desert, though he knew he was not. There were monsters out there, great beasts that could sink into the dirt. Swooping shadows that could snatch a grown man into the air. Demons that lumbered around in search of flesh.

"Might as well," he murmured after a moment of thought, his eyes flickering around. The two of them together would be more likely to attract attention. It was easy to overlook one clean body, especially at night when it was dark. If they were together, no one would miss the way that their arms actually glowed in the moon light, reflecting the beautiful blue of their moon delicately. Clean skin was a rarity and not one that people would be keen for overlooking. Clean belonged to the rich. The rich were to blame. That was how things worked, and though it was nice to be clean, he knew they had to fly low to avoid it.

Nodding to himself, he gestured for Cat to start walking before heading towards the alley he had been in last night. Just before he ducked between the two buildings, he froze and glanced back. His stomach twisted violently, but he couldn't, for the life of him say why. Reassuring himself that Cat was walking safely, he tried to turn away...But he couldn't move past the mouth of the ally. No matter how he pushed himself, he was stuck in place.

Cat watched Trazin walk away, holding back a frown when she realized that he was going down an alley. It was definitely not the one of the safest places, but she also knew that Trazin could hold his own. He might not be very big, but she knew that he would fight dirty and hard to get away. She hoped that he wouldn't have to. They were finally clean with relatively full stomachs for once. That was more than either of them had ever hoped to happen on this planet.

As she walked down the street, she felt eyes watching her like they had the night before. As unsettling as it was, she forcefully tuned it out and sped up her pace. The sooner she reached the small, broken house on the edge of town, the better. Once there, she wouldn't have to worry. No one would risk attacking her with two other people near her. The thought gave her a tiny amount of comfort and encouraged her hurry. The feeling of being watched never lessened, rather it intensified, and she felt the urge to run. She fought against it, knowing that it would be foolish to run. It would alert the person following her, if there was even someone there, that she knew they were there and that would end badly, or she would simply look stupid and raise alarm for nothing if nothing was there.

Just as she made up her mind to run, not caring what others thought of her, strong hands grabbed her by the throat and upper arm, snatching her off the street and into a dark, crumbling house. Instinct made her lash out with her feet, and satisfaction surged through her when her foot connected with her attacker's knee. The person cuffed her around the head, putting a ringing noise in her ears and stunning her. When hands began tugging harshly at her pants though, she snapped out of it and began thrashing around and screamed.

She was hit in the head again, making blood well inside of her mouth and stars dance across her vision. One large hand covered her mouth and nose while the other continued jerking at her clothing. In a matter of seconds, she felt the night air, which felt so much colder now, against the bare skin of her legs despite how much she was struggling. She shoved at the man hovering above her, but it was weak. With his hand over her face, she couldn't breathe, and the lack of air was making everything fuzzy. Her hands fell listlessly to the side as a warm haze settled over her mind.

Abrupt, white hot pain that seemed to come from the inside slammed her back into reality. Blind panic sent more adrenaline through her veins and gave her a bout of strength, just enough to punch the man in the ribs. He did nothing more than grunt and move his hand from her face. She sucked in a gulp of air greedily and managed a faint cry for help, one she wasn't sure anyone heard, only for him to wrap lethal fingers around her throat and cut off her air supply again.

Even if he hadn't been preventing her from breathing, she was pretty sure she would have stopped when he started to move and sent more fiery pain through her. After what felt like two life times, though it was only a couple of minutes at best, her mind finally faded out enough that the only thing she could feel and comprehend was the pain. A few more life times and the man collapsed on top of her, his hand slipping away from her neck. While she wasn't sure why he had let go, she didn't really care as she took advantage of his inattentiveness and drew in a lungful then let it out in a piercing scream.

"Nothing is wrong," Trazin said out loud as he stood in the mouth of the alley. He could see where he had fallen the night before. His body had left an impression. Logic told him to settle into that impression, close his eyes, and enjoy some sleep. His stomach was practically fully, he was hydrated, and there were parts of him that were clean. This surely would have been the best sleep he ever had. The dawn would come too soon, and then he would have to hike out to the rock to get his food and water before legging it the rest of the way to the port. That time was coming, and quickly, so he needed to rest, but he couldn't seem to make himself.

With a soft oath, he finally gave up trying to push himself forward. His gut feelings wouldn't let him, so there was no point in trying. Instead, he turned away and started walking. His steps were forcefully slow. If he was too stupid to sleep in that alley, he wasn't going to let himself get to sleep any time soon. Instead, he strolled leisurely through the night, letting the cold sink into his bones. The light of the moon offered no warmth and the dead ground beneath him held none of the sun's heat. During the day, it was fire and at night, it was ice. Some times he loved it. At that particular moment, he almost hated it.

No, that wasn't what he hated. Something was causing a sick, twisted feeling, similar to hate, to well up inside of him, but he knew that it wasn't the territory that had been his home since he was born, his cage since he had come back so many months ago. For the life of him, he couldn't say why he felt the way he did, that sickly feeling of rage and horror and pain, but he knew he had never felt it before. Even when his supposed lover betrayed him so that Trazin took the fall and was cast out of school a long, he hadn't felt such negative emotions. of course, he had been stunned most of that time, but this was different, so very different. There was no blocking it out and no logic to it. Though he was fighting against it, it wasn't getting any less prominent.

Trazin suddenly realized how far he had walked. Pausing, he looked about himself. This was well past Cat's comfort zone. He was certain she wouldn't have walked this far just for somewhere to sleep. Confused, he turned back and wondered if he had missed her. Sighing, he decided that he'd have to duck into a couple different buildings to look around for her. With a bitter smile, he thought how lucky he was that almost none of the buildings had rooms, just four holy walls and a roof for a few lucky ones.

Just as he started thinking that Cat had disappeared completely, he heard a scream. It was weak, frail, and the sort of thing he turned his back to. The part of him that longed for justice died each time he did it, but he was almost forced to. There was no way to save everyone, and no matter how much he fought, the people he did save would eventually be hurt again. There was no point even trying. So he just turned away, but this time he couldn't. This time it did involve him. This time, it was Cat's voice that cried, begging all of the unseen faces and fates to save her. It was Cat being hurt, and Trazin's mind went blank with rage.

Who the FUCK dare hurt his kitty Cat? Racing towards the source of the sound, he stopped long enough to grab a plank of wood, something that had fallen from the roof of the building. Bursting into a house, he was greeted by a sight that would haunt his memories even more than they haunted hers: a man was over top of Cat, strangling her while he thrust into her. His body was disgustingly filthy like everyone else and he was malnourished like the rest of them. In a horrifying way, he was no different than Trazin himself or any other male.

"FUCKER!" Trazin screamed, and that was just the first of the swears that escaped him. With the beam, he beat the man, sending him rolling off of Cat. Repeatedly, he slammed the board into the man's head and shoulders. At first, he just wanted to stun and daze him, put him in a state where they could escape, but with the first swing, that idea snapped from him mind as he snapped inside. Enraged, he began pounding away, hitting him over and over, not satisfied with the amount of blood he saw. Skin tore with each strike, blood pooled on the surface of his skin only to be splattered over the walls as he hit the same spot over and over. Before long, there was only one man, one woman, and a mutilated heap of what was once a human being. Only then did Trazin come back to himself enough to stop.

Gasping in shock, disgust, fear, and revulsion, he dropped the beam and stumbled back. His spin his the wall and he slowly sank down. His purple eyes were huge, terror filling them. What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done?What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done?What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done?What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? What had he done?

She wasn't sure how long she laid there. Long enough that the cold numbed her and she finally stopped shaking. It wasn't until the sky began to lighten that she started to think that she should move, should tug her shirt down to cover her. She tried to lift her hand, fighting against the numbness, but only managed to lift it enough to drop it clumsily on her stomach. The simple act exhausted her, sleep crowding at the edges of her consciousness. Pushing the need to sleep away, she drug her hand down, dragging the hem of her shirt down to cover herself.

With half of her shirt bunched underneath her shoulder blades, she couldn't pull it far enough down. She shifted and tried to brace her feet on the ground only for pain to blossom along her inner thighs and groin. Yelping pitifully, she dropped her legs back down to the ground. Tears sprang to her eyes and overflowed as pain, humiliation, and anger at herself warred within her. How could she have been so stupid, letting someone get close enough to grab her? It was a mistake that only a newbie runaway or outcast would make. Trazin would be so disappointed and angry with her right now.

Thinking of her best friend, she shut her eyes and began softly calling his name over and over, though she knew he was probably still asleep wherever he had gone last night. It didn't matter. Simply saying his name made her feel fractionally better.

Trazin's hands covered his ears, bony finger tips digging viciously and unforgiving into his scalp. Head bowed and eyes squeezed tightly shut, he repeatedly demanded of himself an answer for what he had done, only to find that he didn't have one. He had no idea what had happened or what he was going to do. He had ended a life, someone was dead, because of him. The blood was splattered across him and all around the room. It painted him the murderer, the one at fault. On this dustball, there was no penalty for killing, raping, or harming others. As long as you left the rich alone, you were fine. That didn't change the fact that he had killed someone. Someone's blood was on his hands, literally and figuratively, and he couldn't figure out what to do.

Dawn stained the sky, and his eyes opened at the soft touch of light to his lids. Like a helpless child looking towards the light for comfort, his head rose and his grip on his head lightened slightly. A soft yelp made him cover his ears again and bury his face against his knees. All he heard was the man's agonized voice as he pounded him, beating him to a mushy pulp. He had reduced him to nothing, emotionally and physically. Trazin had stolen his life in a painful, grueling way. His own body ached with exhaustion, but also empathy, the mimicked pains of each strike that had landed on him. There was a sickness in all of it, and he may not have ever escaped it, but then he heard his voice and he remember.

That man had hurt his Cat.

That man had violated his Cat.

That man had been a monster in life.

He had killed that man for Cat.

It didn't make the crime any less sick. It didn't make Trazin, himself, any less of a monsters. It did, however, make it a little easier to bare. He hated himself, was sickened by what he had done and how he had done it, but he could live with himself. He would have to live with himself. Cat needed him now.

Dropping to his hands and knees, he crawled over to her. Not touching her, he moved to lay parrallel to her. Then, his hand touched her shoulder, lightly and carefully. He had seen girls raped before, but he had never tried to help and had no idea how to. All he could do was touch her shoulder lightly, and whisper over her soft, croaking voice, "I'm here, kitty Cat. I'm right here babe. I'll be here forever. I'm so sorry I was too late, but I'm here now, kitty Cat. I'm right here."

He lay between her and the mess of the human being that had hurt her. He sheltered her from that sight, but he couldn't ignore the drops of blood that flecked her face, marred her beautiful appearance. He couldn't ignore the lifelessness in her eyes. He couldn't ignore the way her shirt was wrenched and her pants were gone. He couldn't ignore it, but he could do nothing about it, but touch her lightly and whisper to her lovingly.

A hand on her shoulder made her flinch away as images of the man coming back popped into her head. She tried to move away, but the slightest shift made pain shoot through her. The tears came down harder, a combination of the pain and at how powerless she was. She couldn't even move her arms properly to defend herself, making everything that much easier for him this go around. After he was done with her, he would probably kill her this time. The only thing she could hope for was that he didn't steal the money and Trazin found it instead.

Slowly, a voice filtered through her hazy mind, and she nearly sobbed in relief as she recognized Trazin's voice. It took a few blinks for her to realize that her eyes were open and she was staring at Trazin's blood spattered face. It took ten long seconds for her to realize that it was Trazin's hand on her shoulder, a steady, constant pressure, instead of the man grabbing her. Minutes passed before she could comprehend what he was murmuring to her in such a gentle voice.

She felt the need to be closer to him and shakily raised a hand to fist weakly in his shirt. "Hold me," she pleaded, voice cracked and hoarse. "I can't move. Please hold me. Don't let the man get me again, Trazi. Please, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," she chanted, wanting him to know that she didn't mean for all of this to happen, that she didn't want any of it. She tugged on his shirt, trying to urge him closer, but froze when she realized that it was wet.

Blankly, she stared at the red covering her friend and waited for it to connect in her brain. When it finally did, her eyes widened and a fresh wave a tears burst forth. "Oh God, Trazi, I'm sorry. I-he-I didn't-I'm sorry," she rambled brokenly as she wiped at his face. "You just got clean," she whispered sadly, feeling the shivering starting up again.

Hearing her cracked, broken voice, he wrapped his arms around her. Drawing her against him, he buried his face in her hair, hating that he smelled that bastards blood there. His stomach twisted violently as he remembered what was behind him, what he had done, but he forced it down as he held her even tighter. "It's okay, Pretty Lady. He's never going to hurt you again. He'll never hurt anybody again. It's okay, Pretty Lady. You're safe with me." He wished desperately that he could ensure that. Even if it was just opening his veins in tribute to the Fates, if he knew it would work, he would have done it for her.

"Don't you dare say you're sorry. Don't you dare," Trazin growled, his voice cracking, nearly breaking. Squeezing her tight, he told her, " That man is at fault. You did nothing wrong. This was his fault, and I made damn certain that he paid for it." There were tears in his eyes, but the purple hues were fierce, saying that he meant it. Rubbing her back, he shook his head and told her, "Pretty Lady, this isn't your fault. Nothing could make this your fault, so don't you dare cry anymore for what I had to do, okay? You're safe now, so it isn't that bad, not anymore."

Sitting up, he dragged her with him. Though he knew she was in pain, he supported her as much as he could as he dragged her up. "We have to go. If the disposal team finds us with the body, there will be trouble. We need to get moving." He was gentle but forceful as he urged her towards the back of the house. It let out into desert, none of the buildings facing that way. That was perfect, because it allowed them to get away almost unnoticed. Trazin was careful with Cat, but didn't slow down. He wanted to get to where their water was. He wanted to wash her skin clean.

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