Andy opened his eyes slowly and he was met with a pair of concerned lavender ones staring right at him. He rubbed his head, which was killing him and as he slowly took everything in he felt himself groan. The walls around them were stone and dimly lit and he was sitting in a puddle of water and Andy felt his heart stop as he became more aware of his surroundings. It didn’t work. They were still down in the Death Pits and as he sat there Andy strained his ears to try and hear the footsteps of the Demons who would be coming to get them. To get Lily.

Quickly Andy reached out, his eyes wild as he looked around and Lily just sat there before him, calmly looking at him with her head slightly cocked to one side. On a second glance her way, Andy noticed that Lily looked more alive than he had ever seen her. Her cheeks had a slight pink tint to them, as opposed to the deathly pale appearance that she’d had since he first laid eyes on her. Her hair was brighter, not as white in color and Andy finally noticed that she had a bright pink streak running through her hair.


“Wh-what happened?” He asked, sitting up fully and suddenly Andy realized that the light that was bouncing around the room wasn’t coming from fires-it was coming from above them. He looked up, seeing a metal grate and as he listened, Andy could hear the faint sounds of footsteps above them.

“We went through the doorway and then you passed out. I was able to drag you to this point, but you’ve been out for awhile…” Lily said, laying a hand over his as Andy looked at her and then he realized that her clothes had changed-she no longer wore a ratty shirt and shorts. No, she was dressed in pants that hugged her legs and a shirt with the word ‘Rancid’ across the front. Her feet were not clad in tennis shoes anymore either, instead she was wearing a broken in pair of boots that looked similar to his.

“How did your clothes change?” He asked, tilting his head as he looked at her and Lily just shrugged, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear as she bit down on her lip.

“I-I don’t know. Everything changed when we went through that doorway. I felt…I felt alive again. These were the clothes I was wearing when I…I-I mean does that have something to do with it?” Lily asked as Andy just looked at her, his eyes wide as he took her in completely. She had been beautiful before, but now in a different light and a different setting, Andy felt like his heart was going to stop beating as he looked at her.

“It must. Where are we?” Andy asked, his eyes scanning around the space in front of him and he saw that there were a series of tunnels that led off towards dark passages.

“The sewers I guess. I can’t tell where we are until we get up to the street.” Lily said as she held out her hand and Andy used it to help himself stand. She seemed taller, the top of her head coming to rest underneath his chin as Andy looked down at Lily and smiled. What was this feeling in his chest that he got every time she trained those gorgeous eyes on him?

“Shall we?” Andy asked as Lily only nodded and moved to reach behind him. Andy moved out of the way as he saw that Lily was hanging off of rungs that were attached to the wall and as he watched, Andy copied her movements and soon they had reached the top.


Lily pushed up, her hand flat against the ceiling and soon whatever she was pushing on gave way and the tunnel they were in was filled with a bright light. Andy squinted his eyes as he continued to climb, reaching out a hand to Lily as she pulled him up and into the light. Everything was so bright here as Andy looked up and his eyes grew wide as he was met with a bright yellow sun instead of a black one.

Where were they? Was Earth always this sticky feeling? The breeze blew his hair in his face as Andy looked around and saw that they were in between a pair of buildings and at the end of the road they were on, massive machines moved past, music blaring from their speakers almost loud enough to make the ground shake. Andy looked to Lily, his eyes unsure as she bent down and moved the metal plate back into place and then she straightened up.


“Well…welcome to Earth. Lets move onto the street and maybe try to find a paper stand so I can see where we are both in time and location…” Lily reached for his hand and Andy looked down at their clasped hands and his heart felt warm. His emotions had never been this strong before-perhaps being on Earth was bringing out his human side more?


Andy walked slowly behind Lily, their hands still clasped together as she led him closer and closer to the street and finally Andy stopped at the edge and just stared out before him. The buildings that surrounded them were huge and people, humans, walked down the sidewalk, most of them talking to themselves and Andy smirked as he looked down at Lily. She was looking both ways, left and then right until finally she seemed to find what she was looking for and she pulled him along.

Andy felt like his head was going to fly off as he looked all around him, trying to take everything in. They passed a building with a huge glass window and behind the window stood people with no heads. Andy was used to seeing something like this, but at closer inspection he realized that they weren’t people at all. Fake people? Where in the Lord’s name were they?


“We’re in LA…my home town.” Lily seemed to be able to read his mind and Andy looked down at her, seeing that her eyes were trained on a paper that had mostly writing covering its surface. Up in the right hand corner, Andy noticed that there was a date and his eyes tried to process the tiny lettering.

February 13th 2010

Andy looked up from the paper in Lily’s hands and his eyes hurt from all of the brightness that was coming from above them. He noticed then that people were staring at him as they passed and Andy snarled at a few of them, his lips curling up and his teeth baring as they shuffled passed him quickly. Lily turned to him then, taking his arm as she set the paper down and she began to drag him off towards another alleyway. It was much better down here, Andy realized as his eyes adjusted to the slight darkness and Lily looked behind them before turning to him and she pressed a hand against his shoulder and shoved him gently, her eyes on fire as she looked up at him.


“What’re you doing?”She asked, her voice low and coming out in a hiss as Andy just looked down at her-she looked angry and he didn’t understand why. Had he done something wrong?

“They were staring at us…” Andy said, biting down on his lip ring as Lily just rolled her eyes and moved so that she was leaning up against one of the walls that surrounded them.

“Of course they were…we’re different than them.” Lily sighed, running a hand through her hair, her scars shining in the faint light and Andy noticed that the wound that had graced her wrist seemed to have disappeared.

“But you’re human and I look human enough…we aren’t different from anyone up here.” Andy said, his voice sounding childlike in his confusion and Lily smiled at him softly. How to explain this to him?

“We are human-well I’m fully human, but the thing about humans…if you don’t fit a certain look or mold then you get ridiculed. We don’t look the way they want us to…so they stare.” She shrugged at this and Andy tilted his head at her, slightly confused. He had always been gawked at in Hell, but that was because he looked completely strange down there with his pale flesh and light colored eyes. Up here he looked just like everyone else.

“So we don’t fit in?” Andy asked as Lily just nodded and reached down for his hand. Her fingers were warm against his skin and Andy found that he liked that their hands fit together so perfectly.

“No. No Andy…we’ll probably never fit in.” Her voice was sad as Lily led him back out on to the street and Andy felt his heart break. Why were humans so cruel to one another? If someone wanted to be different, why couldn’t they be? It didn’t make sense to him and it probably never would.

“Where are we going Lily?” Andy asked, his voice low in her ear as he bent down slightly and his eyes closed briefly as he caught a whiff of her hair and he felt his knees grow weak. What the fuck was wrong with him? He had never acted this way before and he didn’t understand why he was feeling this way now.

“To a record store. It’s probably the only place we won’t be stared at…” She said, turning back to face him quickly before she led him off down the sidewalk. Andy found that he had to move out of the way as people rushed passed him, still talking quietly to themselves and he just smiled-humans were crazy.


They walked along slowly and Andy tried not to stare as people passed, but he found it very difficult. The people in this city seemed so disingenuous to him, as if they were all putting on airs as they walked around talking on what Lily had explained were things called cell phones and that they were actually talking to someone else on the other end. They all held white cups in their hands as they walked and talked, not bothering to pay attention to where they were going until finally Lily led him left down a different street and the people there suddenly changed. Guys with their hair spiked high in the air, all different colors and there were girls who looked like Lily, with leather jackets and rings in different areas on their faces. This-this felt the most like home to Andy.


“The Pitts…this used to be where Brianne and I would come to after school since we never wanted to go home.” Lily laughed as she stopped in front of a building and Andy looked up. The windows in front held big black discs and as they passed Andy tried to read some of the names, laughing to himself quietly for they all sounded ridiculous. Kiss. Motley Crue. The Cure. Murderdolls. They went on and on and Andy smiled to himself as Lily led him towards the door.

As they walked in to the dimly lit shop, Andy felt his neck begin to ache from looking around him so much. There was a lot to take in-the walls were covered with pictures of what Lily had told him were albums and CDs and Andy felt a little over whelmed. Lily just smiled up at him, taking in his amazed look as she broke away from him and headed over towards the small section in the corner reserved for new releases.

Nothing stuck out to her, but as she looked over everything Lily realized that she no longer had access to her music-her iPod had probably been thrown out a long with the rest of her things and she knew she would have to start over. Lily looked around the shop, finally spotting Andy over by the counter, a Rancid Record in his hands as his eyes widely took everything in. Lily only smiled as she walked over towards him and noticed that he was speaking to someone behind the counter.


“Lily! This is Jake Pitts…his family owns the store.” Andy said, his smile bright as Lily approached and looked at the guy who stood behind the counter. He looked to be in his early twenties, with long black hair and gentle eyes and a soft smile.

“Hi, I’m Lily…Andy’s-uh-girlfriend.” She placed her hand in his quickly, a smile coming to her lips as Jake just seemed to take the two of them in. Lily would have to explain things to Andy later-like what a girlfriend actually was, but she couldn’t think of a better cover for right now.

“Nice to meet you. Andy was telling me that you guys don’t have anywhere to stay…” Lily’s face fell as she looked up at Andy and then back at Jake.


That was something neither she nor Andy had thought about when they had come back to Earth-they were pretty much homeless at this point and one of the last things you wanted to be in LA was homeless and different.

Notes

They made it! Lily's got some spunk to her...something that will come in handy later on when Andy gets really hard headed about things.

Please read and review, because I love you all!

Also check out:
Love By Mistake
We Caught Fire