Hope. Something he doesn't believe in.

The two of them arrived at Alex's apartment. It was within the dark and damp alleyways in the outskirts of Death City. As it looked, the entire alley was ravaged and ruined by crimes and illness, it had survived this long. Alex's apartment door seemed to have been poorly reinforced with wood and sheets of metal as his windows were reinforced with broken down fiber glass. The exterior of the windows had metal bars lining up while the interior had dark red curtains blocking out the interior of his home. Alex unlocked the door and opened it. Within his apartment was worse. The main living room was a mess, his couch torn up, his entertainment stand was breaking down, and the ceiling fan didn't work along with the light bulbs shorting out frequently. The kitchen was somewhat covered in grime and water, due to the plumbing breaking down so often. The sink didn't work, the fridge could barely keep the contents within cold enough, and the stove would light on fire regardless of it's lowest settings. As of the bedrooms, not much could be said. It was as if he kept the bedrooms cleaned and organized as best as he could, where the rest of the house was a mess. The bathroom was small, just a sink, toilet, and bathtub, no shower head though. Alex had to take hot baths in order for his pain to be substantially reduced, the steam and warm water would sooth his nerves every so often. Yet the sink doesn't work that well since it blows up into a geyser of water, and the toilet would jam every time someone would flush. For the rest of the apartment would be a storage closet, a guest bedroom, and Alex's bedroom. for the storage closet, it would just be an assortment of cleaning utensils, hung up coats and shirts, and mainly extra supplies. It seemed fairly sized and was in the middle of the hallway that went to the back of the apartment, where the bedrooms are. For the guest bedroom, it was a normal sized bed fit for one person, along with nightstands on each end, both resting lamps on them. There were also a few books within the guest bedroom, on top of an empty dresser that never been used. The ceiling fan still works perfectly along with no windows in the room. However, the ceiling fan's lights were operated by a dial, to elevate or dim the lights to the user's setting. As for Alex's bedroom, his room was completely empty. All that was within was a bedroll, a book of strange origin and material, and printout paper that he had drawn strange symbols on. Normally, this room was locked out to anyone who would try to enter.

Beth entered the run-don apartment. Things were rushing through her head, did she honestly kne this guy well. To shame ith her, making his poor guy buy her piZZa. The streets looked far better than here he was living in. The mean Beth would call the place a piece of "sugar honey ice tea", but she took one step in and clasped her hands together. "So umm...how about I return the favor?" She said with a huge sweat drop running down the tip of her forehead.

Alex looked curiously to her, "What do you mean, Beth?" He was confused as to what she was going to offer.

With Beth's high fastanisha abilities, she put on a french maid outfit with a small duster. "I shall clean any amount of filth or speck of dirt in this place! Make no mistake about it, got it?" She said as she was standing on top of a black end table that had dusk covered from head to toe. If she was going to stay here, the place needed to be nice and tidy. In fact she might even add some of her feminine style into the place.

"Um, you don't have to clean up the place. I can do it." He said to her, just making sure she doesn't have to do anything else. Perhaps he learned too much manners, this is probably why too many people would take advantage of his hospitality.

Beth gave him the death glare. She didn't like it hen people were telling her what do especially if it was for the better. "Fine if you say so..." She said in a whinny manner as she made her way behind him. "And take a quick nap..." She said as she grabbed him by the neck and turned to the left. It was now showtime. No one could butt in so she could turn this place into a wonderful home.

First, she started with the bathroom, since he would probably be pissed for what she did, every person deserves to cool off. She grabbed a plunger and started to unclog the toilet. She noticed the pipes were clogged. After complaining to the guy that owned the place, things got a little better. She placed some bleach bathroom cleaner on a brush and started to clean those dirty spots. The place was already starting to sparkle. She even placed new soaps and fragrances on the cabinet, near the sink. She cleaned the floor and the rest of the place until it was spotless. She smiled at her work and moved to the living room.

Alex was still on the floor unconscious, but that did not stop her. She grabbed her duster and cleaned the tables, windows, everything! You could finally see the floor in the room, it was actually brown and wooden. She grabbed some lisoal to give the floor that shiny glow once again. She took a quick pick of him on the floor and printed it, to give the living room a nice portrait on the naked wall. A little bit of this, a little bit of that, and volla! Beth thought about cleaning the guest room, but it didn't seem to be in a bad condition as the others were. Beth thought about the one room she didn't go in yet, his room. That would be ruining his privacy. She shook her head and then placed the guy on the couch as she placed a homemade vanilla cake with frosting on top. She lie on the floor like nothing happened, waiting for him to get up.

Hours had passed by and the meister awakened from his slumber. He looked around and saw the entire apartment cleaned. Then he turned over to see that Beth was laying on the floor. Currently, he woke up without getting her attention, but his own attention was caught by the vanilla cake she had made for him. He smiled, no one had ever been this kind to Alex before. So he sneaked a piece of cake and set it next to Beth. "Thank you, Beth. No one has ever been this kind to me before..." A tear had fallen from his cheek, she really had struck him deep in the heart.

Beth continued to lay on the ground, her eyes were closed, but she heard his words loud andclear.It even brought a smile to her face as she squinted her eyes to see a slice of the cake she had prepared for him. "No problem..." She thought to herself.

There were no words to describe her kindness to Alex, he couldn't even think of any. Alex picked up Beth, gently, and carried her to the guest bedroom. He set her on the bed, making sure she was comfortable. "Beth, thank you." He said, hugging her. Afterwards, he let go, and set her piece of cake on the nightstand next to her. Then, Alex arose from the bed, thinking what he should do.

Beth snuggled against the pillow, until she noticed that she wasn't on the ground anymore. "What?" She questioned herself, stretching her arms in the air and yawning. She had been moved, but by who? She looked up to see Alex, that seemed to be a little puzzled by something. "So did you like it?" She asked, taking a bite from her cake.

"Huh? Oh, I didn't try the cake yet. I focused on getting you in a more comfortable spot, other than that floor." He said with a quiet tone. He felt like she should be treated like royalty.

Beth started to laugh as she sat her plat aside and sat up on the bed. "Other than the cake, I was actually talking about the apartment, did you like it?"

"I wanted to say thank you for what you did for me, honestly I don't know how I could repay you. No one has ever shown me this much kindness." He told her. Tears came down his face as he began to cry.

Beth watched as he started to cry. "Wait no...I mean it was no problem!" She said scratching the back of her head as she went over to Alex and tried her best to console him. She didn't need anymore sad moments in her life after all. "Besides it was my way of repaying you for what you did for a streetrat like me."

"Why do you call yourself a street-rat?" He asked, with more tears going down his cheek.He just wanted to help her and be nice to her.

Beeth used her fingers to move the tears from under his eyes. "That's what they call me...I steal food from merchants and live on roofs,but that doesn't matter right now. Im happy and you should be happy!"

Alex was happy, someone was being kind to him. Could Alex actually live his life again? He smiled and kept his eyes lined up to Beth's eyes, this feeling was just like when Kayla was still alive.

Beth's heart was literally throbbing in her chest. She never felt this before, even whne it came to direct contact with someone. "That's better, you are cute when you smile."

Alex kept smiling on and on, this feeling was something he didn't want to lose. But how was he to keep it? He didn't want to lose someone he cared about like how he lost Kayla to Tether. So, he needed to tell her something he'd thought he'd never have to ask in his life, "Do you want to stay here with me?"

Beth nearly died of excitement in the inside. It was like a deep dark hole was finally opening up to shine don a light into the pit. Her words were caught between her throat as she started to cry for the first time since her parents died. "Yes....of course!" She covered her face with her hands.

Alex hugged her tightly, he felt happy as well. "Well, get your stuff, since your going to move in." He said to her, happy as could be.

Beth watched as he hugged her. She shyly wrapped her arms around him and grin. "I really don't have much stuff...hahaa..."

"Well...." Alex then picked her up and took her to the living room. "Didn't you mention something about decorating the living room?" He asked her.

"Yeah, any way you want it to be." She said as she was being carried away from the guestroom. "The rent owner was very nice to change his mind about the plumbing."

"Yeah, I've been having trouble with the landlord, thank you by the way for getting him to fix the plumbing." He set her on the couch as he took another piece of cake and began to eat.