So I Dub Thee Unforgiven...(Solo)

The New York morning air was almost bitter cold as Ty walked down the street again, pulling his jacket closer to him for comfort. He'd done some thinking on his way back home--well...on his way back to Tses's, though he viewed the girl's apartment as his second home by now. Sanctuary may have been his official home, but if home was where the heart is, then his home was with her.

He'd patched things up with Tses and Butterfly, but he realized there was one other person he'd abandoned. Someone who was like a mother to him. She'd taken him in for a year, and then after discovering he was a mutant, Ty pretty much up and forgot about her. Not that he meant to, with everything going on, he just didn't have time. It was a lousy excuse, and he knew that. So...those green-laced black shoes walked right past Tses's, down alleys and side streets his brain recognized even though he hadn't walked this path in a long time.

When he got to the building, he walked up the stairs up to room 42E. The building wasn't quite as shady as the one he'd grown accustomed to. It was mostly young people and couples just starting out and old people who'd settled down in their later years. Knocking his unique and traditional rhythm, he opened the door and stepped inside. What he saw made his heart sink into his stomach, and his face had paled.

When he last saw Ms. Jenkins, the 90 year old woman was spirited, and needed little help from a cane to get around, and she appeared to be 70 instead of 90. But what he saw now...

What he saw now was a shriveled old woman, hunched over in a wheelchair, oxygen tank on the back helping her to breathe. She'd lost alot of weight, and her white hair had lost its luster. She didn't even appear to be strong enough to move the wheelchair.

"Ms. Jenkins..." he whispered, walking over to her and dropping to a knee, looking into her now empty gray eyes. Eyes that were full of sadness. That had lost their will to live.

"Ty..." She barely managed to whisper as Ty had to resist the urge to cry.

"I'm so sorry...The past few months were crazy...I...I found somewhere else to live, then after that so much happened--"

"Get out...." Her voice was angrier, and he could only understand every several words or so, coupled with deep breathing. "I...took you in....like a son to me...and...you abandoned...me..."

"I'm sorry...I wanted to come and make things ri--"

"GET OUT!" She screeched, then gasping for air, shaking violently as another figure entered the room. A young woman with dark hair walked in, looking to be close to her mid-thirties, early forties. Glaring at Ty, she wheeled the old lady into her bedroom, and walked back into the living room, shutting the door behind her.

"So you're the one Grandma's been talking about," she snapped. "She treated you like her own son from what I hear, saved your ass from being homeless, and this is how you repay her? She's like this because of you. You did this to her, by just tossing her aside like yesterday's trash."

"I know. Don't you think I realized what I've done? I've changed since then. I've done some crap I'm not proud of, but I had to get past that. I came back to try and make things better..."

Ty's cheek stung as the woman slapped him, and he flinched, but he didn't retaliate. It took every ounce of self control in him, but he didn't strike back. "I'm sorry!" he snapped, just as the palm of the woman's hand lit up the other side of his cheek.

"Damn right you are. You're the sorriest piece of dirt I've ever seen in my life...now get out before I call the cops..."

The redhead bit his lip, turning around and storming out the door. Once outside the room, he ran down the stairs, out of the apartment, and onto the streets, tears streaming down his face.

The wind brushing past him as he ran was bitter, stinging him as he made his way back to Tses's. The one person he'd known for sure would forgive him hated his guts. But he wasn't going to hide again. He had to keep on about his life, and only hope she forgave him in due time.

As the comforting sight of his girlfriend's neighborhood came into view, Ty slowed to a walk, the words of a song echoing through the young man's head, one that didn't make him feel any better.

Never free, never me....so I dub the Unforgiven....