Kage walks into the building with Adam. They both had shooed away some sketchy kids that were trying to slash Adam's tires.

"I told Ace not to come here." Kage snaps.

"He's fine Kage, no one really comes here to socialize."

"Tell that to the couple over there."

"Oh well, Ace is a tough man, walked in here with bruises today...did he get in a fight?"

Kage takes a deep breath, Adam looks at him.

"You guys are like my kids, I need to know."

"Bloodhounds got ahold of Lyric...Ace went after her...he winded up taking a beating for her."

"Which is funny since he acted like he didn't know her."

Adam stays silent for a slight moment.

"He probably thought he caused her problems."

"That may be but he did her dirty."

"I think he didn't mean to, he didn't want her to get hurt anymore...I know that boy."

The heard shifting of feet against the concrete floor and sounds of grunts.

Kage walks into the back room to see Lyric swinging her punches and Ace blocking them.

"Well damn." Kage and Adam both say in the perfect unision.

Lyric accidentally punches Ace in the jaw, he kept a straight face. He nods back at her, showing that she was okay.

Ace gets back into his fighting stance and runs back towards Ace.

"You two." Adam chuckles.

Ace stops, along with Lyric, they both look at Adam.

"Sorry-"

"Don't worry about it kid, you did nothing wrong...surprised Ace didn't lose his cool and throw you against the wall."

Lyric rubs her arm, she looks up at Ace to see nothing but a straight face.

"Adam, wanna chill at our place?" Kage asks.

"Nah, gotta finish cleaning out my apartment...but I'll visit sometime."

"Alright." Kage says.

Adam and Kage walk out of the room, Lyric looks at Ace.

Lyric bursts into tears, Ace looks down at her. Lyric tried to hold them back but she couldn't...everytime she saw the expression his face...it was the same expression he had when he was getting beaten up.

"I'm sorry Ace..." Lyric sobs, she sunk to her knees.

"I'm weak, I couldn't even stop Cris from spitting on you."

Ace kneels in front of her, pulling her close to him, hugging her.

"Lyric." Ace says.

"You did nothing but protect the kid."

"If anything, I'm sorry." He says, holding Lyric's face up.

"Don't cry over someone like me, Lyric."

"How can you say that?"

"I hurt you." Ace admits.

"I know you loved me."

No Ace, I love you.

"And seeing Heaven and I..."

"Forget it." Lyric says.

"You took a beating for me." Lyric cried out.

"Because I wanted to." Ace says.

"And I'll do it again."

Lyric stares at him with wide eyes, Ace stared back at her with a straight face.

"No Ace, you can't." Lyric says, her eyes directing to the floor.

"Lyric."

"Don't look away Lyric." Ace growls, Lyric stares at him, he stands up, reaching out and hoisting her onto her feet.

"You've been through enough." Ace says.

"Let's go." Ace says.

"Where?"

"Home."

Ace walks out, his arm around Lyric's shoulder.

Ace isn't the possessive type, he only gets aggressive when someone he cares about gets hurt. He doesn't fight to show superiority or to make himself look scary.

"Lyric..." He says, grabbing her face.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm an ass for doing that. Scream at me, hell even punch me but don't cry over a guy like me."

Lyric takes a deep breath, she hugs him.

"I don't hurt the ones I care about." Lyric says.

--

Weeks went by and Lyric still trained alongside Adam, her fighting skills slightly improved, she could now block punches with ease.

But that isn't enough for Lyric. She felt a fire grow deep inside her each day, Ember.

Lyric will sell her soul to the devil if that means Ember gets to stay alive and be happy. And Lyric would look for her herself but there weren't any clues, which only made Lyric more stressed.

She continued to work at Sara's Night, the perverted stares and the degrading name calling she would receive made her hollow: she didn't care anymore. Lyric was numb...to everything.

Tonight was the night that she would look for the clues herself.

As the night drags on Lyric pressed her hands against both sides of the sink as her makeup managed to cake the bruises, her brown eyes reflected all the trauma that she's been through.

All of a sudden Lyric gets flung against a changing locker, the impact on her back sent a stinging sensation, Lyric didn't scream out in pain. She raised her head to see some random stripper.

The woman was taller than Lyric, she's jumped Lyric before during her first week of stripping.

People in this strip club call her Foxy, her dark brown hair cascaded around her light brown shoulders, her heart shaped face was contoured in a whole bunch of makeup, her hazel eyes glared at Lyric.

"I thought that I was clear that this was my territory, little girl." Foxy growls, her voice taunting Lyric.

"Leave. Me. Alone." Lyric threatens, her hair covering her eyes. Her head twitching.

Foxy giggles, taking Lyric for a joke, "Too late for that." She says, tilting her head.

"You have to learn your place here." Foxy lectures, taking off her earrings.

Please....if you keep this up, I'm going to hurt you. Please. I've been disrespected for such a long time now, I can't take this anymore. I can't take this anymore....I can't...

Lyric raises her head to look Foxy directly in her eye.

"Fucking pathetic." Lyric growls.

All the strippers stop to look at Lyric, she never did something this bold. Lyric's head was twitching.

She's about to snap.

Lyric laughs hysterically, her laughs got louder as she slapped her thigh, then she cocks her head back smiling.

Foxy grabs Lyric's face and slams her head against the locker with great force, blood pouring down Lyric's head.

"Do it again." Lyric grins, begging for Foxy to bring more pain onto her.

"There's nothing you can do that they haven't done already." Lyric explained earning a bewildered look from all the strippers, Lyric throws off her top to reveal the scars. The strippers held back disgusted looks.

They were all from Cris, her father, the men that raped her, the men who her mother sold her body to, the police, her mother, the girls at school, from herself.

The thick crimson liquid ran down Lyric's face. Foxy glares at her before slamming her head against the locker again, Lyric didn't feel anything.

"Keep doing it..." Lyric giggles.

"Y-you're just scared." Foxy stammers, she was obviously freaked out by Lyric smiling and enjoying the pain that she was receiving.

"You're right....I am scared." Lyric says grinning, she tilts her head and grins.

"I'm scared of what I'm going to do to you, it fucking scares me." Lyric says, her face going emotionless.

Foxy spits in her face. "You think I'm going to let that slide Lyric?" She asks.

Lyric lowers her head, laughing, Lyric laughed so hard that her shoulders trembled.

Lyric begun to slam Foxy's head against the sink, and she didn't stop, the strippers run out of the room screaming. Foxy dug her fingers into Lyric's wrist, but that didn't stop Lyric.

Lyric screams out in anger as she saw Foxy's blood going down the drain, Foxy eventually stopped fighting and Lyric was pulled off by her manager.

"You crazy bitch!" The manager yells in her face. Lyric laughs hysterically.

"Go ahead, fling my head against the wall!" Lyric hollers, smiling.

Lyric goes into another laughing fit before the manager knocks her out with the back of his gun.