Disclaimer: Same as in first part
"Hi. You're awake." Some girl who couldn't have been much more than fifteen or sixteen was standing over me as I tried to clear away the fog from my brain. "You're in the warden's house. They bought you here after you were shot last night. I'm so glad you're here..."
I start zoning out the rest of what she's saying cuz she just kept going on and on. Like I really needed someone talking my ear off right after I wake up from being shot. I'm still having trouble focusing---they must've shot me full of drugs. Then the last part of what she was saying grabs my attention like a slap to the face.
"What did you say?" I ask, staring up at the fuzzy blob that used to look a lot more like a human being just a minute before. I think I heard her say something like, with me here, maybe he won't--.
"What won't he do?" I ask when she doesn't say anything. The sound of heavyset footsteps comes up beside my bed and I see a bigger blob standing over me. But by then, I'm already starting to black out and the last thing I see is that both of them are leaving the room together.
I don't really remember anything after that except for this feeling of overall disgust running through my mind. The next time I wake up, B's sitting next to me on the side of the bed and, for a minute, I wonder if I'm having that dream again. But if this _were_ that dream, she wouldn't have just slapped me across the face.
"What was that for?"
"To wake you up."
"I was awake already, so stop."
She smiles as she gets up. "Had to make sure--You had the goofiest grin on your face."
"And if you hadn't slapped it off, it'd still be there..." Then I sober up. "How's Max doing?"
"She'll be fine. Logan had his contact in the police station steal the pills from the evidence room. And now that I've finished with the update, let's get out of here."
"Yeah, I was getting tired of getting shot at anyway." Aside from a little dizziness when I sat up, I felt fine. "But we need to take someone with us B."
"This isn't a Sunday afternoon walk in the park--"
"I know but--" The door to the room suddenly opens and in walks this overweight, middle-aged white man in a bad suit.
"What's going on here?" He demands to know in a pompous tone.
"Isn't it obvious? We're making a break for it."
When he reaches into his jacket for what I'm assuming is his piece, B's all over him. Taking the gun off the floor where he dropped it, I point it straight at his head. "We're going for a ride and you're going to be the driver. Any problems with that?"
The plan, or what we'd thought up in the two minutes it took us, started off well. B and the girl, whose name was Maria, hid out in the trunk of the car while I took shotgun and we rode out of the prison without a hitch. It didn't hurt that the guy we'd recruited happened to be the warden.
"So you like little girls?" I ask after staring at him for a long while. "Cuz from what I hear, you seem to like them too much."
He doesn't even try to deny it. "What did that little slut tell you?"
If he wasn't still driving, I would've shot him right there. Fucking pervert. I just need one reason. Give me an excuse to kill you. As if he was reading my mind, he suddenly swerves the car, probably hoping that I'd be surprised and let go of the gun but I pull the trigger before I get slammed against the side of the door. Grabbing the steering wheel, I pull the car over to the side of the road and wipe off the blood on my face.
"Don't worry. Everything's fine!" I yell, getting out of the car. "Just need to get rid of some trash," I add under my breath. When I open the driver's side door, the body falls over onto the pavement and I have to drag the rest of it out. At least there wasn't that much splatter on the interior. There's a sudden pop in the back and then a few seconds later, B's climbing in beside me and Maria's getting in the backseat.
"What happened?" She asks.
"Dude tried to take the gun." I didn't even look over at her to see if she believed me because some ways of doing things, we just wouldn't agree on.
Once we get back to the apartment, I find out that Max is over at Logan's place...Of course she is. Why would she be in her _own_ apartment where she's got her _own_ bed, and her _own_ girlfriend who's been crazy worried about her? Maybe I'm a little jealous and I hate that I am. When did I get possessive? But the fact of the matter is I _am_.
That's why I took off. I couldn't wait around for Max to show up, so instead, I went to find her.
Logan's building looks even better in the light of day and it's twice as hard to get into. The security's a bitch but I manage to get in anyway. As I'm closing the apartment door behind me, I hear voices coming from one of the rooms. Walking over there, I keep telling myself I'm not spying but I ain't trying to make my presence known either.
Max is standing over Logan and they're both looking at something on the computer screen. My girl looks alot better than the last time I saw her. Guess she got those pills I couldn't deliver. Her hand is on Logan's back and they're both smiling and talking and I just want to leave now. But she happens to look over just when I'm backing up and I'm caught.
"What's up?" I stand there like a total goof, not really knowing what to do.
Max gives me this big smile that almost makes me think she's glad to see me and when she wraps me up in her arms a second later, I begin to think I was way too paranoid before.
"You had me worried for awhile," she says.
"I guess we're even then. How's it going Logan?" I ask, looking over Max's shoulder. Whether or not Max had a thing for him, it's easy to see that he still does.
He nods at me. "Just finishing up deleting your records from the prison's system."
Max lets me go so she can look me in the eyes and I have to wonder if I look as stressed as she does. "Are you all right?" I ask, placing my palm against her cheek.
She leans into my hand and shoots back, "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"
And what was there to do then but to kiss her? Which is exactly what I did. I feel like I'm finally home again when I'm with her and I just hope I'm not setting myself up for a fall or setting her up for one either.
"By the way Logan," I say, getting his attention. "Can you do me a little favor..."
Logan was cool enough to find Maria a nice family to live with---out in the country somewhere. When we get back to the apartment, only B's still awake and she looks like something's on her mind.
"Faith, we need to talk...alone."
I can just tell it's going to be another serious discussion and I shrink back just a bit. Imagine me, a slayer, afraid at the mere hint of having a meaningful talk. But I nod towards Max who's giving me a concerned look, and she moves slowly towards her bedroom.
B looks at me and then grins. "Sit down Faith. I'm not going to bite."
"I have a feeling this is gonna hurt worse than any bite." But I sit down anyway.
"We still have no idea how we got here, " she starts out. "And I don't think we're going to find out in Seattle. Whatever caused this to happen is in Sunnydale."
"How do you know that?" My arms are starting to cross in a defensive posture and I had to forcefully push them down to my side again.
"Doesn't it always start there? And anyway, it's the best and most logical place to start looking."
"And what? You want me to start looking with you?"
"Yes!" She says forcefully. "You can't stay here forever Faith. We have to go back...back to where we belong."
I couldn't say anything for a few seconds cause I couldn't believe what was coming out of her mouth. "Do you really think I want to go back to that B? Back to jail, to a whole world that thinks I 'm nothing but white trash scum? Well, you can just kiss my ass cuz I'm not doing it. I'm not going back."
"I understand how you feel Faith but--"
"But you don't understand," I say, shaking her hand off of my knee where she'd placed it. "How can you understand ANYTHING of what I'm feeling? You've had everything in your life: a mom who actually loves you, friends who care about you, and the whole world thinks you're Little Miss Perfect Can't Do No Wrong. Can't you just toss me a tiny crumb here? This is a world where I can finally have a clean slate and you want me to toss it away for some misguided sense of duty--justice--what?"
Buffy stood up suddenly, turning her back to me and I couldn't force down this little stab of guilt at having made her unhappy. I'm right on this, I remind myself, no matter what Buffy thinks.
"I'm not going to force you to come back with me," she finally says turning back around. "But I need you to help me find MY way back."
She's looking at me with that half-pleading, half-hoping expression that makes my insides start to melt even before she's finished speaking. And I couldn't say no if my life depended on it---I owed this girl too much...at least that's how I justified it to myself and to Max when I curled up next to her later.
"Say something," I beg her half-jokingly after I'd told her what I had to do.
"Like you said, you have to do this. What do you want me to say Faith? That I'm fine with it? I'm not cuz I'll be missing you too much."
I pull her towards me so her head is resting on my shoulder. "You can come with me. It'll be like a mini-vacation, only without the rest or the fun so it'll just be a mini."
"I'd love to but you know I can't leave."
"Or you won't." As much as I didn't want to be the jealous type, Logan's face suddenly pops into my head like a jack in the box.
A biting edge enters her voice as she asks, "What exactly are you implying? Why don't you just come right out and say whatever's on your mind?"
If that's what she wants. "I'm talking about you and Logan. There's something between you guys and don't try to bullshit me about it being just friendship cause it's more than that."
"So now you're reading my mind?" She asks, angrily sitting up.
Was this going to be our first official fight as a couple? Damn!
"There might have been something but that was before I met you. I love you. Don't you get that?"
"Then why won't you come with me?" I can't believe how needy that sentence sounded but I needed to know the reason why. "If you love me so much, why can't you take a couple of days off from your life and come with me?"
"Because I want you to have a choice!"
I sit up as well coz lying down sure wasn't helping me to understand anything she was saying. "What choice? Are we even on the same conversation?"
"The choice of going back to your own time."
"What are you talking about. I'm not--"
"You say that now but I just want you to know that you have that choice. And if you DO come back, then I'll know that's what you really want without having my proximity influence your decision."
I didn't know what to say to that. It was either to come out laughing or cry my eyes out. I settled for a little of both as I rest my head on Max's shoulder. "You're a freakin' lunatic, you know that?"
"Yeah, but do you still love me?"
"Of course I love you Max---You're my girl." And even though I totally believed that in my own heart, I couldn't help but feel it couldn't last. Call it pessimistic or even realistic but I've never been able to hold onto anything good in my whole life and as I held Max in my arms, I knew she was one of those good things that I'll have to settle for enjoying for whatever short time I had with her.
****
B and me set out the next day. When it came to saying good-bye to Max, I almost broke down and cried---shit, I'm a friggin slayer and I want to bawl like a baby. But fuck it, I really didn't want to leave her. She must've felt the same way cuz we didn't break our hug for the longest time and even when we parted, we held on to each other. Eventually though, I got into the car Logan had lent us and drove out of Seattle.
As soon as we get out of the city, I can feel the tension start to build between us. What else was new? You stick me and B together with no chance for either one of us to take off and you're going to get two antsy slayers on your hands. I try turning on the radio just so I could hear something besides silence but there's not one decent station on. The rest of the day passes in much the same way and I'm beginning to wonder how either one of us will survive this road trip.
That night, we decide to camp out in the countryside rather than try to go into any of the towns we'd passed but we forgot one thing when we made that decision---we'd never done camping before. But I figured, how hard could it be? I'd seen it done in movies and we had supplies with us: sleeping bags, food, matches, and other nature crap.
How wrong I was. The fire is a bitch to start and once it DID get started, it almost went out of control. We couldn't cook any food cause we didn't have any pans so we settled for chips and cupcakes for dinner, not that I'm not used to that by now.
But when we finally get into our sleeping bags that night, everything seemed to be under control and with nothing else to do, I look up at the stars. There's supposed to be pictures in the sky if you know which stars to play connect the dots with. To me, they just look like they've been thrown up there, a million tiny sparkles across black velvet.
"The sky's beautiful," B says.
I turn my head to look at her and she's not even looking at the sky. She's looking at me.
"Yeah," I agree. "It is." I watch her watch me for a few seconds before turning my head back around. "Do you miss it alot?" I ask. "Your life I mean."
"Not the apocalyptic parts so much as my friends. Giles, Willow, Xander, my mom...I miss them."
I know I shouldn't call her on it but I was kinda curious. "You left out your boy. What's his name again?"
She doesn't say anything for a second and then "Riley" comes out of her mouth.
"Things not going so great for the two of you?"
She doesn't answer me for a long time and I was just starting to think that she's going to ignore my question when she starts talking.
"Things aren't going...they've just stopped. He's such a great guy. He's supportive, warm, caring, nice and I like him but...why am I even talking to you about this? You're probably enjoying this aren't you? You've wanted this ever since you slept with him."
She's really starting to get herself worked up now. I'm not going to tell her the real reason I slept with him was because I thought that was the closest I'd ever get to sleeping with her. I don't think she'd take that information too well.
"I'm sorry I slept with your boy B. But trust me when I say I'm not enjoying this. I feel guilty as hell for everything I've put you through. I know you don't want to hear an apology but I need to give it anyway. I'm sorry." There, I'd said it. Nothing life-changing or monumental about the moment but I do feel better for getting it out there.
"You're sorry?" She asks like she couldn't believe those words had actually come out of my mouth. "You're sorry," she repeats more slowly
"Yeah, that's what I said." Now I was starting to get testy.
She's again silent for a moment and I wonder if she's plotting my death like she said she would. "After all we've done to each other Faith, I think I should be the one apologizing."
"What?" I look across the fire at her to see if she's been replaced by an evil pod person. This couldn't be the same B who came screaming for my blood in LA.
She sighs as she looks at me. "I've been thinking about what's happened between us for awhile and I think it's about time I apologize for some of that...actually, alot of that. So, I'm sorry too."
Wow. Had I wandered into the Twilight Zone or something? This was so unreal. B was apologizing and she was doing it to me. "Wow."
"Don't act like I've never said it before," she says with a teasing smile on her face.
I grin feeling like I'd just won the lottery. "You know me B. My long-term memory don't work so good."
****
The tension or what was left of it melted by the next day and we were both getting along like old times. It wasn't like we still didn't get on each other's nerves from time to time but it wasn't as near to blowing up as before. I guess it was because we'd finally resolved some of the problems that had kept us so bitter and angry with each other for so long. I'm not saying that we were all buddy-buddy now but we weren't biting at each other's throats either.
"Do we have any idea what we're looking for once we get to good old Sunny D or are we just winging it?" I finally decide to ask.
"Your guess is as good as mine Faith. If all else fails, we can always ask the local demons if they know anything."
I'm not gonna press the issue anymore cause B's looking desperate enough as it is without me adding to the load. We lapse into silence as I try to concentrate on driving the car across this road that wasn't much more than a dirt path with more dirt than path.
"You love her?" The question startles me, coming out of left field as it does. I glance over at her to see that she's lightly biting her bottom lip with her eyes trained straight ahead.
"You mean Max right?" I'm stalling a bit and I don't know why. It's just kinda strange discussing this with anybody, let alone B. Why does she care anyway?
"Who else would I be talking about?" There's a testy edge to her voice and I have to wonder if she really wants to know the truth.
"She means alot to me and, yeah, I do love her. Never thought I'd say that about anybody and actually mean it. Never thought I'd get the chance..." I grip the wheel tighter as the longing rises in me again. I want to see Max, to feel her again, to hear her voice, and see her eyes on me. How can I miss someone this much without splitting apart inside? "But you know how it is. You've got Beefstick."
"His name's Riley," she says but it's more an automatic response like scratching an itch than any real anger at me for continually forgetting her boy's name. "And I DO miss him. I do. A lot."
Was she trying to convince me or herself? Sounded like there was trouble in paradise but I saw it coming. All-American was way too vanilla bland for her. No way did I see them going the distance.
"I believe you," I said, not very convincingly.
"I do," she insists.
"None of my business anyway."
"Damn right."
We lapse into silence again until she decides that the conversation's not over yet.
"I don't have the same feelings for him like I did Angel but I still love him."
"Not saying you don't B."
"But I don't know---there always seems like there's something missing. I wish I could just make this work."
There's a defeated air to her voice that makes me want to reach over there and touch her but I doubt that would be a good move for my own health. So instead, I just remain silent, letting her work through whatever it is she needs to work through by herself.
"You think we're the only ones that were brought here?"
"What?" B's got this really weird way of switching topics of conversation in that she does it _all_ the time and it always takes me two steps to catch up.
"You know. Here as in the future here. Maybe we're not the only ones that got zapped twenty years into the future."
"Maybe. I don't know. Does it really matter?"
She shrugs and starts fiddling with the windows, opening, closing, and then opening them again. I wonder if she was this annoying as a kid. If she was, her parents must've been saints to put up with it, especially on excruciatingly long road trips like this one.
****
I left B in the car trying to figure out exactly what wrong road we took to get to this place. We're on the beach, the sun's streaming down, there's a cool breeze breaking off the water and there's nobody else in sight. Maybe I can convince her to stay a couple hours. It's not like we're on a schedule or something and this was just too good to pass up.
Running back to the car, I find B still in the same position as I'd left her. She's buried under half the map and sitting on the other half.
"This map has a mind of its own!" She complains, blowing out a frustrated breath.
I help her fold up the paper monster and then I wait for just the right moment to suggest my grand plan.
"Okay," she says, getting out of the car.
"Yeah?"
"Why not? We could use the break, right?"
"Wicked. I must be rubbing off on you B." I throw an arm absentmindedly over her shoulders, already anticipating a refreshing ocean swim.
"Yeah, you're quite the influence---almost druggy like."
"So what does that make you? My crack whore?" I get a punch in the stomach for that. It's great that we can joke around again but she kinda hits hard. I suck it in as best I can, covering with a little cough.
A day at the beach in sunny California---the stuff that dreams are made of. At least that's what somebody told me a while back. Can't remember who exactly but there ain't no truer statement. Granted it wasn't your typical day---no crowds for one thing, but it was pretty dreamlike anyway. Seeing as I hadn't packed my swim suit for the trip, not really anticipating we'd get lost and find ourselves at the beach all day, I did what I had to do.
"What are you doing?" Buffy asks, waving her hands around like she was swatting at flies.
"It's pretty obvious isn't it?" My pants are already on the ground, soon to be joined by my shirt which I'm in the process of taking off. "What else am I gonna do? I don't have a swimsuit and the water's calling to me. It's saying 'Hey Faith, jump on in. I'm wet already.' So I'm going native baby."
Buffy looks away as the underwear comes off. She's acting like she's never seen me naked before. But who cares? I'm on my way to meet the water and when I first feel it on my skin, it's a cold bitch slap to my enthusiasm. It looked a lot warmer when I was twenty feet away but after I splash around a bit, things start warming up.
"Water's fine B!" I yell, seeing that she's still standing over the pile of clothes I'd left on the beach. "Come on, you gotta come in." Seeing her shaking her head, I take out the big guns. "If you don't come in, I'm going up there and dragging you in here."
She's got her hands on her hips and I can tell she's trying to decide if I'm seriously gonna go through with my threat but eventually, she starts taking off her own clothes. Some little tiny part of me is jumping up and down in anticipation of a naked Buffy. A couple of days ago, I would've been salivating but a couple of days ago, I hadn't met Max yet. That didn't mean I couldn't appreciate something as natural as the human body and Buffy had a great body. Ducking my head under the water, I'm starting to wonder if this is going to be another one of my bad ideas.
By the time I pop my head back up, B's already testing the water, dipping her toes in to test the temperature.
"This isn't what I'd call fine, Faith," she says, narrowing her eyes at me. "Maybe if I were a penguin or something."
"Don't tell me the almighty Slayer can't take a little cold. Come on, you'll warm up in no time." As an added incentive, I splash her with a little water. She gives me this look like she can't believe I just did that and then she leaps in and I find myself in a good old fashioned water fight.
B eventually comes out on top but that's just cause I let her.
"Yes!" She says, a big smile on her face. "I win!"
Then she splashes me again---shouldn't have done that.
It's not till much later that we finally call a truce for the Great Water Battle of '19. B's on the beach sunning herself in her underwear---she's so modest. I would've been down there with her getting some tan but I was too hopped up to lie around for a couple of hours. So instead, I'm walking down the beach, enjoying the squish of sand between my toes as I walk and just basically forgetting, for a few hours at least, whatever problems that still had to be dealt with.
Wrapped up as I was in feeling at one with the 'moment,' I didn't even notice the time passing until B comes up to me saying that we had to get going.
"You sure B? I mean, we could just stay here---forget about everything else." I'm only half joking and she seems to know it.
"I don't think the beach bum life is for us Faith." She hands me my pants. "Maybe in the next lifetime," she adds, looking wistfully out at the ocean.
"Yeah, maybe," I murmur looking at her, feeling something as familiar as breathing overcome me. I can't help wanting her, just like I did when I first met her or when I first tired to kill her. Not even the thought of Max can dislodge this damn desire from my heart. It's been there for so long, it's starting to molder.
"Are you all right?" She asks, looking my way with those eyes that always make me feel like I matter.
And I just keep looking back at her until she asks again, this time with a worried frown.
"Why wouldn't I be all right?" My brain finally forces my mouth to say. "I was just wishing that Max was here."
She nods at me as if understanding what I'm going though. What a fucking laugh! Here I am, hooked up with this amazingly beautiful girl who loves me---every fucked up part of me, and I'm jonesing for someone else---someone I know I have no chance with. Why do I always have to make things so goddamned difficult.
"Let's get out of here." I walk away, wishing everything were so easy to get away from.
It takes us about an hour after that to find our way back onto the right road. I pretend I'm sleeping the rest of the way so I don't have to talk cause talking to B's about the last thing I want to be doing right now. It's not her fault I have all these friggin hang ups and I don't want to take it out on her by opening my mouth and saying something stupid like 'I love you' or equally retarded.
Aside from Max, B's the only other person that makes me want to stick around and spend the rest of my life worshipping---to make me want to change my life and become someone better. But I can't have them both and I'm damn lucky that even one of them is giving me the time of day. I wish I could just turn off these useless feelings. Things would be so much simpler then. This funk I've fallen into lasts the rest of the day and into the next morning. B doesn't ask any questions for which I'm glad because the answers stink worse than my attendance record at school.
My mind keeps going around in circles like a dumbass dog chasing its own tail until I start to think, maybe I'm going crazy if I'm not already. It's amazing how everything could be so clear a couple of days ago and be in this messed up soup of confusion now.
Sometime in the afternoon, we stop outside this small town where we're hoping to get supplies. A couple of suspicious stares and finger pointing fun later, we're stocked up and ready to get the hell outta there. I have nothing against small towns---hell, Sunnydale's a small town and I keep going back there every chance I get---but nothing beats big city anonymity. The whole 'I don't give a damn who the fuck you are, just stay out of my way' mentality just has a charm of its own that's missing when everyone knows everybody else's business.
"Hey B. Can you believe how many Ho-Ho's they had stockpiled?" I ask, ripping into a bag with my teeth.
"And I think you got every last one of 'em," she says smirking at me. "That stuff'll kill you."
"But at least I'll have a smile on my face when I kick the bucket," I say trying to stuff this thing whole into my mouth.
B gives me a look. "I don't know whether I should be disgusted or amused."
I make a sound in the back of my throat as she turns her head away but not before I catch a smile on her face.
The rest of our road trip lasts a couple more days which seem to go by in a flash until we're only a few miles from Sunnydale's limits. In a way, I'm sorry to see it coming to an end...Who am I kidding? I wished to God it wasn't ending. I didn't want B to go and I know it's selfish and all to want her to stay but that's just the way I feel.
"Looks like we're almost there," she says cutting into my self-pitying thoughts. She doesn't sound too thrilled about it either as far as I can tell. Maybe she doesn't want to leave, maybe she'll change her mind, and maybe cows DO fly over the moon. Hoping's one thing but this was just insane. Of course she wants to go back. Why wouldn't she? All her friends are there, her family, everybody she cares for. What's she got here? Absolutely nothing and no one but some fool who doesn't even know what she wants anymore.
I thought I was in love with Max and I probably am but with Buffy, it's like the rulebooks get thrown out and we're making it up as we go along.
"Faith?" She calls, getting my attention.
"Yeah B?"
"Are you sure you don't want to come back with me?"
I hadn't really expected the question but my answer was automatic. "I'm sure I don't want to go back. There's nothing left for me there."
"I understand," she says but then adds, "I can't believe I'm saying this but, I'll miss you."
It's like someone sucker punched me while I wasn't looking. She was going to miss me. I _did_ mean something to her, however little that might be. After everything we'd done to each other...I couldn't believe it.
"I think you've been in the sun too long B," I joke, trying to cover up my initial reaction. "You're confusing me with someone you actually like."
"No, Faith. I'm serious," she insists, her eyes flicking between me and the road. "Even though you're crass, impulsive, childish, bullheaded--"
"Feel free to stop anytime soon," I interrupt in the middle of what looked to be a long list.
"The point is," she continues, throwing a smirk at me. "Even though you're all those things, I'm still gonna miss you cuz...you've grown on me."
"Thanks, I guess." There wasn't much else to say besides that so I just kept my mouth shut until we got into Sunnydale.
****
"Faith? Shouldn't there be houses and stuff by now?" B's voice cuts into my thoughts and I realize that she's right.
We should've been in the middle of town already but there was nothing here except flat land. She stops the car and gets out as I follow.
"There's nothing here. Where's the town?!" She asks, looking all around.
Good question cuz I didn't see anything besides trees sticking out of the ground. B's starting to panic now as she runs around trying to find anything that'd clue her in as to what had happened.
"Faith!" She yells, calling me over a few minutes later.
"What is that?" I ask, jogging up next to her.
"Looks like a hole," she answers, mulling over the question.
And yeah, that's what it looked like---a hole in the ground that looked about a foot, a foot and a half across.
When I look up at her, she shrugs her shoulders and then crouches down to get a closer look. "It kinda looks deep," she says.
I get down on my knees, feeling like an idiot for paying this much attention to some stupid hole but then, something strange starts to happen.
It started out as a tingling inside my gut but then it got worse.
The tingling changes to pain.
The pain changes to light.
The light changes to darkness.
And through it all, I know I'm losing something important.
Through it all, I know I'm losing Max.
END