Polokins =)

"Nothing happened like that" Violet denied quickly, shaking her head, before looking down. Couldn't Lizzie get it into her head?

Finally, Ty managed to wriggle away from Lizzie, and without pausing even a moment, he stormed off - clearly upset. He did not take well to teasing. He never had. He was simply too serious for that...
Lizzie dismissed him with a wave of her hand, turning her attention back to the girl after he'd left. "C'mon, it's just us girls now." She said with a grin. "So... If nothing 'like that' happened, then what did happen? C'mon, I want all the juicy little details!" She licked her lips, then laughed cheerfully - clearly enjoying herself. This was Lizzie's area of expertise, after all.

"Nothing happened. He fell asleep on my shoulder, and sometime later I fell asleep" She shrugged softly. Her cheeks now red from the embaressment, Tyson was merely a friend. Nothing more.

Lizzie sat up straighter, blinking in surprise. "Really?" She inquired incredulously, her teasing attempts forgotten. "Ty actually fell asleep? Just like that...?" Lizzie's eyes widened, and she slumped back against the back of the bench in shock. "Wow..." She whispered disbelievingly. "Ty must really trust you. When I'm with him, he always looks like he'd sooner swallow a pineapple whole than fall asleep before I do, or near to me, for that matter." Lizzie frowned slightly, shaking her head. "I just don't get it." She admitted quietly.

"Yeah, sounds like it" Violet nodded, shrugging. "You're not the only one" She sighed softly, shaking her head.

"What did you do?" Lizzie asked, narrowing her eyes and eyeing Violet suspiciously. If she knew some sort of trick for gaining trust, Lizzie could certainly find it useful... It was easier to cheat and steal when people were blinded by trust.

Meanwhile, Ty stalked sulkily down the street, kicking a stone in front of him and mentally seething with fury over Lizzie's teasing. She knew how shy he could get over things like that! Why did she have to bring it up...? Ty gave a shudder of horror, then shook it off. He shuddered again, and next thing he knew he was rubbing goose-flesh from his arms. It was cold here. Cold, and dark. He didn't like it... In fact, truth be told, he felt little lonely. He had enjoyed his conversation with Violet the night before... It had been something different.
Tyson sighed, then glanced up and looked around him. Across the street to his left was the big music store he had told Violet's father about. He gazed over at it, his eyes scanning the crowds. Perhaps this would be a good place to hide out sometimes during the day... Stix was smart, but not smart enough to think of looking for him in a stupid place: Like this crowded store.
Perhaps...
But who was he kidding? He'd be caught eventually, and then it would be over. What would he have to show for his life...?

"Nothing special really" She shrugged. "Just talked to him" She spoke simply, sighing softly. That was it, they'd just sat and talked.

"Hmmm..." Lizzie nodded in response, staring thoughtfully into the distance.

Meanwhile, Ty had walked on past the store, and snuck into a dark alleyway. He spent a lot of time in these places, even though they were undeniably dark and miserable. After he had taken only a few steps, however, Ty felt a massive palm clap over his mouth. He grunted in surprise - actually making a rare sound.
Knowing he wouldn't speak, or scream, Stix took advantage of the fact, and lowered his hand to Ty's throat. He tightened his grip.
"I told you I'd get you, Ty." He breathed softly, "And now there's nobody here to help you..." He chuckled softly to himself, and began squeezing Ty's windpipe tighter. Tyson coughed and spluttered, flailing and thrashing to get away - but Stix was strong, and a fair deal taller.
Finally, Ty was forced to take his last chance. He reached into his pocket, hoping against hope that he would find something there, and to his disbelief: Out came Violet's knife! Without pausing to think, Tyson stabbed it into the leg of his attacker. Stix yelled out in pain and dropped Ty onto the hard ground with a sickening crunch.
Gasping for breath, he quickly scrambled up, grabbing the box of matches which had fallen from his pocket when he took the knife out.
He grabbed it, pulled out a match, and hurriedly lit it. Stix stared at him in disbelief. "Tyson..." He began slowly. "Tyson, the boxes-" Ty's expression hardened, he didn't feel like listening to Stix's reasoning. If he was going to die anyway, he'd go out with a bang.
He raised the match.
"Tyson, there's gunpowder in-" But Stix's panicked shout was drowned out as Ty dropped the match, and a large explosion rang out.
Ty felt unbearable heat, pressure... Flying backwards through the air... Then impact, and everything faded to black.

Violet shot to her feet as she heard a large bang, before sprinting that way, skidding to a stop, seeing the burning debris fall around. Screams were erupting, but she blocked them out, her brain remembering Tyson had come this way. Sudden panic rose through her - What if he was dead? Wait, stop, Violet, she told herself, Why exactly do you care?

Pain.
It was all he saw, heard, tasted and smelled. He didn't even need to feel it, it was so extreme. It consumed him... He tried to move, but he could not even remember which limb went where. Did he even have a body...?
Tyson felt a groan jump to his lips, and he bit down hard to keep it in.
His pact... He had to stay silent. Completely silent, despite the pain... He felt his eyes burn with tears from the effort of containing the pain, but he blinked them back easily. He did not cry, it was that simple.
He heard a faint groaning sound nearby that told him that Stix was moving, and a sense of urgency engulfed Ty. Finally, he got his fingers to twitch. Then he pressed against the ground, and tried to push himself up. Pain exploded though him, and a low moan escaped Ty's lips - sounding like it belonged to the voice of an angel.
He did not have time to regret it, for at the moment, a haze of pain swept over him, and he slipped away into blackness once more.

Meanwhile, Lizzie was walking slowly toward the scene, frowning curiously.

Violet frowned softly. "Tyson?" She called softly, pacing, looking around for him. She understood why she was worried - Because he understood her. One of the few people she trusted....Why did she trust him, exactly?

As though from a distance, Ty heard Violet's voice. He wanted desperately to reply, but he kept his lips tightly sealed, reminding himself of the promise he had made.
Instead, he brushed the pain aside and forced himself to open his eyes. Darkness...
He was buried under a pile of rubble. already, he could feel it stealing the oxygen away from him. He raised a hand and tried to dig through, but the pain was too much, and he ended up collapsing on the ground again, painting heavily. Blood poured thicker and faster than sweat from his brow. He had a dozen little cuts, scrapes and burns marring his entire body. His usually neat hair had come out of its ties and hung in a loose, glossy sheet down his back, yet his fringe was stiff with congealed blood. His arm was bent at an awkward angle underneath him.
Yet somehow, none of this seemed important. He knew that he was dying, yet somehow he didn't even care. He just wanted to find Violet. He didn't know why... In reality, she was just one more person - getting in the way and disturbing the perfect solitude of his life... Yet he wanted to see her.
Tyson made one last futile attempt, and manage to dislodge a piece of wood from above him, but this only caused more rubble to slide noisily over him, burying him completely and suffocating him more quickly than before.

Violet...

Violet heard the loud bang, her eyes flashing to the place, before she frowned softly, seeing her knife scatter from underneath. She'd last seen that when---wait.....Tyson! She sprinted in that direction, stopping beside the rubble. "Tyson" She spoke softly, cursing the soft tears that prickled her eyes, threatening to spill down her cheeks. She shook them away, before getting a few men to help her shift the stuff on top of Tyson.

Hang on...

Tyson felt a vague flicker of hope as he heard a familiar voice somewhere in the distance, and then relief struck as he felt some of the heavy load lifted from his ruined body. When enough rubble was finally moved, Ty tried to sit up, but he just ended up wincing and gasping with the pain, then falling down again, clutching his ribs - where a massive blood-stain was spreading rapidly. His breaths came shallow and in quick succession, each one more painful than the last even without the load over him.
Under his hand, and the coating of blood, Ty's ribcage was oddly misshapen.
It hurt...
Oh gosh, that hurt...
Finally, Ty managed to force his eyes open and he looked around, seeing a sea of nameless, faceless people - yet not really seeing any of them.
Then he picked out a familiar face.
His trembling lips silently formed her name. "Violet."
Then darkness engulfed him.
The last thing Ty knew was somebody shouting about an ambulance - then nothing.
He hoped he would survive. He wanted to know why Violet had helped him... More importantly: He wanted to know why he even cared what the reason was... He shouldn't. But he did.

Violet smiled faintly, before watching the ambulance leave with Tyson. She'd heard him speak, for the first time, and he'd said her name. The thought gave her comfort, and she looked around for Lizzie, before noticing Stix. "Oi, you alive?" She called.

Lizzie arrived on the scene, and gasped in surprise to see her brother being taken away on a stretcher. She bolted into the alleyway, glanced quickly toward Violet, then followed her gaze to where Stix was lying, soaked with blood, at her feet.
Lizzie gasped in fear, and dropped to her knees beside him. "Stix! STIX!" She yelled hysterically, grabbing his shirt and tugging helplessly. "Stix, answer me!" Se begged, knowing already that he wouldn't. "Babe... Please..." Tears pouring down her cheeks, Lizzie laid her head against Stix's chest. Silence. There was no heartbeat.
Lizzie clutched her handful of his shirt tighter and began sobbing her heart out - wailing a melancholy lamentation into the still morning air.
Already, Stix was turning stiff and cold beneath her touch.
Next thing she knew, somebody had taken her by the hand and begun leading her away.
Stix...
Stix was dead... And Ty had killed him.



Meanwhile, Ty was arriving at the hospital, and being rushed straight into emergency surgery.

"Wow" Violet spoke, backing away, before deciding to go to the hospital. See Tyson. Make sure he was ok. She headed that way, flicking the blade into her pocket. Not caring about the blood on it, Stix deserved it.

A few hours later, Tyson was wheeled out of the surgery on a stretcher, and taken to a private room, where they hooked him up to an IV - treated his minor wounds, and left him. The heart monitor beside him beeped in a comfortingly regular rhythm, though Ty showed no sign of waking. Thick white bandages were bound around his midriff, and strong-smelling orange cream had been smeared on his burns. His face was deathly pale, and his dark hair looked a mess.

Violet reached the hospital, eventually, and asked where he was. She was led up to the private room, warned that he was still asleep, before being left. Violet sat in the seat beside his bed, watching him. He didn't look like Tyson, he looked...more relaxed. She smiled faintly, watching.

It was some time later when Tyson finally awoke, his peaceful expression twitching painfully and a faint groan escaping his lips, before he finally managed to open his eyes. He blinked blearily up at the white ceiling above him, feeling confused and Dizzy.
Raising his fists to his eyes, Tyson rubbed them, then began slowly turning his head and looking around, trying to bring everything into focus.
When he finally noticed Violet, his lips parted slightly in surprise, and he stared at her.
And stared.
And stared.
And stared.
Finally, he shut his mouth, but he did not look away... For fear that when he looked back, he would learn she had been a mere apparition.
Why was she here...?
More importantly, why the hell did he care?!

"Hi" Violet spoke simply, noticing him out the corner of her eye. Fighting back a grin. He was awake...and watching her....She wondered exactly why she was here, but couldn't find a real reason. Maybe she cared for him, liked him even.

Tyson's lips twitched at the simply word, almost hinting at a smile - but not quite. He didn't smile.
With a great effort, Tyson managed to raise one hand, and offered a tiny wave.
He was grateful to have Violet nearby. It made a welcome change to come around next to somebody who actually seemed to care whether he lived or died. With Lizzie, sometimes he wondered. They helped each other survive, and they relied on each other, but they did not really have any sort of bond. At least, not that Ty was aware of. It was a lonely and parasitic relationship...
Ty sighed softly, then winced as pain jabbed through him.
Gosh, that hurt!
He had to thank Violet... Ty reached toward his pocket for his pen and notepad, only to find that he no longer had pockets - for he was wearing a hospital gown.
He slumped back against his pillows, feeling utterly defeated... Helpless, powerless.

"Looking for this?" Violet spoke, indicating to the notepad and pen on the bedside. It had been in his pocket, apparently, and the nurses had placed it there for him. Kind people.

Tyson's eyes lit up slightly, and he nodded - reaching out for the pen and paper despite the pain it caused him. Once he had both in hand, Ty scrawled a quick 'Thank you', his expression uncharacteristically soft.
He paused to think a moment, then added another word to the note.
Stix?

Violet smiled faintly at him, before her face serioused as he wrote the last word. "Dead. Lizzie was sobbing over his body just after you'd been brought in here" She spoke softly.