Siren: Holo, readers of J&D fics! We have returned.

Muse: Yaaay! Disclaimer!

(poof) Random Milkshake: Sirens & Muses don't own J&D!

Siren: Ooh, I love milkshakes! Come here so I can drink you!

Random Milkshake: No! Back, fiend! I am strawberry!

Siren: Aw...allergies suck.

Muse: Yes, yes, we all know it's such a hassle for you to avoid anaphylactic shock. Review please!

The worst part of Damas' injury wasn't the goose egg right above his temple. It was the sting to his pride that hurt the most. He'd just finished retelling his tale for Mattie, who was trying hard to stifle his laughter. The two were sitting on the roof, with Damas pressing an ice pack to his injury.

"I don't understand why she was such a bitch to me," Damas grumbled. "I had the spot first."

"I can't believe you got into a pissing contest with a girl…and lost." The dam burst, and Mattie let out a shout of laughter. "I mean, really. I've lost all respect for you as a man."

Damas, who was used to Mattie's smart remarks, punched him in the shoulder. "She was just so…aggravating. So stubborn, so…hard headed."

"You do know you're describing yourself, right?" Mattie leapt up suddenly and quickly straightened his clothes. "Damn, I forgot. I'll see you later." With that, he clambered back through the window and disappeared.

Damas was used to Mattie spontaneously leaving like this. He would often bolt away mid-conversation and reappear a few hours later, taking it back up like nothing had happened. Damas was curious about where he went, but Mattie always dodged the question, so he stopped asking. It was simply a private matter, a boundary that Damas didn't cross.

The boys had always had a unique relationship. Mattie's father, a soldier, had died when Mattie was only a few months old, leaving him an orphan. Mattie was raised by the servants, and when he was old enough, trained to be Damas' personal servant. Damas didn't really have much use for a personal servant, so instead he spent his time simply hanging out on the roof with him. Over time, the two became inseparable; it was common to see Damas in the kitchen, sitting on the counter while Mattie went about his work.

When they got to school-age, Mattie went to the local public school, while Damas had specialized teachings from a private tutor. Every day, Mattie would come back with stories that sounded like far-fetched adventures in a storybook.

In middle school, Mattie came home with tales of gossip and girls, parties and laughter. Damas, meanwhile, simply listened, enthralled. He had no stories to share. In high school, Mattie discovered the bars around Haven City and spent his time partying and drinking. Damas, meanwhile, met the parents of the girl who he had been engaged to since he was six. His life began to feel more and more stifling as Mattie's got more interesting.

Damas sighed and climbed through his window, flopping on the bed. His head was pounding; he needed sleep. It had been a long day.

"Rise up against this injustice!" Damas rolled over and groaned, shielding his eyes from the light streaming in. There was the sound of a crowd roaring their approval from below him. Sleepily, he rolled out of bed and stumbled to the window.

"Now is the time for change!" a familiar voice was shouting. "How long will we stand by and watch while our fellow beings are degraded, humiliated, and executed?" A roar of excitement rose up.

"What the hell…?" Damas rubbed his eyes. All he could see was a mass of people surrounding one individual, who was standing what looked like box. His stomach dropped.

"Damas, wake your lazy ass up, you gotta see this!" Mattie burst into the room, leapt over the bed, and landed on his feet beside his friend. "Oh, good, you're up. Are you seeing this?"

"Yeah," Damas said. "Mattie, that's-"

"She's been going at it for an hour now, but nobody was interested until she started badmouthing King Roma," Mattie interrupted excitedly. "To be honest, I don't think half those people know what she's talking about."

"Mattie," Damas said urgently. Mattie ignored him.

"I'm waiting to see if it turns into a riot, or if she's arrested first," he said, squinting to see out the window.

"Mattie! That's Alleene!" Damas yelled. Mattie raised an eyebrow. "The girl from the library. The one who kicked me!"

"Whoa!" Mattie pressed his face closer to the glass. "That's your girlfriend?"

"Yeah, tha-she's not my girlfriend!" Damas shot him a look. "What part of 'kicking me in the face' gave you that idea?"

"Look!" Both boys stared down as Alleene resumed her speech.

"As long as our king supports slavery, slavery will continue to exist! Speak out against such cruel tactics! The harm of another living creature cannot and will not be condoned by the citizens of Haven City!" The crowd gave another cheer.

"I can't see her that well," Mattie said. "Come on, let's go out on the roof."

Both boys climbed out into the warm morning sun and stared down at the crowd below, which was slowly getting bigger. They were still unable to make out her face clearly, but her voice was louder.

"Lurkers have the same rights as you and I do, my friends! Let's do our part to rid the city of this vile practice before it becomes engrained in our society any further. Free the Lurkers!"

A chant of "Free the Lurkers" rose up from the crowd. Over the noise, another voice was becoming clearer.

"You must disperse, or you will all be arrested!" Damas leaned further over the edge of the roof to see a group of City Guards trying to muscle their way through the crowd, to no avail.

"And now the king sends his goons to try to silence us! But you cannot silence justice, nor can you stop change!" Another roar of approval from the crowd.

"She's good," Mattie said, impressed.

"You are inciting a violent act! Please disperse, or we will arrest you!" The guards were now being beaten back by the crowd.

"I am inciting truth, and hope, and knowledge! I am enlightening the people to the cruel, heartless way we treat our brethren! Violence is not our prerogative!" Alleene restarted the chant, clapping her hands with each syllable. "Free the Lurker! Free the Lurkers!"

"She's got quite a mouth on her, doesn't she?" Mattie said slyly. "It's sort of…sexy. In an edgy way."

Damas punched him. "It's not 'sexy', it's annoying. Why does she have to organize a riot to get her point across?"

"You have to admit, though," Mattie said while the crowd grew quiet. "The girl's got spunk. Standing up like that? It takes balls."

"And here is His Highness himself!" Alleene shouted. The crowd answered with a loud chorus of jeers. "The man behind the palace! Tell me, to what do we owe your illustrious company, King Roma?" she said, sarcasm dripping in her voice.

"Precursors! Your dad's down there!" Mattie and Damas both leaned over the edge further to get a good look. Indeed, Roma was standing with the guards, drawn up to his full height in indignation. The crowd had grown quiet after their outburst, so Roma's voice rang loud and clear.

"I'll give you one chance, girl. Step down and disperse this crowd, or I'll have you arrested."

"You can't arrest all of us!" she said venomously. "Your prisons are full enough already!"

"Silence! I will not be spoken to like that," Roma roared. "You, miss, are out of line!"

"No, you're out of line!" Alleene shot back. "You preach that Haven City is a safe place, a good place, and that equality reigns. Yet you not only condone, but encourage the enslavement of an entire group! How can you ignore justice and morality and be so blatantly cruel? You, sir, are no king."

The crowd didn't cheer for her speech this time. Instead, they watched as Roma snapped his fingers and pointed the guards forward. "You, little girl," he said triumphantly, "are going to be taught a hard lesson about respect. The prisons can take one more deviant."

"You're a joke!" she yelled, jumping off her box and heading towards him. "Jail time doesn't scare me, and it doesn't scare anyone else here!" She gestured to the crowd behind her, some of which looked quite scared. "These walls are as much a prison as the real one. Our city, the slums, the stadium, even your palace is a prison! It's just a little prettier than most."

"Young lady, what do you have to say for yourself?" Roma asked angrily, leaning down to see her eye-to-eye.

"For myself? Nothing. For you? Go to hell." She spit in his face. At once, the guards had grabbed her and handcuffed her. "A tyrant!" she continued screaming. "You silence those you deem a threat to your stability! But the people of Haven won't stand by and do nothing. You will get your just deserts, Roma, believe you me. Your grand palace will crumble on you!"

Alleene's yelling kept on until she was thrown roughly into a buggy and driven away. The crowd disappeared, filtering back into the mass of people milling around. Roma and the rest of the guards left, presumably back to the palace. All that was left of Alleene's demonstration was the box she'd been standing on.

Mattie whistled. "Damn. Smart, tough, and beautiful. Sounds like you hit the trifecta."

"I didn't 'hit' anything," Damas said as they climbed back inside. "In fact, I want nothing to do with her. She's too…wavy."

"Wavy?" Mattie gave him a sideways glance. "What does that mean?"

"You know, she makes waves wherever she goes. Wavy." Damas made an indecipherable hand motion.

"Yeah, that made sense." Mattie rolled his eyes. "I think we should go see her."

"What? You mean visit the prison?" Damas grabbed an outfit out of his closet. "Why?"

"Well, I think she's…pretty cool. I mean, she just single-handedly started a revolt against slavery. Talk about ambition."

"I don't get it," Damas complained as he got dressed. "What's the big deal about Lurkers being used as slaves?"

"…You don't think slavery is wrong?" Mattie asked, surprised.

"It's not that. I just...never gave it that much thought before." He yanked his shirt over his head to see Mattie giving him a strange look. "What's with that face?"

"No," Mattie mused. "No, I guess you wouldn't think about it."

"What does that mean?"

Mattie hopped up on the bed and leaned back. "Well, you've never been a servant. You've never been at someone's beck and call; you've never faced beatings for inferior work. You're a prince, and you always will be."

The room was still for a few seconds as Damas let that sink in. Mattie didn't sound angry or bitter, but there was a hard tone in his voice that sounded…strange. Foreign, as if it hadn't come from the mouth of a young, carefree teenager. Finally, Mattie cleared his throat.

"So, we gonna visit her, or not?"

"Yeah." Damas slid on his jacket and Mattie stood up. "Let's go."