It was beginning to grow darker as Slaine skated across the streets on his skateboard. The streets of Florida didn't stink, unlike New York. His nostrils weren't used to fresh air like that. He skated through the footpath of the subway on his skateboard. The street lights were glowing by then and the traffic was moving on the raid as he stood at the footpath and looked down at the city.

"You didn't go to play today?" He heard and turned back to find Asselyum.
"No, leave me alone," He replied as she stood beside him.
"You are so immature-"
"Yes, because I'm emotionally unavailable yet you do not leave me by myself. I told you I'll work for you, doesn't mean you get to be a part of my personal life,"

"Why not?" She asked, "Don't you ever feel like you need companions,"
"No, because in the end we only have ourselves. Friends either destroy you or hold you back,"
"And your family? What about them?"
Slaine looked down, "I don't know. I never met them. Don't even know if they are alive."

"How did you survive then?"
"As far as I remember, I've always been on the streets, usually picking food from dustbins behind restaurants,"
She looked at him, blankly while he just skateboarded around her, doing tricks and just passing time, "Most of my life I have been alone. It's comforting. Socialising isn't,"

"How is that possible? No one could ever be alone forever, Slaine. You just...Must choose wisely,"
"Why do you care? Once my job is done, we'll probably never see each other. You are from a different world. You just want a gamer. You'll get tons of those, even better than me," Slaine skated away.

"But they aren't you."

"Excuse me?" He turned back.
"You were chosen for me, I did not choose you. And if I had known of your pride, I would never have chosen you. But since you were chosen by Ben, I believe you must be really special, like all the other boys. My job is to bring those qualities out of you that you didn't know you possessed. Slaine Benjamin, something brought us together and something will do us apart, but that doesn't mean we mustn't ever come together. Because even if we fall apart, we will create something that continues to live on even after we are gone. Everything is a cycle,"

She said that so plainly, that it almost seemed as if she were reading a book. But she wasn't, she was reading his emotions. Translating them as well as she could.

"What do you want to create with me?" He asked.
She breathed, "Hope,"

They stood quietly while looking at each other.
"Asselyum," He said, "You scare me,"
She tilted her head out of confusion, "I would never hurt you. I am not a human,"
"I know, and that scares me,"

"Why?"
"Because I know you wouldn't hurt me.
But I can't say if I won't. And I wouldn't want to be your enemy,"
She looked at him as if she were thinking, "If ever, I hope not, but if ever we have to fight each other for our own purposes or upon orders from others...Remember, Slaine, fight, you must. And you must survive. Because I can be rebuilt, but you can't.

And even in our darkest hours,
I wouldn't want you to leave me. Because you..." She held his hand, "You are my controller, only mine. You must stay with me till my end, and I won't see yours,"

He nodded, "I'll try,"
"As you should," She left his hand and looked at the spark in her hand, "I need to get Axel to fix this," Slaine looked at her hand and then picked up his skateboard, "It's getting late. Come, let's get back."

. . .

"We've washed Lupin! Come, have a look!" Jimmy ran inside while Asselyum and Slaine stood at the door. Axel fixed Asselyum's hand while Slaine looked at Lupin. He was shocked at how different Lupin looked after being groomed and washed. He had platinum blonde hair and white eyelashes. Unmistakably, he was albino. Though, the long term use of drugs had damaged his vocal cords and he could not speak anymore, so he used actions to explain what he was saying,

He shook hands with everyone.

"I'll cook us dinner," Asselyum said.
"You can cook?" Slaine asked.
"I can. We'll need to get the groceries. Come with me." She grabbed his hand and they walked outside. They walked under the streetlights and decided to fetch something quickly from the nearby Walmart store.

He stood outside of the store and waited for her. "I really should stop interacting with blondes..." He mumbled. His body was suddenly covered by a huge shadow and as he turned back, he saw a man. His face had no skin near the area of his lips and one could easily see his gums and teeth, he had dark, black, streamlined eyes and sharp canines. He had scales all over his body. Slaine looked at him with his eyes wide open. He had frozen from fear.

"$11 fifty cents," The clerk said and Asselyum paid her. She picked up the bag and walked outside the store.

"Slaine?" She looked around but he was gone, his skateboard was lying on the floor. She left the bag and ran on the streets. She closed her eyes and she could see the radar inside her system. The red dots were humans and the green dot was an X-DROID.

She ran towards the green dot and took out her gun from her pocket. She jumped into one of the streets from the top of the terrace and found the X-DROID. Slaine sat beside him, covered in blood. Asselyum shot at it at least five times in a row, non-stop until it fell.

"Asselyum!" Slaine shouted as he looked at her. Her eyes were shining blue. She looked at Slaine. There were bite marks on his arm. "He didn't do anything, right?"
"Like what?"
"Did he try to exchange blood?"

"No? He even moved back the moment he bit me."

"Close your eyes." She ordered him.
"But why-"
"I don't want you to see this yet," She told him. He closed his eyes and heard a loud crack of bones. When he opened them, he shouted in fear. That X-DROID was crushed into flesh and plastered to the wall.

Slaine threw up.

Asselyum looked at him "I will be doing worse. And you'll have to witness all of that. How will you survive?" She asked.
"This is fucking disgusting! Ugh! Dirty!" He gaged.
"Dirty? We only do dirty work here, Slaine. Or they'll regenerate themselves."

"This is heinous." Slaine's face was pale and he had goosebumps all over his body.
Asselyum's hands were covered in blood. She turned back "I'll go get the groceries."
"How can you even eat from those hands?"

She wiped her fingers with her clothes, "I was born for war, Slaine. Did you expect anything else? Or have you started seeing me as a human female?"
He didn't know what to say, "I'm not an angel, Slaine. And I will not be your angel if you want me to be one," She looked down at him, "But I will be yours, and you will control me as we fight, because..."

He looked into her eyes, "Because, fight, we must,"

-To be continued

Asselyum
5500 Rebellion