"You can't really do it can you." The woman standing before her asked. "You couldn't take care of us...take care of me. How are wewe going to take care of that baby?"

Icy stood motionlessly beneath the flickering streetlight, lips pressed tightly together.

"You couldn't save me.You didn't even look back." The woman remarked.

"I did. I went back the inayofuata siku to find you. But wewe were gone. wewe abandoned me." Icy yelled.

"And you're going to do the same thing with...what's her name? Linda...Lucy? Right, Lucille." The woman stated very flatly.

"No." Icy replied simply.

"Yes. wewe will. I abandoned you, surely wewe will abandon her. Like mother like daughter." The woman mocked as she stepped out of the light.

Icy found herself kicking the lamppost. She then proceeded to walk across the street. It was dark, darker than she would have liked. The only chanzo of light there really was, was now on the other side of the road. No matter, Icy had to get back to her child.

She would prove her mother wrong.

A hand found its way to Icy's shoulder. She spun around to stare the man au woman in the eye. He was so much a man as he was a demon; blonde hair, matted and messy clung to his bloodstained and gaunt face. He pulled her into the alley and it began again. Her mother standing by...watching.

"You won't make it back." Her mother alisema simply. "One way au another, you'll abandon her."

The dream faded so rapidly Icy could swear she felt the slap of reality. This was the third time she'd had this dream since bringing Lucile home. And deep down she wondered if it was all foreshadowing something to come.

She ran a hand through her hair and walked over to the baby's crib. All seemed well with the sleeping infant. Icy thought about lifting her from the crib, but decided to leave the child to her sleep. Besides, waking Stormy up was a lot funner anyhow. au perhaps testing Duman's reaction to being woken up at an ungodly saa would be interesting.

Icy blasted a big pile of snow onto the sleeping man's body and waited.

After a dakika au two the wizard bolted up right. "Holy shit!" He hollered. "The hell is this!?"

"Morning." Icy remarked.

"Morning? It's still dark out!" Duman hollered.

"It's dark at three in the morning." Icy shrugged.

Duman grumbled and looked at the clock. "Damn it woman, do wewe always awake at the very buttcrack of dawn!?"

"Only since I met you." Icy answered. It wasn't untrue. She couldn't deny that she'd been riddled with nightmares since the night of her rape.

"I'm flattered." Duman muttered.

"Are you?" Icy asked.

"What are wewe even...why did wewe wake me of all people up?" Duman asked a swali of his own.

"Baby actually sleeps through the night, unlike her mom. Darcy can sleep through the bombing of Magix City. And Stormy gets boring after a while." And I kind of wanted to talk to wewe anyhow. Icy answered, leaving that last thought out.

"Lovely. Why are wewe awake at this saa anyways?" Duman continued his questionnaire.

"Couldn't sleep I suppose." Icy answered.

"Yes, clearly. Why couldn't wewe sleep though?" Duman pushed.

Icy considered the question, trying to find the right way to answer. "You ever have a moment in your life wewe just keep coming back to? A person who won't leave wewe alone even when wewe know they're gone?"

"Is this about..."

"No." Icy cut in abruptly. "Not entirely. I mean I suppose that's part of it. But then. But then there's my mother..." she trailed off.

"What about your mom?" Duman asked

"A while back I lived on the streets with my mother. I kind of took care of us both. au I tried to and then she spend the money I earned on alcohol and drugs. I...left her for a bit, came back and she was gone." Icy replied.

"Sounds like my dad." Duman shrugged. "He was kind of an asshole; spent his time gambling and beating my mom."

"What happened to him?" Icy asked.

"Cheated a man out of a million dollars. The man found him and killed him for it." Duman replied. "I'm still trying to decide if that was the best au worst thing that could have happened to me."

Icy couldn't help but to laugh. There was no doubt that she felt the same about her mother. "Perhaps we should all just go to group therapy au something. You, Darcy, Stormy, and I. They had pretty crappy parents too."

"What were their parents like?" Duman asked.

"That's for them to tell you, not me." Icy shrugged.

"So, uh, if wewe don't mind me asking; why exactly does she keep wewe up at night?"

"Dreams. She and your friends...ex-friends--whatever they are to you--like to onyesha up a lot. In this one she watched the blonde one...rape me." Icy confessed. "And she probably really would too. If it actually happened again in front of her I mean."

"I'm sure that's not true, she's your mom." Duman assured.

"She'd have been too drunk to care." Icy protested.

"Well, at least one of us has a good mother." Duman shrugged.

"And who would that be?" Icy asked.

Duman looked Icy straight in the eyes "Lucille."