* DISCLAIMER * This is a non-profit work of fan-fiction involving characters created and owned by Marvel Comics Group. This story contains EXPLICIT SEX (m/f teen consensual) and EXPLICIT LANGUAGE If the above offend or disturb you, please do not read this story. * WRITTEN BY * Samy Merchi * ARCHIVED AT * http://mash.yok.utu.fi/corona.html * STARRING * Roberto Da Costa Juliana Sandoval in ****************** * CRIMSON HEARTS * ****************** * GUEST STARRING * Gideon * AND STARRING * Salma Hayek as Luciana Sandoval * CONTINUITY * This story takes place before X-FORCE #26 Flashback scenes take place before NEW MUTANTS #1 * SOUNDTRACK * /Don't Stop Me Now/ performed by Queen /Ecuador/ performed by Sash! /Runaway/ performed by Bon Jovi * FINAL WARNING * This story has teenagers having sex, drinking, doing drugs and using harsh language. Last chance -- turn away now or forever hold your peace. *************** * CHAPTER ONE * *************** *** "FASTER!" Roberto Da Costa shouted in Portuguese, striking his fist towards the skies as he stood up on the shotgun seat of the Porsche convertible, feeling the wind on his face and chest, sweaty from the hot, damp summer night air of Rio de Janeiro. "Hold on!" Gideon smirked as he slammed the pedal all the way down, the car's engine revving up and the vehicle jerking once as it accelerated abruptly, curving off the well-maintained asphalt road and to a more bumpy gravel road leading up towards the top of one of the hills overlooking the city. "WATCH IT!" Juliana Sandoval giggled madly as a bump in the road sent her several inches into the air from the back seat, raspberry liqueur splashing out of the mouth of the translucent red glass bottle and landing on her bright white silk shirt, leaving a stain of crimson on her chest that she'd never notice. "DON'T watch it!" screamed Luciana Sandoval with an almost maniacal glee as she stood up from her seat beside her sister and reached forward between the two front seats, trying to reach the car stereo. "OOOPS!" she laughed as she stumbled off-balance, and fell into the gap between the front seats, giggling drunkenly. "Get off the stick, Luciana!" Gideon commanded with a little stern laugh before shoving the girl aside towards Roberto's seat, and then pulling the stick back, shifting to a higher gear. The engine roared as the car accelerated further, approaching 170 km/h, well over 100 mph. "HEY!" Roberto half-snapped, half-laughed as Luciana's hands latched onto him when she tried to grab on to something, and pulled him back down onto his seat. "Here, have this!" he grinned, taking a quick drag from the marijuana in his fingers, and then stuffing it between Luciana's lips. "Now get back there!" he snickered and put a hand over her face, shoving her towards the back seat and out of the way as he reached his other hand for the volume control on the car stereo, cranking it all the way up. -- stop me 'Cos I'm havin' a good time! "HAVIN' A GOOD TIME!" everyone chorused at the top of their lungs and started moshing their heads up and down to the beat of the music, the car swerving dangerously close to the edge of the road occasionally when Gideon got too distracted by the song. "I'm a shooting star", Gideon shouted along with the radio in a clear, melodious singing voice, as he joined in to Freddie Mercury's solo part. "Leapin' thru the skyyy like a tiger --" Defyin' the laws of gra-vi-tyyy! I'm a racing car Passing by like Lady Godiva! I'm gonna go -- go -- go -- there's no stoppin' meee! I'm burning thru the skyyy yeah! Two hundred degrees that's why they call me Mr Fahrenheeeit! I'm driving at the speed of liiight! "-- I wanna make a supersonic man outta you!" Gideon finished up the solo section, eyes glancing briefly at Roberto just before the chorus part. "Don't, stop, me, NOOOW!" everyone shouted, joining in as the refrain began. "I'm havin' such a good time / I'm havin' a ball --" Don't, stop, me, NOOOW! If you wanna have a good time Just give me a call! Don't, stop, me, NOOOW! 'Cos I'm havin' a good time Don't, stop, me, NOOOW! Yes I'm havin' a good time I don't wanna stop at alllllll yeah! "I'm a rocket ship on my way to Maaars", Roberto started, standing up and singing as loud as he could while the car zoomed thru a slum region of desolate shacks on both sides of the road, leaving a dust cloud in its wake. "On a collision cour-- OW!" he winced at a smack to the back of his head and glanced over his shoulder. "You can't SING, 'Berto!" Juliana somehow managed to giggle and glare at the same time. "Here!" she shouted over the volume of the music, shoving the raspberry liqueur at Roberto. "Put this in your mouth and spare us the agony of --" "-- whoa -- whoa -- whoa -- whoa EXPLOOODE!" Gideon and Luciana shouted, interrupting the other two with their singing which was well louder than what even Gideon's car stereo could crank out. "I'm bur-niiing thru the sky yeah!" Roberto and Juliana joined in, the former's voice evidently drowned out sufficiently by the others that the latter had no objections. "Two hundred degrees that's why they call me Mr Fahrenheeeit! / I'm driving at the speed of liiight --!" "-- I wanna make a supersonic woman of you!" Roberto sang, and leaned over the back of his seat to grab Juliana and pull her forward towards him for a passionate kiss, letting the liqueur bottle he hadn't drunk from clatter somewhere to the floor of the car as he wrapped his arms around the girl he loved. Delicate fingers, color somewhere between Juliana's white skin and Roberto's chocolate one, picked the bottle from the floor, as their owner's eyes lingered on the passionate kiss, a little lump growing in her throat. *** She stared at the bottle of raspberry liqueur in front of her, and then quickly brought the bottle's mouth to her lips, drinking the alcohol down like water, as if trying to drown out the memories of that summer several years ago. A few moments later, the bottle was empty, and she shook it a bit, trying to get any last droplets out, but there were none. "Stupid thing", she snarled, and tossed the bottle away hard. It impacted onto the wall of the living room, and several heads turned towards the crash the glass made as it smashed into little shards. "Luciana!" Jaime Santiago shouted, and went over to the stereo, turning the volume of Sash!'s /Ecuador/ down, before glaring over at the dusky-skinned girl with a long, sky-blue ponytail. "You're gonna clean that up!" "Fuuuck youuu", Luciana snorted apathetically as she stayed sitting down on the couch, and just leisurely reached for the bowl of popcorn on the coffee table in front of her. Jaime bristled for a few moments at the girl's indifference, all the other teenagers in the room staying quiet and letting the party's host handle this thing his way rather than adding to the chaos. Most of the others were busy necking or drinking or both to much care, anyways. "There's a broom over in that closet!" Jaime snapped at Luciana, walking over to the couch and standing in front of her imposingly while pointing towards a closet door in a hallway just outside the living room. "Funny, I thought it was up your ass", Luciana replied, not even deigning to look at Jaime as he loomed over her. "Fuck off, I'm having fun", she said flatly. "Your 'fun' is getting a little out of hand, Luciana", Jaime hissed, barely staying in control of himself, his hands balling up into fists as he tried to restrain his temper. "If you won't clean that mess up, I'm going to tell you to *leave*." Luciana finally quirked an eyebrow. Then, slowly, a smile drew onto her lips, and she stood up to face Jaime. "You wouldn't do that", she sneered confidently. "You tell me to leave, and I won't come *back*." "Fine!" Jaime said sharply. "I've had enough of your attitude to last me a lifetime, Luciana!" he raised his voice slightly. "For the past year, I've tried to get past that bitter front you put out, find the real you and give you a chance because I happen to believe no one's unsalvageable, but you're making me question my beliefs!" "There's nothing to salvage about me", Luciana growled, her expression turning angry and her eyes hardening. "You don't know anything about me. Least of all what the 'real me' is. Screw you, Jaime! Think you're so wonderful and go around 'saving' and 'helping' everyone, you don't have a clue about real life!" "Oh yeah, the 'real life' issue again, huh?" Jaime retorted. "Life's so tough and keeps kicking little rich girl in the head? *You* don't have a clue about real life, Luciana! Have you ever visited Dominic's house? Have you ever visited the house of anyone who's not at least middle class? You live in your ivory tower, going shopping every day and wasting an amount of money that could feed Dominic's family for an entire month! What kind of problems do *you* have?" "I have a shitty boyfriend with a pathetic little dick!" Luciana snapped, her eyes narrowing. "Who keeps bugging me to do some fucking housecleaning when I want to get drunk and have fun! Get a maid or something!" Jaime's face turned a bit darker than usual and he avoided everyone's glances, fixing his eyes onto Luciana. "That does it!" he shouted and pointed towards the hallway where the front door of the house was. "I've had it with you up to here, Luciana! You've been a bitch ever since your sister died, and I've *tried* to help you, but nothing I've done has had any effect. It's been *years* since Juliana's death! GET OVER IT! And if you won't -- get out!" "FINE! Fuck you!" Luciana snarled, and turned around on her heels, stalking out of the living room into the hallway, yanking open the front door, walking out, and slamming the door shut behind her very loudly. Jaime winced, and bit his lip for a few moments. He could've helped her. Could've gotten thru to her -- if she just would open up -- "Luciana!" he shouted, and rushed over to the front door, opening it and stepping out after his girlfriend. "Luciana, I'm sorry, I'll clean it up --" he started, and then stopped, blinked, and looked up and down the porch and the front yard of the house. "Where'd she go?" *** On the sidewalk across the street from the Santiago house, a dark form was watching in silence. His long trench coat whipped about slightly as the winds picked up and the clouds started obscuring the waxing moon in the sky, darkness turning a bit deeper over Rio de Janeiro. *** Bright laughter and the eager splashing of water filled the night air at Ipanema beach. Roberto Da Costa was dunking Juliana Sandoval underwater and keeping her there, not letting her back up, while Juliana's sister Luciana was looking on with a wide grin. "HEY!" Roberto shouted, as he felt his boxers be yanked to his knees. In startlement, he let go of Juliana, who, having expected the reaction, immediately got up, gasping for breath, and shoved Roberto backwards. With a massive splash, Roberto crashed backwards into the waters, having lost his balance. Before he had a chance to get back up, Juliana pulled his boxers off the rest of the way, and then, giggling madly, moved away from Roberto and the waist-deep waters, closer to the beach, while he was sputtering the salt water out of his mouth. "Give those back!" Roberto shouted, not able to pursue Juliana into the knee-deep waters unless he wanted to expose his nudity, and that was something he wasn't quite prepared to do at this point. "Juliana, give them back!" "Maybe", Juliana snickered, and then tossed the boxers over to Luciana. "Maybe we should make you do something to get them back? What do you think, Luciana?" "Definitely", Luciana grinned as she snatched the boxers from the air and started moving behind Roberto so as to get him between her and Juliana. "Make him do our homework for the first month of school?" she asked, and tossed the boxers thru the air in a high arc over Roberto, towards Juliana. "Not embarrassing enough", Juliana smirked as she caught the boxers. "Maybe we should make him write a passionate love letter to Jaime and then confess his love for him publicly at school?" "Don't you *dare* --!" Roberto said with a serious expression. "Oooh, I like that reaction!" Juliana grinned. "Maybe I hit the nail right on the head, Luciana?" she asked, and threw the boxers again thru the air towards her sister. "Hah!" Roberto laughed, as he leaped upwards, trying to grab the boxers out of the air as they flew over him. Unfortunately for him, he missed by a few scant inches. "Droga!" he cursed as the garment passed him by, and he fell back down. "Missed!" "I didn't miss a thing", Juliana said with a wide smile, her eyes locked onto Roberto at water-level where he had briefly been exposed while he jumped up out of the waist-deep waters. "Nice butt, too", Luciana laughed, and then folded the boxers up into a little package, and then stuffed the cloth into the other cup of her bra, bras and panties being the only things the sisters were wearing at the moment as none of the teenagers had thought to bring along swimsuits. "You want your boxers, 'Berto?" Luciana smiled and waggled her eyebrows teasingly. "Come and get them." "Fine", Roberto replied with a stubborn expression, and headed towards Luciana determinedly. "No! Don't give them back to him!" Juliana shouted, and started wading thru the water towards the two other teenagers in vain hopes of managing to stop Roberto from getting his garment back. "There's a catch", Luciana smirked at Roberto as he reached her and extended a hand for her bra. She placed her hands over her breasts and protected her bra from Roberto's hands for the moment. "Gimme a kiss first", she said and fluttered her eyelashes. Roberto quirked an eyebrow with a serious expression, seeming to consider the words for a moment. Then, he shrugged, and leaned close, placing a light closed-mouth peck onto Luciana's lips, before pulling back. "Now, my boxers", he said sternly. "That was hardly a kiss", Luciana pouted, still holding her hands over her breasts. Juliana was watching on with a slight frown, her body having tensed up slightly at the little kiss. "Just give them back to him", she said flatly. "We should get out of the water already anyway..." "Hmp", Luciana sighed, and then, with a little shrug, let her hands fall down from protecting her barely-developed young breasts, but made no move to remove the boxers from her bra. Roberto just reached over, his fingers brushing against Luciana's breast, as they slid into her bra, and then pulled his boxers out. "I'll get back at you both for this..." he said as he unfolded the boxers, and then lowered them into the water, stepping back into them. "Let's go", Juliana just said emotionlessly, and started wading towards the beach. "Gideon is probably back from the fuel run by now..." Roberto nodded and followed Juliana out of the water. "Why don't you go see if Gideon is at the parking lot yet, Luciana?" he suggested as he took Juliana's hand in his, giving it a light squeeze. "I --" Luciana started, and then saw the joined hands, and stared at them for a long while, before setting her jaw and giving a tense nod. "Fine. I'll see you two soon", she said, with just a hint of sharpness, before heading off, walking over the sands of the beach towards the parking lot where Gideon had dropped them off. A cold wind blew over the sands as Luciana walked off, chilling her slightly and she tried to concentrate on the goosebumps she was getting all over, hugging herself to try to get warm and rubbing her hands up and down her arms. "Cold, isn't it?" Gideon's voice reached Luciana's ears as she stepped from the sands to the asphalt of the parking lot and saw his car parked where he had left the teenagers off about half an hour ago. "I can take it", Luciana answered strongly as she reached for her shirt on the back seat of the car and put it on, starting to button up the front silently, her eyes on the ground. "I wasn't talking about the temperature", Gideon simply remarked. Luciana stayed quiet for a long while, finishing buttoning up her shirt, noticing she had mismatched the buttons and holes, undoing the buttons and then re-doing the front up again. Then, she crossed her arms over her chest and looked out towards the beach where little waves were splashing to the sandy beach. "They're gonna fuck", she said matter-of-factly. Gideon sat down on the hood of the car and then lay back, watching the stars in the cloudless sky. He waited for long moments, and finally, upon seeing a shooting star, spoke. "I wager there are times you wish you were an only child." Hopping over the door into the back seat of the car, Luciana sat down and pulled her knees up against her small chest, her face expressionless as she rested her chin on her knees. "I saw him first", she said quietly, almost a whisper. Nonetheless, she was heard by Gideon. "I know", he said levelly. "I was the one who introduced you two, after all." *** "I love you, Juliana." "And I love you, 'Berto", Juliana whispered as she rested her head on Roberto's chest as the two of them were sitting on the sands of the beach. She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath, nibbling nervously on her bottom lip for a few moments. "I wish you hadn't kissed her", she said quietly after a while. "It was just a friendly kiss", Roberto said, kissing the top of Juliana's head gently a few times, before leaning down and touching his lips to hers, kissing her tentatively but deeply for long moments, their mouths joined in gentle suckles before he eventually broke the contact. "Nothing like that one. I like Luciana a lot, but it is you that I love, Juliana. I always will." Juliana swallowed a bit, and gave a little nod. She took a deep breath, and then released it, nuzzling her face against Roberto's chest, laying light kisses onto his skin. "I believe you", she whispered, and looked up into his chocolate eyes with a slightly timid smile. "I've never been in love before", she confessed. "Me neither", he smiled reassuringly, placing a hand onto her cheek and caressing her soft skin affectionately. "It still feels good, though." "It does", Juliana smiled and closed her eyes, snuggling against Roberto's chest and listening to his heartbeat and the soft splash of the waves, the water occasionally making its way all the way up to touch them. "Do you think we'll be together forever and ever and ever?" she whispered. "If I have anything to say about it, we will", he replied, stroking the base of her neck lightly with the backs of his fingers. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you." "Juliana Da Costa", Juliana said in a thoughtful voice, and then giggled slightly. "You really think we'll be married one day? I'll be your wife, and you'll be my husband...?" "Of course", Roberto said, narrowing his eyes seriously. "My children will not be bastards." He maintained that expression for a few moments, and then grinned a bit. "That was a joke, Juliana." Juliana restrained a little smile, and leaned up to kiss Roberto's lips lightly. "I am glad you're a footballer, and not a comedian... We wouldn't be able to afford food if you had to make your living in the latter profession..." "Very funny", Roberto wrinkled his nose with a faint smile, and returned the kiss. "Money is definitely one problem we won't have", he said after a while, and nuzzled the side of Juliana's face, kissing her ear tenderly. "I suppose not", Juliana smiled and licked lightly over one of Roberto's nipples. "You think we'll really have children...?" she whispered with a look that was a mixture of fright, awe and hope. "I'd love to bear your children..." "And you will", Roberto smirked, running his fingers thru Juliana's hair. "I *will* need an heir, eventually." Juliana bit her lip, smiling broadly, girlishly. "What will we call him? Or her? You think it'll be a boy or a girl?" "Boy, of course", Roberto decreed. "The firstborn Da Costas are traditionally males", he explained and caressed the edge of Juliana's ear with the pad of his fingertip. A shiver tickled Juliana's spine at the touch and she kissed Roberto's stomach lightly. Her hand trembled faintly for a brief moment, before she hesitantly laid it onto his boxers, feeling him already erect and a jolt of surprise and pleasure rushed thru her at the sensations of touching a hard male organ, for the first time in her young life. Roberto let out a soft groan, and inhaled slow and deep at the feel of Juliana's tentative hand on him. "Juliana", he murmured, slipping his arms around her waist and pulling her to sit in his lap. "I love you", he whispered, and laid gentle kisses onto the side of her neck. "And I love you", Juliana whispered in return, feeling goosebumps rise on her skin at the light kisses, her back arching slightly and pressing her budding breasts against Roberto's chest. "So much I don't have the words to tell you..." She moved her hips slightly, rubbing them against his, feeling his erection press against her wet panties and gasping quietly at the erotic images running rampantly thru her head. "Maybe I can tell you another way...without words..." she whispered into his ear, putting her hands onto his chest and gently pushing him to lie back onto the sands. Lying down, Roberto kept his arms around Juliana's waist, then slid them up a bit to have them around her back, pulling her down to have her chest against his once more. "Forever", he murmured into her ear, licking it slowly and taking her earlobe between his lips, suckling on it tenderly. "Forever", Juliana agreed with a little gasp of pleasure, and her inexperienced hips pressed down on Roberto's with urgent teenage need, rubbing against him, half deliberately, half out of nothing but raw instinct. "I want to show you how much I love you", she whispered, and kissed the side of his neck, turning slowly more passionate, more needy, the light kisses turning to hungry suckles and occasional nips. "I want you to be my first, Roberto..." "Oh!" Roberto gasped, his back arching slightly off the sands as he felt Juliana's hand slide into his boxers and touch him lightly. He closed his eyes for a moment as little shudders ran thru him, and then pressed his lips to hers for a brief but heated kiss, before breaking it, and looking into her eyes seriously. "Juliana, I love you, I swear to God I do", he whispered, stroking the back of her head with his hands. "But we shouldn't do this yet..." "I want to", Juliana gasped into Roberto's ear, her hand encircling his shaft, loosely at first, hesitantly, and then slowly getting a firmer grip. "I need to", she said, her gradually quickening breathing starting to turn shallow with excitement. "Juliana, no", Roberto said a bit more firmly, and sat up, kissing her forehead lightly, then her nose, and finally her lips, before looking into her eyes. "I mean it", he said affectionately, nuzzling her chin. "Not here. Not now." "Don't you want me...?" Juliana asked, biting her lip nervously, trembling a bit in fear of what he would say. He meant so much to her, what if she didn't mean as much to him...? "I do", he replied and as if to affirm his words, slid a hand underneath the cup of her bra, touching her little breast with slow, light caresses. "I do, Juliana, I swear. But not here, not now -- I want our first time to be perfect -- with candlelight, music, soft bed with silken sheets... Not here, where someone could walk in on us..." Juliana sighed slightly, and gave a slightly reluctant nod, slowly withdrawing her hand from Roberto's boxers after a lingering caress. "I -- I suppose you're right", she whispered, and then put her hands onto his cheeks, holding his face gently as she kissed him, long and hard. "I just need it really bad", she said with a slightly sad smile after breaking the kiss. "I know", Roberto smiled in return, and caressed Juliana's lips with a fingertip. "But the longer we wait, the better it will eventually be. After all", he whispered and touched his lips to hers. "We have all the time in the world." With a little purr of contentment, Juliana snuggled against Roberto's chest, closing her eyes and just feeling safe in the arms of the boy she loved. "All the time in the world..." *** "Had fun?" Luciana said with an amused and teasing sneer that covered up her true feelings, as she was leaning against the rear of Gideon's Porsche, holding a lit stick of marijuana between her fingers, taking a quick sip from the mouth of the raspberry liqueur bottle. "Most so", Roberto replied as he and Juliana returned from the beach, hand in hand, and walked across the parking lot towards the car. "Refueled?" he asked, glancing towards Gideon who was sitting on the hood of the car. "Of course", Gideon answered, letting his eyes linger on Juliana for a few moments. Roberto nodded, and opened the car door for Juliana, letting her in to the back seat, before looking back to Gideon. "Then let's move", he said, catching the black silk shirt and jeans Juliana tossed to him from the back seat as she started getting dressed. "Sounds like a plan to me", Luciana agreed, already having put back on the clothes she had removed for the swim. "Want a drink before we go?" she asked, offering the liqueur bottle towards Roberto. "You know I don't drink, Luciana", Roberto replied after pulling his jeans back on, and then quickly put on the silk shirt, leaving it open in the front before snatching the marijuana from between Luciana's lips. "Especially not on the night before a big game." He took a drag, and then hopped nimbly over the car door onto the shotgun seat. "The Dynamos will be sorry they ever heard of the Thunderbolts..." *** It was well past midnight. The sky was filled with thick, billowing clouds that obscured the moon and any stars from sight. A wind picked up, rustling the grass of the cemetery, tousling a sky-blue ponytail, swirling around a young girl slightly unsteady on her feet, who was staring down at a tombstone. Juliana Sandoval Beloved daughter Embodiment of smile and love Gone too soon Missed too much And then the years of her birth and death. The girl watching the tombstone let her eyes linger on those for more than a few moments, before looking away, somewhere across the cemetary, anywhere but at the tombstone. "Would've been eighteen this year", she said in a quiet voice. "Probably still would've been with him. Maybe even married him." She bit her lip, and the fingers of her right hand moved nervously, like stroking an imaginary pebble in them and rolling it around. Finally, she looked back towards the tombstone. "Hey, sis", she murmured, a soft note coloring her voice. "Don't come around here that often anymore." She paused for a long moment, brushing a strand of sky-blue hair from her eyes and putting it behind her ear before she gave a slightly bitter laugh. "Not that you know. Not that it matters." "I dunno why I'm talking to a stupid stone anyways", she snorted derisively, wrinkling her nose a bit. "You're the one who believed in God and afterlife and all that shit." She nibbled on the fingernail of her thumb for a moment, and then crouched down at the foot of the grave, picking up a little rock from the ground and rolling it between her fingers as she stared at it. "It's all so fucked up", she mumbled under her breath, and then halfheartedly flicked the pebble at the tombstone. The rock clattered off the 'v' in 'love', and fell to the grass at the foot of the tombstone. "Shoulda been me instead of you", she said nonchalantly, and picked up a twig from the ground, starting to absently trace patterns onto the ground with it. "Wonder if I'd have gotten as nice words on my grave." She stared at the words engraved on the tombstone for a long while, before sliding off her broad orange scrunchie and letting her hair loose. The wind grabbed the freed strands of hair and whipped her hair about wildly for a few moments before abating, the sky-blue hair descending down onto her shoulders and resting there. "Nobody understands me", she whispered. The clouds parted for a moment, a few rays of moonlight illuminating the tombstone and glinting off her hair, before the cloudy curtains closed again, hiding the waxing moon. "You never understood", she sighed, standing up from her crouch and bending the twig slightly between her hands as if testing how much it could take before snapping. "He didn't, either. Only thing I ever wanted out of life." With a little snap, the twig broke in two, and she tossed away the other half. "They all think it's about you", she said and walked over the grave to the tombstone, sitting down on the ground beside it, resting her head against the cool marble and closing her eyes. "Couldn't care less." She reached into the pocket of her jeans, pulling out a silver lighter and a joint, putting the latter between her lips and lighting it up, taking a few slow drags before stuffing the lighter back in her pocket. "Fuckheads." She took the joint from between her lips, holding it in her fingers, as she rested her forehead against the side of the tombstone, a sigh flowing from her lips against the cool stone. "It's like you're the only one I can talk to", she murmured, letting her eyes drift closed. "Mama and papa -- couldn't talk to 'em anyway, but if I could, they'd just always be too busy with work and stuff, like they always are, even when I try to talk to them about anything else." Her eyes remaining closed, a relaxed expression on her face, she put the joint back between her lips, taking a drag. "You're the only one who could ever understand. Maybe Gideon -- Was so great when we hung out, the four of us --" She gave a little chuckle. "He always got us booze and drugs and drove us around and whatever we needed... It's like he really understood us, even if we were a lot younger, wasn't it?" Her face slowly drew into a frown as the tombstone stayed silent. "He's in the US now, just like he is..." she said, a bit of pain momentarily flashing thru her expression, but she took a few quick drags from the joint, her face relaxing, her eyes staring into the distance but not registering anything as she rested her cheek against the side of the tombstone. "The four of us... I'm the only one left, and there's nobody else left, and I'm --" She hesitated a moment, and then bit her lip, avoiding the next word. Sniffling a bit, she rubbed her fingers over one eye briefly. "Wonder if I died, if anyone would notice..." "I would notice." Her eyes snapped wide open in startlement, and she glanced towards the voice. A man was standing in the shadows underneath a group of trees a few dozen feet away, his trench coat fluttering in the wind blowing thru the cemetary. "You", Luciana Sandoval whispered with a constricted throat.