I don't understand how they can laugh when we are literally walking on the ruins of a home we've lived in for months. But yet here they are, Rosie and that asshole she calls Noodleshoots singing and skipping and dancing like the world isn't on the edge of falling away from itself. The entire land surrounding their home is completely destroyed by craters and lava spills and mud, and they don't even seem to care. The ones that call themselves the Modesteps are the same way, it's like they're oblivious to everything around them and they're instead completely focused on their stupid competition of who can belch the loudest. So far the one who dresses like the human form of piss is winning. It's getting really hard not to roll my eyes and make snark remarks at them, but I know I probably shouldn't given that they don't trust me the least bit, nor do they show any signs of liking me. But I don't care about that. I've never been about making friends anyway. Rosie is safe and that's the only thing I'm focused on right now.

Besides trying to pray to my sorry ass god.

"One, two, buckle my shoe! Three, four, run out the door! Five, six..." I tried to drown out the singing so I could actually to pray to Dia, but the tone that asshole is using to sing with is drilling inside my skull like knives. I walked slower in step so that I was behind the penguin and his yellow brother, hoping maybe that would make the singing less annoying. It didn't help. It just made the two brothers look at me strangely and my annoyance splurge. What's so captivating about me that they have to be so interested in to look at every five seconds? I felt startled when one of them had the nerve to talk to me, the yellow one.

"Bro, how come you don't just use a mask? Clearly the scarfs not working for you." He pointed at the red fabric around my neck that kept blowing every which way and getting in face or slipping down my mouth. I shot him an annoyed glare and pulled it further up my nose.

Because I don't want to look like a bloody idiot.

"Because I don't want to-..." No insults. No insults. No insults. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, making the two look at me sideways in wonder. "Because...it was given to me by a very dear friend, and he would most likely feel very offended if I didn't wear it. And I don't like masks, they cover too much of me." And I'm not entirely ugly like you two probably are, so I don't need one. Seriously, what's so awful about their faces that they have to cover up? Were they burned to death? Cut and scarred beyond belief? Or maybe they just have acne. That would seem more suitable for them.

They looked at each other for a moment, as if asking a silent question and answering it at the same time, before the penguin asked the next question. "You're gay like Tummy boy, aren't you?"

What? Did they just compare me sexuality wise to that flesh eater?

No insults. No insults. No insults. No matter how rude they are to you, you must play nice.

"Yes," I replied through gritted teeth. "I am. How did you figure that one out?" Did they judge me by my scarf? Men can wear scarves, despite that stupid gay stereotype I've heard over a thousand times. It's perfectly normal to wear a scarf even if you aren't straight. Dia always wore a scarf, he was the one who gave me mine and he isn't...well...he might be? He seemed to always like both genders and-...oh what am I doing?

The yellow one shrugged. "Just a guess." And then they turned back around like they hadn't just insulted me. Just a guess? How did you guess? Stereotypes, did you look at those and think that I looked and acted like a few of them?

"How did you guess?" I asked, almost growling.

They didn't even turn back to look at me, they were too busy playing 'how far can you throw the rock' to acknowledge me.

"Just the way you said special friend," the penguin answered distractedly. "I mean if you weren't talking about your boyfriend just now, then my gay-dar must be off."

Gay-dar? Is he serious?

"You made those weird heart eyes too. We've seen em' plenty of times. Champ always did that round Dec, didn't he?" The yellow one joked, jabbing the penguin in the ribs. They both snickered to themselves and continued their game.

I was steaming out of both ears by now. "It's not funny to joke about somebody's sexuality."

"We aren't laughing because you like penis man, we're laughing at how much you love penis. Completely different things." They both snickered at the piss colored ones joke. I was gritting my teeth so hard they could've shattered.

"I don't see much of a difference," I replied, snarling.

The penguin turned around and began walking backwards, all the while rolling his eyes at me from the holes of his mask. "We'd make the same joke if Noodles up there was whipped by vagina. Which he is, he just won't admit it." He jerked a thumb towards Rosie, who was pelting Nade with pebbles and mud and he was doing nothing to stop her, only laughing as she got mud on every inch of his clothing.

Did they just refer to Rosie as a vagina?

"Yeah we aren't homophobics anymore. Tummy boy taught Tony a lesson in that, didn't he Tony?" The penguins brother snickered, causing the other to shove him into mud puddle and splash a tidal wave of mud on the both of them. Idiots.

"He did!" Tony exclaimed, laughing. "I still got the scar from when he ripped me mask off and split me in half!"

"And you're happy about that?" I asked sarcastically. I'm actually glad corpse breath taught these idiots a lesson in homophobia. I wish I could've been there to witness it. I bet Dia saw it. I'll have to ask him if I can see the memory, that is if he ever answers my prayers to talk to me.

"Ah it was the biggest fight we'd had in awhile mate!" Josh clapped me on the back, and I was almost sure he left a mud handprint on my jacket. Ugh. "Never seen im' so mad before! One thing that pisses Tummy off the most is when you talk rubbish about his boyfriend, he goes nuts and a half on your ass..."

"He almost killed me! If Jordan didn't step in and get his nose shoved up his brain, he damn well would've killed me!" They were both laughing hysterically now, covered in head to toe with mud with both of their masks slipping off slightly to reveal their crooked smiles. I had to grin a little too. Their laughs were contagious, even if they were extremely annoying.

"What are you three on about back there?!" I heard Nade call from the front. The brothers stopped laughing to look at each other and grin evilly, before running full speed towards Nade and tackling him in a gigantic mud hug. Rosie was giggling like mad and so was I. They are some really interesting characters. I wonder if this was what Tum-...oh god, now I'm speaking like them inside my head. I wonder if this was what flesh eater used to act like before he met Mr Butts and had Rosie. I can guess so. I bet his teenage years were spent well with these idiots. It must've been nice to have normal teenage years. Gods know I didn't.

Great. Five minutes without Dia and I'm already sinking into depression about my violent and scarring teenage past.

"Aw what's got you in a bad mood now mate? Still miss your boyfriend?" I almost felt like screaming in rage when the penguin hit me on the back, leaving yet another muddy handprint to match his piss colored brother's.

Instead I blew out a huff of air and let my shoulders slump. "Yes. I do actually. I wish he'd get off of his high horse and answer me, it would literally only take seconds." Why am I ranting about my problems to a grown man in a penguin mask and matching onesie? I really do need friends who aren't insane.

There was a mud war going on now, between the yellow brother and Nade and Rosie. I had no idea who was winning. I suppose Rosie, the only one who didn't look like a mud monster from the depths of the underworld. That's probably going to change soon though, from the amount of attacks she's suffering from.

"Well we are in the middle of an apocalypse, he's probably busy with something. Like surviving, maybe." Penguin boy scooped up a bit of mud with his hands and chucked it at the unsuspecting Nade, who turned around thinking it was the other brother and fired at yellow.

I rolled by eyes and shook my head. "He can't be. He's already dead."

"He's dead? Well damn, my bad."

"No he's not-...gods, forget it. You wouldn't understand."

"Course I would, I've had a bunch of people die around me. Hell, Josh is all I've really got left of a family. All of em' died..."

Maybe he was expecting me to feel pity for him, but I felt nothing. I have enough deaths in my life to do me for a lifetime, I hardly care for anyone else who goes through a loss anymore. He thinks he suffered loss? He thinks he went through hard times? I should laugh at him. I'm quite sure he didn't have to sell his body on the streets when he was a teenager just so he could survive through the week.

"Join the club of misfits then. Everybody around here has suffered loss, you aren't the only one."

"I know that, but did you watch everyone die? Like, I mean everyone man, everyone, every single person who was related to us died in front of our eyes. Our mum and dad, cousins, second cousins, third cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, great grandparents, everybody died. I hardly remember though, I was pretty small."

"That's...odd." His whole entire family died. That's so strange. But I'm more interested in the masks to be honest. "So what's with the masks?"

"We've...been in a few near death situations. S'why we had to move to a completely different continent, we were bloody scared for our lives. But we've survived so far. I'm sure we can make it a few more years." He grinned at me from beneath his mask, and I got my first glance at the skin on his face. Scarred, horribly scarred to the point where his skin looked like grated cheese. Good god, what have they been through?

"...would it be too much if I asked to see to your face?"

He frowned. "I'd rather not. Wouldn't want to scare the girl over there if she saw me." He nodded over to Rosie, who was now covered head to toe in mud and still throwing mud balls at the two idiots trying to wrestle each other. Oh wonderful, nows she's got to be cleaned.

I snorted. "Her wizard best friend looks like something you'd see out of a demons nightmares. I don't think she scares easily."

He still didn't look too enthusiastic about it. "I don't know. It's not a pretty sight."

"I'm half creeper. Do you think I care?"

He laughed at my 'joke' and nodded his head. "Alright man, but you asked for it." He stuck his fingers underneath the bottom of the mask and lifted it up in one fast movement. He used to be extremely good looking, I could tell, but now his face was scarred beyond normal. The skin of his face really did look like somebody took a cheese grater to it. There were small missing chunks in his cheeks, scrapes all over his forehead, and odd white slices over both of his eyes, which were probably the most normal parts of his face. They were dark brown, almost to the point where they were black. He smiled at me with perfect straight white teeth, making the scarred the skin around his lips crinkle in...a sort of adorable way. I still thought he looked a bit attractive. Not as attractive as Dia of course, but...attractive. I'd do him.

"Glad you didn't run away screaming like the last one did. I think you're pretty okay, um...I never did catch your name?"

"Mot Screziato."

"Hey! Like Tum backwards?"

He loves to compare me to that idiot, doesn't he? "I suppose so."

"That's grand. You don't really like Tum, do you?"

"Not the least bit."

"Well whys that?"

"Because I just don't. He's arrogant, ignorant, stubborn, childish, and a complete failure at being a good father. Look at his child, she hasn't seen him in two days. He wasn't there for her when her other father went missing and he wasn't there to save her when the meteors hit. I'm the one who saved her one the meteors hit. He was too busy chasing down his bonehead of a husband to see that his daughter needed him."

"I think you're wrong there mate."

"And why am I wrong? I'm a father, I know what kids need."

"Well your kid probably isn't like Tums kid. Tums kid doesn't like us tellin' her what to do, she already knows everything she's not supposed to do. She's really smart. And I think Tum knows that too."

"But kids need their parents. They don't spend enough time with her. I always spent time with my daughter, every chance I got. It's just...bad parenting to me."

"Do you think she wants parenting all the time? Look at her. She's obviously a Dianitee. We never really liked parents all that much, did we?" He chuckled. I watched Rosie for a little while, studying her with a new perspective. She's energetic, she likes to run and skip and pull little pranks on the others. She's naturally sassy as hell and she hates when I call her down for anything, especially when she's right about it. She doesn't care about appearance obviously because of her mud caked clothes.
Maybe Tony the penguin is right. Dianitees, the ones that I've known anyway, never really stuck with parents all that long. Usually by our teens we're already on our own without our parents at our sides. And Rosie is extremely close to being a teenager mental wise. Twelve years old. That's the age Alyssa started getting super independent.

"Would you look at that?" Tony nudged me and nodded forward. "The bad parent himself now."

Flesh eater nearly killed himself trying to land properly, because as soon as his feet touched the ground he bolted towards Rosie and almost fell on his face. "Daddy!" Rosie squealed, throwing up her hands just as soon as he threw his arms around her body and pulled her impossibly close for a bear hug. He didn't even care that she was covered in mud, he let it soak through the fabric of his clothes without a care in the world.

"Oh my god baby I've been looking for you all day...are you okay? Where've you been? Are you alright?" He pulled back to feel around her face and look her over for injuries.

"I'm okay daddy, uncle Mot saved me! We've been playing mud wars all day!"

The relief and utter happiness on corpse breaths face was sort of heart touching. He pulled her in for another hug and began stroking her black curls, and I could've sworn I saw tears in his eyes as he did so. "Oh that's good...I missed you. I thought something happened and...daddy was just really worried. Do you know where your poppy is by chance?"

"He's with Mr. Gaines, workin' on the portal to take us home. Don't cry daddy, I'm okay."

"Ugh...sorry Rose, it's been a bad day. So-So you're okay? Nothings happened to you?"

I noticed something when Rosie stepped out of the way for a moment, something I hadn't before. Tom was wounded. There was a long, cauterized gash stretching down his left arm and down to his wrist, and it looked painful. How did he get that? Did he cauterize it himself, or did he find those two doctors and get them to do it? Whoever did it, it looked extremely sloppy and rushed. I can't imagine how much that hurt.

"Daddy you're shaking." Rosie stared down at him with worried watery eyes, a frown tugging at her lips. He just shook his head and gave a shaky laugh. He looks god awful now that I've gotten a good look at him. Instead of purple bags under his eyes, he had black ones, and I felt a stab of pity for the guy. When's the last time he slept?

"I'm...I'm fine Rosie. Just a little tired."

"Dude," Nade muttered, "You don't look okay. What happened to your arm?"

Tom looked down, as if just noticing the wound. "Oh this? No, it's fine I...I fixed it. Martha wanted me to find Dec or Champ, but it's...I had to find Rosie first. I'll fix it when...I find Jordan." He was rapidly blinking now, trying to block out sleep with all his might. Rosie looked horrified at the state he was in.

"Tum, that doesn't look good at all," Tony took a small step towards Tom, eyes examining him in a concerned manner. He hadn't put his mask back on yet, so I could see his facial expressions. "We can go back to the base and let you get some rest, a few hours would do you good."

"No. I've got to find Jordan too, I-...I can't sleep without him."

That's so stupidly cliche and adorable at the same time. I'm losing my battle of trying to hate him very quickly.

"You can't sleep without Sparklez?" Josh asked in a joking way. Tony sent him a glare that clearly said shut up, before turning back to Tom who was fighting with himself to stay upwards. The sleep deprived man only shook his head.

"No...he makes the nightmares go away. I can't sleep without him."

Nightmares? Corpse breath has nightmares? I thought he was the one who made Jordan's nightmares go away.

"Well...um, Rosie do you know exactly where your other dad is?" Tony asked the small girl awkwardly. She was having an internal battle in her mind it seemed like. She nearly let the tears spill from her eyes when she shook her head no.

"Purple lady can't see everything. But I-I can make you sleep daddy."

"No baby, it's okay. I'll be fine."

"You're not fine, daddy!"

"Rosie-"

"No! Go to sleep!"

Tom looked utterly defeated. She wasn't understanding, but it's not like he could explain it to her. I've been through that before, that phase where there's only one person in my life that can make my nights peaceful. He can't go to sleep, he'll just wait straight back up from the nightmares.

"Have you tried calling Jordan?" I asked him. He looked faintly surprised that I was there, like he had just noticed me. He shook his head again.

"He doesn't have his...communicator with him. And Gaines won't answer the calls."

"Where's Mianite? Have you heard from him?" Maybe that bitch knows where Gaines is.

"N-No, haven't in days. Dianite?" He asked hopefully. I shook my head. He groaned and lowered his head, before his knees buckled and and fell on his side. Rosie started crying. Nade picked her up and took her off somewhere, while the Modesteps and I went to Toms side. He didn't look like he was getting up anytime soon.

"Bloody hell Tum, you can't be like this in front of your kid." Tony was able to sit him upright, but his body was like jello so the other had to prop him up against himself.

"I can't take this anymore. I can't find anybody. Dec or Champ or Nicky or anyone besides Martha and all of you...the camp, those people-"

"Talking about it only makes it worse," Josh muttered. "Tum you need to take a nap or something, for the sake of your girl."

Tom laughed a little, coughing soon after. "You remember what Dianite...used to do? When we failed him?"

He wasn't talking to me, but to the Modesteps, who'd gone completely quiet after the question was asked.

"Why are you bringing this up?" Tony asked lowly, taking a sudden step in front of Josh. The yellow brother didn't mind. He gladly stepped behind his unmasked brother. I'm guessing Tony is the eldest then, if he's the protector of the two.

"The nightmares? Do you remember those? I still have them, I've had them ever since I killed him. They were small at first and...and now they're so much stronger. Every time I close my eyes, I see him. He's laughing at me. He's..."

"Tum. Pull yourself together. Don't lose your sanity now, we need you man. You go take a nap with your baby girl and you enjoy that damn nap. She takes nightmares away too, y'know." Tony kept his distance, but I wasn't afraid of keeping near flesh eater. I did jump though when his fingers suddenly clasped tightly around my wrist and yanked me a little.

"Mot?" His eyes looked slowly up to mine, and I grimaced when I looked into them.

"Yeah?"

He let go of my hand and used it to point at a spot on his shoulder. "Pinch me here. As hard as possible."

"Um...why do-"

"Just do it."

"Alright." I squeezed my finger around the skin as tight as I could. His eyes rolled in the back of his head and he was out like a light. Well that's one way to do it.

"He's lost his mind," I heard Josh whisper. "And I thought we were screwed up in the head."

"He's fine. Just needs some sleep and his human teddy bear. You guys don't mind if I go look for his boyfriend, right?" I scooped him up from the ground and threw him over my shoulder. He's actually pretty light, I'm surprised.

Tony shook his head, looking a little less tense than he had before. "Don't mind at all man. We'll take him back if you'd like to go right now."

"That's fine. And watch over Rosie? Get her a bath or something, she's filthy."

The two brothers casted a weary glance at each other, then back to me. Tony chuckled nervously. "Um...I think we'll let Noodleshoots handle that one."
~~~

THREE MORE UPDATES TO GO :3

- Lee