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She didn’t consider herself a motherly figure. She barley considered herself human. But here she was, nearly two months into this new world, the world of the FAYZ, acting like a baby-sitting for the so-called ‘Fearless Leader’.

Diana Ladris didn’t know why she stuck around to help Caine. She could have left, been with Sam and the other Townies down at Perdido. At least there the only food weren’t beans. But she didn’t. She stayed to look after, to take care of the sociopath. Why her? Why did she decide to step up and nurse him when no one else would and not just let him die, which was Drake’s idea. They still needed Caine. At least, she did. He loved her, after all, so it wasn’t hard to get out of him what she wanted. That was it. Manipulation. No other reasons. That, and Merwin. He’d surely kill her without Caine there to protect her.

After the Chunck incident, no one else dared to be around him. Diana knew he wouldn’t hurt her, even in the state he was in. Insane, crazed, mental. He was still Caine, hopelessly, desperately, in love with Diana. Besides, everyone else just wanted food, and at the moment, Drake was providing that for them, from stealing it from Perdido, of course.

Gathering up a few bottles of water, Diana made her was back to Mose’s cabin. They had just recently ‘moved’ there. No one wanted to be around Caine, fearful that they’d end up like Chuck, dead, killed by being thrown through the air, slamming into a wall, and dying from impact. Even Drake had no intentions of helping, but as said before, he wanted Caine dead.

Diana stood outside Caine’s new room, resting against the door. He hadn’t been eating much, and what he did normally came back up in a few hours, or minutes, depending on the food. Now that supplies were pretty close to being gone, she only provided him enough to live off of. Like the rest of them, he was getting skinny. Unhealthy skinny. And pale. He came back from the desert pale, though, with Pack Leader. Two months later, and he still refused to mutter a word about what took place there. He mumbled, yelled, in his sleep things Diana did not know the meanings too, but gave no definition.

From the doorway, Diana heard nothing. He must have been awake. When he slept, he dreamt, and when he dreamt, he would have nightmares. Placing the bottle waters underneath her left arm, she pushed the door open with her right, making her way inside. Not wanting to frighten Caine, she made her footsteps a bit louder than normal, trying to get his attention. He sat on the side of the bed, staring at the floor. His shirt laid where it had been since they got there, on the back of the chair near the bed. His pants on the seat. The dark cover wrapped around his wasted, covering anything Diana didn’t want to see, thankfully. Once or twice already, she walked in with the sheet off to the side. She would calmly go over to the bed and pull them up a bit, but in her mind, the image would never leave. Not that it was anything memorable.

“Caine,” she said, not expecting a response. Walking over to where he was sitting, Diana placed herself next to him. Putting one of the bottles of water on the desk, the other in her hand, she unscrewed the top, moving it closer to Caine. “You need to drink something. You’re already dehydrated.”

Nothing.

Did he even hear her? Did he know he was sitting up? More importantly, did he remember anything? Where he was? Who he was? His memory seemed short since then. Every now and then he’d remember something, like what happened back at Coates, what happened in the desert, Pack Leader, but other days, he’d just sit and stare, looking at Diana like she was a stranger. She hated that. Hated seeing Caine like this. He was so fragile now. If Drake wished to, he could easily destroy both of them. But, with Caine as unstable as he was, it would be risky.

Placing the back of her hand on Caine’s forehead, she sighed. He was still warm, but probably not sick. Sick in the terms of ill, like the cold or flu or something. Because, in other terms, Caine was truly sick.

“Caine,” she repeated, her tone irritated and louder.

The boy slowly moved his head, his eyes dull and lifeless, staring at her. He spoke no words, but looked at her in a way of longing. He either couldn’t remember who she was, or did, but couldn’t remember why she was there.

Frustrated, the fact that it had been so long and no improvements had happened with Caine, Diana stood up from the bed and sighed. “You’re pathetic, you know that?” she growled, turning to leave the room.

As soon as her weight came off the bed, something seemed to click inside Caine. His head bobbed up, trying to focus on Diana’s moving body. He opened his mouth, but no words came out at first. Pausing, he realized how dry and raw his throat was. Grabbing the water that Diana had left him, he took a few swallows before trying again.

“Where’re you going?” his voice was almost a whisper, and if any sounds louder than Diana’s footsteps would have been within a mile of the cabin, she wouldn’t have heard him.

Turning around, she shook her head. “So it talks,” By the confused look on Caine’s face, she figured he still had no idea on what was going on here.

Neither of them made any moments. Both just started at each other for a long time before Diana spoke again. Still clearly irritated, she turned back around. “This is pointless.” There was no pity in her voice, or her actions.

Caine, still out of it, in a daze of the world around him, shook his head. “No.”

Diana paused, but did not turn to face him. “What, Caine? I’m not going to stand here all day and stare at you. I have more of a life than that.” Sadly, that was a lie. She had nothing to do, no where to go, and no one to see. Besides the sick, sick boy behind her.

“Stay,” he ordered, placing his hand on the sheets next to him.

Even with her back turned to him, Diana knew where he wanted her to go. Swiftly turning around, her long, brown hair wisping around in a circle, flowing over her shoulder as she walked back to the bed, plopping herself down next to Caine. “What?” she repeated, her voice the same.

Caine said nothing. He had no answer to her simple question. All he knew was that he didn’t want her to leave. That even if they said nothing, did nothing, he wanted her to be near him. Without knowing it, he began tilting, just a bit, towards Diana, exhausted from the sleepless nights. At least, he thought they were sleepless.

Diana felt Caine press against her shoulder. She sighed. With no answer to her question, she’d normally push for a response, but not now. Not when he was like this. Grabbing him by both shoulders, she gently turned him back, vertical down the bed, and turned him under properly. Pushing him back against the mattress, she rested his head lightly on the pillow. She sat next to him, not moving from her place on the side of the bed, as he stared up at her, his dark eyes dead-looking. He wiggled a bit under the covers, probably a bit uncomfortable from the lack of moving room.

After a few more minutes of staring at each other, both very tired, Diana began to get up once again. “Get some sleep. Some actual sleep,” she ordered him. Without being an inch from the bed, Caine reached up and grabbed her arm, tugging her gently back down to a sitting pose on the bed. Looking down at the boy, Diana’s eyebrows raised. This was new.

“Don’t leave,” he said, sounding as sad and pathetic as a human being can. Diana, only a bit shocked at this request, nodded.

Nearly an hour had passed and the two never moved. They both stared at each other, Caine not looking quite focused, and Diana wanting to pass out from exhaustion. She couldn’t. Caine wanted her to stay awake with him. But why did she care so much about him? He was all she had, now, as sad as it sounds. Why else should she stay around in the FAYZ? What else was keeping her alive? The realization of this finally began to set in during the most tiring moments of her life. The insane, reckless boy who lay in front of her was her soul reason for living.

Caine finally moved, just blinking a few times, and tugged on Diana’s arm once again. He moved over a bit in the bed, giving enough room for another person to lie next to him. It took Diana a moment to realize what he was doing, but as soon as it locked in, she didn’t hessiate to fall into the empty space next to him. Keeping the covers underneath her, not wanting to share them with Caine, she curled into a small ball, facing away from him. Diana’s back touched Caine’s side. Soon enough, he rolled over, facing her back. Maybe he knew what was going on, maybe not, but she felt something wrap around her waist. An arm. Normally, she would have pushed it away, wiggled out of it. But, normally she wouldn’t be sharing a bed with Caine. Too tired and too unconcerned to care, she closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep.

After all, with everything that was happening with Caine, it wasn’t like he’d remember the first, and probably only night, she’d ’sleep’ with him.