The alley was dark, cold, and wet. Erro walked ahead gracefully, her pale green hair swinging behind her. Even with her eyepatch she was the most respectable looking girl I had ever seen.

I, on the other hand, probably looked like a dying bullfrog covered in jam.

I let Erro lead the way as I hung back for a few seconds. That Pon-Pon-Pon song was stuck in my head. I still thought it may make a hit one day!

Nah.

I just couldn't stop the thoughts from entering my head.

Why did they hate Erro?

Why did they want to hurt her?

She hadn't don't anything wrong as far as I could tell.

Thought whirled around my head, of fairness and justice. Poor Erro. Poor, poor hopeless Erro.

"Blaze!"

My head whipped up as I realized that Erro had been speaking.

"Err, this way!" I gestured behind us, smiling awkwardly.

Erro's clear unblinking eyes - rather, eye - stared at me with an amused expression.

"I would, but that's where we just came from. I was about to offer that we go left."

"Yeah yeah left is good left is great!" I marched forward in a left-ward-ly direction.

"Other left!" Erro called out quietly behind me.

"Oh yeah right heheh other left right..."

God I'm clumsy.

-------------------------------------------------------

It was getting dark, and the stars shone above us.

"Are we going to break for the night?" I asked, looking over at Erro. Her eye was half closed, and she was slouching as she walked ever so slightly.

"Yup we are stopping now. Let's go!"

I grabbed her hand and led her into a small alleyway, instructing her to sit down against the wall of the building.

"Blaze, I can-"

"Stay." I smirked, but she didn't respond.

I walked up the street, looking for any open shops or even homes. A young voice giggled and my head snapped up. A small shop at the end of the street still had it's light on. I walked up and pounded on the door.

"Hello?"

"Hello?!?"

No answer.

I pounded harder, my fist smacking on the wood painfully.

"HEL-"

The door suddenly opened and I fell forward, just able to catch myself. I slowly looked up into a young mother's face, her black hair falling around her waist and a baby in one arm.

"Yes?" She asked impatiently.

"Hi, yes, my name is, err, Miranda, and I'm here to talk to your about our old and saviour potato face." I cracked a smile, hoping to lighten the mood.

She slammed the door on my face.

"HEY! Hey! I was kidding!" I pounded against the door again, fully aware that it was getting colder and that I had left Erro alone in the alley.

She opened the door again, her face troubled and angry. "What?!"

"Look, my friend and I have been walking for a long time and she's very tired. I don't ask for your house, but please, just a blanket and a pillow. I just want to keep her safe."

The woman looked skeptical, so I added some parts.

"She is three years old and my niece and she's almost dead!"

"Oh god! Oh good lord, bring her here!" The woman looked incredibly concerned and terrified, and peeked out behind me. "Where is she? Please, I can take care of her!"

That's when I remembered lying never pays off.

"No, no mam I insist. Just a blanket. Please. That's all I need."

"No, I insist. Bring her in here right now. Good lord, who's would let you go away?"

The woman fretted, reaching out to grab my sleeve.

I tugged away. "No miss, please, you don't understand..."

She stood peering outside the street, looking for the niece I didn't have.

I had two choices. Show her I lied, or keep on lying through my teeth and possibly get it.

That or mug her.

"Please mam, she can hardly walk. And she's very defensive. Just a blanket and a pillow, please, or she will most certainly die."

The woman looked uncomfortable, but she handed me a quilt and a pillow.

"Hold these for a second, I will go ge-"

I sprinted from the door, aware of the cries of the mother and the child.

"That's the wrong quilt! That's my mother's!" The woman screamed in agony.

I kept on running until I reached the alley, and saw Erro.

"Thank god."

She was half asleep already, slouching to one side on her shoulder. I chose a dry spot, underneath a small overhang in the building, and lay folded the quilt in half, lying it on the ground. It just fit, making an easy bed for two. I nudged Erro awake and got her to curl up in the quilt, placing the pillow under her head. As I pulled over the other pillow, a small drop of rain landed on my nose. I curled up in the makeshift bed and watched the rain begin to fall around us, but not touching us. Soon the pounding of the rain and the rhythmic breathing of Erro had lulled me to sleep.

That night I dreamt of my mother.

Unlike most of my dreams, filled with extreme happiness or sadness, this one was strange.

We were standing in a hay field. When I saw her I tried to run, tried to move, but I couldn't. Instead I just smiled, hoping she would understand. She stood silent, shaking her head in disapproval.

Even though we were at least 6 feet away from each other, I heard her voice whisper in my ear.

"What path have you chosen?"

My eyelids snapped open as lightning crashed, and I huddled closer to Erro. She shifted in her sleep, but she didn't wake. Rain pounded just beside me, and though I was warm under my quilt, I felt a chill go up my spine.