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There was no home.

There was nothing. No hope. No salvation... nothing. It was hard to keep a positive attitude, when faced with such a depressing outlook. The Mansion was gone... she hadn't even been able to step foot on the grounds. There was no point. She had yet to run into any familiar faces, and after three days, it was becoming hard to look Charlie in the eyes. The promise she had made to him hung over her constantly, a weight always present on her shoulders. Day by day, it got heavier.

Not only that, but she had yet to find Saphirus... or any of her friends for that matter. Verdy, Drew... not hide nor hair. The mass of freshly dug graves set her nerves on edge... what if they were in there? Buried with all of the others... tears stung her eyes, and she bit down on her lip to keep from whining.

"..Andwea?"

She flinched, unable to pull her hands from her face just yet, and quieted her sniffles. Charlie didn't need to see her crying... he needed to see a smile, and strength. With a sigh, she pushed the feelings away again... somewhere deep down inside, and lifted her head from her hands as the boy woke fully and sat up. He rubbed at a sleep filled eye, before angling a questioning look her way.

"I had a bad dweam..." She nodded solemnly, lowered a leg, and held an arm out. An unspoken offer for him to wiggle over and cuddle against her. "Would you like to talk about it?" She questioned, resting a hand on the boys hair as he made himself comfortable against her. In the three days that she had known him, he had been quiet and reclusive. She expected nothing else, really... but he had also attached himself to her quite strongly. It was hard to even sneak off to use the restroom without him going into a full blown panic attack.

After a moment, he shook his head, and buried his head into his arms on her thigh. A small, genuine smile formed on her lips then and she stroked his hair. He was the one bright thing she had left. Without Saphirus at her side, Charlie kept her going. She needed to make sure he had food, that he was getting sleep, and that he was safe. Just the other day she had managed to find him some clean clothes... but it had been hard slipping away from him along enough to complete the task.

"That is okay, Charlie... you don't have to talk about it." She continued petting his hair, but let her head tip back against the wall. The apartment that they were currently roosting in seemed abandoned. It was devoid of most furniture, electrical things, and most luxuries... but it had a non-broken door with locks and there had been a few blankets left within. "Andwea?"

"...yeah?"

"Will you sing for me again?" The Greek chuckled. She leaned over and gathered his blanket to him, tucking him in to make sure he was warm, before she let her eyes slip shut. The song he mentioned was one she was well acquainted with... an old Greek lullaby that her mother had sung to her when she was little. She has sung it to him the first night after meeting him, when he could not fall asleep. They has stayed in his apartment that night, curled up on the small mattress in his room. His parents weren't there, or at least their bodies weren't, but most of the things in his home had been looted by the time they got there.

Compared to the apartment they were in now, it had been rather nice. A mattress to sleep upon was one of the things she missed the most. Softly, while fixing the blankets covering her own legs, she began to sing. The words flowed from her tongue like water, familiar and yet strange at the same time. After a few moments Charlie was still and quiet. She continued petting him until sleep tugged at her own eyes. It was to be the first night that she would sleep without waking twenty billion times, she had decided. The book case and other various heavy objects she had piled in front of the door were to make sure of that.

"...Good night, Andwea."

She paused her song, glancing down at the small boy, who's freckled cheeks were red with warmth. "Goodnight, Charlie."

When she finally emerged, with tears finally dried, it was well past dark outside... and the city no longer looked like itself. Buildings were felled, cars on the streets were on fire, over turned, and wrecked. There were... bodies... everywhere. Some looked like victims of attacks, like the woman she had... had tried to help. Others looked like they had fallen from great distances, and given the severity of damage around her, she could only assume they had. Whether from falling on accident, or on purpose, she didn't know.

All she knew for certain, was that the sights laid out before her were horrific. It was as if the world had ended... like the--

Her heart skipped a beat. Everything her parents had ever taught her came flooding back. The Rapture... the worthy being lifted up into heaven, while the rest were left behind. The world would end, overrun by the sinful...

With a dusty breeze ruffing her hair, carrying the smell of toxic fire and iron to her nose. So much death... so much destruction... From where she stood, where was not a single untouched building. Everything was damaged, some more severely than others. Her heart sank into the pit of her stomach, and try as she might, she could not get herself to move.

"...is... is this it?"

The hollow sound of her voice caught her by surprise. The tears welling in her eyes even more so. Biblical texts and prophecies she had long since given up on swirled around in her mind. Was this the end?

No... No! This.. this had an explanation. Even if it was a bad one, it must have an explanation! A bomb had been dropped, another attack, massive earthquake, Anything! Squeezing her eyes shut, she forced herself to take a breath and tried to get her bearings. She needed to get home... home would be safe, and there would no doubt be an explanation. She just needed to get there...

Looking up and down the street however, proved to her that that would be difficult. Everything was ruined... and as she had witnessed, bad people were running around. Which... meant she should probably find cover until she sorted things out. With windows busted out everywhere, and whole walls crumbled to bits, it looked as though she would have a hard time finding someplace to hide herself away where no one else would find her. Had she told Saph where she was going?... She honestly couldn't remember. With the city in shambles as far as she could see, she wondered if it would be in her best interest to stay around the area.

If he came looking for her, but she had wandered off, any sort of rescue would be ruined. After taking a few more uncertain steps, her side complained again. She really wasn't in the best shape to try and walk home anyway. A glance over her shoulder, at the building she had come out of, brought new tears to her eyes. She couldn't go back in there... not-- not after what had happened... Pushing back her feelings momentarily, as best she could anyway, she steeled herself and limped onward.



By the next morning, Andrea was a nervous wreck. She had found a place to hole herself up in where no one would stumble upon her. It was small, tight and cramped... but it had a view across the street, and no one could get to her without climbing. She had slept two full hours at best, tiny cat naps stolen in between fearful waking hours. She had seen small mobs roaming the streets, cars creeping past, looters... and more mystery men with weapons. It felt like she was poised in a small boat, watching hungry sharks circle below.

There had been times where people were so close, she had been afraid to breath. With a shred of cloth pressed tightly to her mouth and nose, she had sat in silence and watched. Before the sun had risen again, she was sure that everything worth being stolen had already been picked off. Food, medical supplies, weapons, and valuables... She had even seen people stuffing office microwaves into shopping carts. The watch on her wrist ticked on, alerting her to the fact that it was ten... and she decided to move. She was sure that if she sat any longer, someone would eventually stumble upon her, and she knew very well that it was not likely going to be a kind soul.

The streets were honestly no better, but after a while of clinging to shadows, she finally found more people. A large group, gathered just outside of what had once been a tall building. She approached with care...

Once she was close enough, a soft humming reached her ears. She realized that the people gathered were all dressed in fine clothing. Men in comfortable suits, women in blouses and skirts. Nervously, the Greek joined them. The sounds of a hymn started up, a chorus of weary voices. They were singing Amazing Grace... and at the very heart of the group stood a solitary preacher in dusty robes. His voice carried out over the others, broken... but filled with hope. It didn't even register to her that every single person was gently weeping, as they sang along with it...

Andrea was suddenly filled with a guilt so fierce that her chest seized up. As someone who had once clung to faith herself, she knew what they were going through. Or... she at least thought she did. She hung around for a few moments, letting the sad song sink in, before she turned to continue onward.

"... Join us."

A voice popped up, so close it made her jump. The Greek swung around to face the speaker, but was forced to drop her gaze. It was a boy. Small, scrawny, and dirty. He wasn't in fine clothes, but rather dirty and torn pajamas. A small grubby hand was held out to her. "Join us, we won' bite... I pwomise." Her heartstrings tugged, she couldn't help but reach out and grasp the boys hand gently. "We all have'ta stick togever now..."

He led her back to the circle of people. A few paused their singing to dip their chins at her mournfully. "..Where... are you parents...?" It was odd to her that no one stepped forward to claim the child. She watched him from behind her glasses, a frown already on her lips. A crackle of gunfire sprang up suddenly in the distance, causing Andrea to whip her head around... but those gathered ignored it. The boy at her side gripped her hand a little tighter, dirty brown hair falling over his eyes as he bent his head.

"God took them..."

Her heart sank even further. She could do nothing more than squeeze his hand back, and shut her eyes against a sudden flow of tears.

"Sing louder! We must prove to the heavenly father that we are worthy of ascending! That we are not heathens to be left behind!" The voices rose, some cracking from stress, and one woman broke down into quiet sobs. The Greek watched the spectacle, unsure of what to do... or say, for that matter. After a few agonizing minutes, however, the problem was solved for her. The preacher caught sight of her, her lack of singing and sudden appearance, and stepped down from the box he had bee standing upon.

"Child... why are you not singing?" His swift maneuvering through the crowd stole another jump from her, and she placed a hand over her rapidly beating heart. "...I.. I.." She took a breath, forcing herself to calm down. "Forgive me....But what has happened here, father?" She finally managed, more or less sidestepping his question with one of her own. The man stared at her, calm despite his surroundings, and clutched a small bible to his chest.

"The end, child. The Rapture... that you are still here, means you are either one of the unfortunate left behind, or a sinner in need of repentance." The intensity in his stare unnerved her, to the point that she backed up a step, dragging the boy with her.

The ground shook. Walls shuddered. Bits and pieces of the ceiling rained down on those still huddled below. It was an attack or an earthquake the likes of which they had never seen... or maybe the world was ending. Everyone inside the building couldn't tell. Below the screaming that filled the air, people pushed and shoved their way toward the door.

One of the few who hung back, crouched down in corners and below support beams, Andrea watched them flee. Terror filled the Greek's eyes. She had never seen anything like this before.. The roof over their heads groaned and creaked, and a moment later the ceiling above the doorway collapsed. Some of the screaming stopped immediately... some still seeped out from beneath the pile of heavy beams, cement, and drywall.

A moment later, the roof above Andrea's head collapsed as well... Before she had time to even so much as glance up, debris rained down from above. A poof of dust filled the air, and hot on its heels, a pile of broken building...



Seventeen hours later, Andrea awoke. Her head throbbed, her legs had fallen asleep, and her side was on fire with pain. She tried to lift her head and only managed to bonk it soundly into a toppled over support beam. Everything was quiet when she finally managed to collect herself. The screaming has stopped... she could hear no other people around her. For all she knew... she was alone.

After some inspection, and a few brief panic attacks, she figured out how to free herself from the pile of rubble that had landed on top of her. Just looking at it from the outside, she knew she was lucky. One lone beam had been all that spared her from being crushed under cement, wood, and items from the floor above. One look around, however, showed her that she was the only one...

Dust still hung in the air, making it rather hard to breath... but with just a glance around she spotted piles upon piles of debris... and blood. There was also blood. Her heart pounded away as she took in the grim scene, people who were surely dead buried under piled of fallen floor and wall combined... and those that were possibly still alive. With tender steps, she moved around, attempting to listen for breathing, or gasping... anything, really.

Finally, a small, hushed cry caught her attention. Someone else was alive! Andrea was frozen to the spot momentarily, a deer in headlights reaction, until her mind took the reins again. Not wasting a single second, the Greek moved forward, searching until she honed in on the sounds.

"H-hold on! I will get you out!" The area was covered in loose rubble. Large and small slabs of things. Coughing, she knelt and started digging. Her voice, and the sounds of her working, caused the other person so raise their voice. Andrea winced as she tugged at a large piece of concrete, her side protested against the movement... but she had to continue on. Someone was trapped... clearly in need of help. Minutes ticked by, shifting into an hour.. and then an hour and a half. Finally, after yanking away pieces of stray wood, a hole appeared. Light flooded the cramped cubby that the woman inside had woken up in. She coughed, a terrible grating sound, and reached a hand out to Andrea.

"..M-my l-leg... I c-can't feel m-my leg..." The look on the woman's face mirrored Andrea's. Fright, confusion, and a terrible calmness all mixed into one. Grasping the woman's hand in her own, she leaned past her, pushing away more rubble from the entrance until she could see clearly into the hole.

...it was not a pretty sight. The woman had one leg curled up into her chest, spared from injury, but the other vanished under a pile of cement just below the knee. The sight of it, the blood... the odd angle at which it was twisted, caused her to nearly throw up.

The toy was snagged from her grip without much of an explanation. Her curiosity doubled, but before she could ask him what he meant, someone else interjected. An employee, no less!

"Do we have a happy couple here? And quite a charming couple as well."

He... had colorful hair. Very, very colorful hair. It was... actually kind of pretty! He seemed nice.. though, as he dragged her off, she wasn't sure what he meant by "comfortable"... and how was she supposed to spice that up?

"...H-hello Tommy..." She managed to get out, once he had finally stopped pulling her. She stared at the man as he rifled through a rack of clothes, then through a box of.. more clothes?.. before he turned back to her and shoved something into her arms.

"These should do the trick.... They are the newest in that particular brand, and if you ask me, well worth the price." A puzzled expression settled on her features, as she glanced down at what appeared to be a pile of ribbons in her arms. Why would ribbon be expensive?

Then, her eyes rose and she focused on the wall behind Tommy. It was full covered in posters of half naked women... some of who were more than half naked. Her cheeks lit up instantly. She dropped her gaze to the shelf beside her, trying to think of something polite to say, when she caught site of what decorated that particular shelf.

... and the one under it.

And the one under that! Oh god! What kind of store was she in?!

Suddenly, the ribbons in her arms made sense. She dropped them as her face darkened considerably. The outfits hanging from the rack at her other side were basically lace and ribbon as well. Tommy took one look at her face and grinned.

"Aww, that's cute... You know, I have this other product that would be just perfect for you! It's right over here..."

One glimpse of the item he picked up, and she turned on her feel and raced through the store. One speedy green blur, straight out the exit. The sight of a ladies room sign ahead of her was welcome, and before anyone could stop her, she made a break for it.

As the bathroom door swung shut, it opened again briefly for her for toss her garment bag out into the hallway, before letting it shut and locking it behind her. "What kind of dirty mall is this?! How can they have that stuff out in the open like that!"

And Saph had been there too! "Oh god!" The Greek sank against the door, with her head in her hands, and tried to get her face to return to it's normal color.

*Steals her away before Roach can* There must be mutant shenanigans! ELKE DEMANDS IT!

Also, congrats on the awesome charry~

She spotted the store he pointed out, and nodded. Glitter? ...with a glittery sign! She liked glittery things, so...sure!

Following along behind him, she stopped dead in her tracks just inside the store entrance. People were mulling about, and as it turned out, it was a rather large store. It also smelled heavily of... some type of perfume, and there was a strange wub heavy song blasting out of the speakers overhead. How did anyone hear themselves think?

She suddenly missed the quiet violin from the more modest store.

"Oh...em...gee. Girl, what are you wearing?"

Andrea turned her head, casting a rather confused look at a girl as she waddled over. In heels and... some sort of tight dress, she looked more like a customer than a worker, but the name tag pinned to her chest area was a clear sign of her employment. The Greek glanced down at her borrowed clothes at the question, but before she had a chance to question what the girl meant Monica was circling.

"Like... I know the boyfriend jeans and stuff are in, but you are taking it to an extreme, girlfriend." With a hand on her hip, she chewed at her bubble gum and gave the green woman a brisk once over, before tsking and shaking her head. "We are going to have to hook you up, sister, before someone mistakes you for a flat out tomboy!"

Before she knew what was happening, an arm was looped through Andrea's and she was dragged toward the back of the store. She refused to let go of Saph's hand, dragging him along with her. When changing rooms came into view, the girl all but pried Andrea away, leading her into one of the stalls. Monica left a second later, off to search the racks for an outfit she deemed worthy for the green skinned Greek. Minutes later, she returned with an armful of items, gave Saph a once over, before shutting herself in the stall with Andrea.

A few surprised yelps issued forth, and much awkward banter, before the twenty four year old was pushed out of the stall. She stumbled in a pair of heels Monica had brought her, flushed deep brown from her neck to her eyebrows, and blinked at Saph through her glasses. She had been stuffed into tight fitting straight leg jeans, which rode a lot lower on her hips than she was comfortable with, and a cropped tank top that covered none of her stomach.... which a strange fishnet half shirt over the top. She couldn't manage to cover all of her stomach with her arms, and after taking one look at herself in one of the viewing mirrors, turned and fled right back into the booth.

Monica tsked more, and set about changing her again. The next time she was pushed out, she had been clothed in a cropped yellow shirt, the shortest shorts she had ever had the misfortune to put on, and red suspenders. She couldn't return to the changing room fast enough, after catching a glimpse of herself. The last outfit Monica squeezed her into covered her from ankle to collar bone, leaving her arms and neck bare... the only problems being that it was skin tight (seriously, like she had been dipped into it), and that her entire back was open and bared for all of the world to see.

Really... she couldn't blush anymore, without fainting from lack of blood in the rest of her body. After shuffling awkwardly back into the dressing room, she came back out (finally) in her own clothes, with the yellow shirt outfit in her arms. "...Y-yes... thank you. I really did like this one the best..." With a wink, she flipped her hair, and turned to clip-clop back toward the front of the store. Andrea, holding her heels and... newest items of clothing, turned to Saph with pleading eyes, and a quivering bottom lip.

"This store frightens me...canwepleaseleave?"

Her phone was... confusing.

and yet exciting!

...and yet, waaaay to expensive. Seriously... people just bought these things all of the time? How could they afford cars? or houses!?

Still... it was pretty cool. It had a little keyboard that flipped out, like a miniature laptop. She was on the net surfing before she realized what she was doing, until a vibrating and a cheerful little melody broke her away from something called Angerexpressions.com.

With a little smile at Saph, she fiddled with the phone some more, before finding the text message. It was hard not to blush. "Heh... thankyo-- oop!" Ducking her head, her hair fell in a curtain around her as she typed away, concealing what she was sending back.

A moment later, his phone signaled a message, that read simply. 'Thank you very much, I love my phone.'

"I... dunno. I suppose we should get the buying of clothes out of the way first, no?" She paused, lifting her head to grin at him. "I think there is this adorable little shop that sells sweaters and stuff, called Modern Modesty... "

She plucked at her, er, his clothing that she was wearing nervously.