Isas couldn't quite remember how he ended up in the hospital. All of the chaos just made everything blend together and suddenly, he was sitting in Saburo's hospital room, staring blankly at the large tube they inserted into the side of his chest and into his left lung.

'This...this isn't happening, right? Like, this is just a dream. I'm gonna wake up anytime soon, right? I just gotta wake up. Wake up, Isas! Wake up!'

"Isas-kun!" Kimi's voice rang through the halls of the hospital.

The frantic steps of the Quaran-Team echoed throughout the hallway and arrived at the hospital room. They filed in, surrounding the bed. Jumin took his place beside Isas, hugging him tightly. He immediately began to cry in his arms.

"It's okay, I'm here. We're all here." Jumin reassured.

"What happened?" Kimi asked.

"He...he got into a fight with Akito and his 'friends.' They...they set fire to his apartment with his mother inside-"

"Oh my god," Suki's hand flew over her mouth.

"She's fine, but...he just....it wasn't real. All of a sudden, he just...fell. He was so white, it...I should have done something. "

"Hey, no. Don't do that to yourself. We didn't know that it would hit him this quick. And he...he was stubborn."

"We," Jumin coughed, trying to stop himself from crying, "We can do this. We can help him. We can stop this before anything bad happens. So, you can stop crying...because you're seriously gonna make me cry if you keep at it."

Isas nodded, though his words didn't help much. There was still a heavy weight pressing down on his chest. Maybe if he had gotten there a few seconds beforehand, if he started CPR sooner and hadn't waited for the ambulance to arrive, maybe Saburo would have made it. Maybe he would have been in better shape.

Maybe he wouldn't be on the edge of death.

Isas scanned the room, noticing the surprising absence of one of their teammates. "Where's Anzu-chan?"

"We've been trying to get a hold of her all day. She hasn't responded." Kimi replied.

"You think she could be in the cathedral?" Jumin questioned.

"She has to be. That's the only place she could be at a time like this." Suki said.

"Do you think she knows?"

Suki shrugged. "I wouldn't be surprised if she had to escape. The cathedral is probably going into an attack mode by now."

"We should get going and make sure she's okay."

"I'm...I'm going to stay with Saburo. His mother should be here soon, and I don't...I don't want her to be alone while he's like this."

"Are you sure Isa?"

He nodded. "Once you've assessed the situation, could you check on Yasahiro? He hasn't been feeling well and I want to make sure he's well."

"Of course," Suki replied, "let's get going-"

"Excuse me?"

The group turned to the door. Saburo's mother, Yua, stood in the doorway, shaking. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying.

"M-Ms. Etsuko!" Kimi exclaimed.

"Sorry, we didn't mean to intrude-"

"No, no. It's...it's nice," She said wistfully, "I'm glad that...he's surrounded by his friends. I just wish the rest of them were here, too."

Isas and Jumin gave one another a look before Jumin mustered up enough courage to talk to her.

"I'm sure...I'm sure they would be but...but they must be busy. I'll-"

"You really don't have to lie to me, Jumin-kun. But, thank you for trying. I mean it. Now, if you'll excuse me I need to see if our insurance will cover for his stay."

Yua left the room. She hid her face in her coat as she past by the nurses passing through the hall.

Isas bit the inside of his cheek. "Damnit...."

"I'm sorry! I don't know how to comfort people in this situation!" Jumin exclaimed.

"No, no. It's not you. It's...it's all of this! It's Saburo, it's his mother, it's those mother fucking brats that put him in this hospital bed, it's...it's...!"

"Hey, hey!" Kimi shouted, grabbing him by the shoulders, "I get it, okay? We all get it! None of us wanted this shit to happen! You think I wanted to spend my time after-school saving the world from monsters in another world? No! In fact, I'd rather be stuck in detention than watch someone else land in the hospital because of this crap. But for some reason, the universe decided we were the right guys for the job and now, we gotta do the job. It sucks, but we can't lose it now. Not when Saburo and his mom need it most."

Isas sucked his teeth. "You're...right. I'm...sorry for my outburst."

"Don't apologize. Like I said, I get it. I went through it when you were I his place. Right now, we just have to keep our heads. Keep going until we get him back. Then, you can cry all you want. Hell, kick and scream and cry for all I care. Just...hold on. For me, for us, and for him. Okay?"

Isas nodded. Kimi smirked, pulling him into a tight hug. "Good. Great. We got this. Right, Suk?"

"R-right! We've got this!"

"Yeah! We've done this like, twice now! And we've fought hundreds of these shadows! We got this shit in the bag!"

Isas nodded. "Hell yeah we do."

"We should get going. Our time's almost up here and we need to prepare for the upcoming battle." Suki said.

"And find Anzu," Jumin added, "Did she text any of you guys?"

"Maybe we'll find her in town. Probably went to fine tune her weapons or something."

"We need to check on Yasahiro as well. See if he's feeling better."

Kimi groaned, "Jeez, why don't we just go shopping for groceries while we're at it?"

"C'mon, Kim. They're valuable members of our team-"

"So that means they're probably fine!"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that."

Haruko stood in the doorway of the hospital room, her jovial energy nonexistent.

"Haruko-san? What are you doing here?"

"And what did you do with Anzu?"

"I think it'd be in your best interest to follow me."

They all exchanged a worried glance before following Haruko out the door. Isas lingered in the doorway for a second, looking over the unconscious Saburo.

"I'll be back." He said, half expecting a response.

He didn't get one back.

-------------------------------------------

Anzu was drenched in water and bloody by the time the others made it to her. She sat at the edge of the waterfall that had spat here out like a piece of chewed gum mere minutes ago. Her weapons laid at her feet, scorched and waterlogged.

She'd failed, plain and simple. She went in with the intent to lure Saburo's Shadow out herself. She wanted to see the kind of beast he was inside. A part of her thought she knew what to expect when she entered the cathedral. She'd known him since they were children, she knew what set him off.

At least, she thought she did.

The second she stepped foot inside, the shadow appeared before her. Something was wrong with it. It was distorted. The words coming out of its mouth made no sense, she wasn't even sure if they were words to begin with.

She swore at it, screamed at it -- which wasn't the best idea-- but it didn't move. It just continued to freak out like a scratched up DVD.

She yelled at it --she didn't remember what, but it had her crying. She wasn't even half way through her rant when the shadow finally reacted to her presence and, with a fiery hand, ragdolled her across the room.

Things only became worse from there.

She sat on that edge with a raw throat, a scorched skirt, and the horrible realization that her friend was in deeper shit than she had initially thought.

And she just made it a million times worse.

Their yelling was white noise until rough hands grabbed her shoulders. Kimi's freckled face appeared inches in front of hers. Her hand cupped her cheek. Anzu brought her head up slowly until their eyes met.

"Anzu," Kimi pleaded, "Can you hear me?"

She swallowed hard, nodding. "I...I fucked up, Kim."

"No, no. You didn't fuck up," Kimi said, rubbing up and down her arms, "You didn't fuck up -"

"He's in the hospital, isn't he?" Tears started rolling down her face, "he's in the fucking hospital and about to die because of me."

"Hey, hey. Look at me. He's not going to die, okay? Yeah, you fucked up but, he's not gonna die, okay? We're not gonna let him die. Okay?"

Anzu nodded blankly. 'It's all my fault. He's going to die and it's all my fucking fault. We're going to lose him because of me.'

Suki stood at the edge, looking curiously towards the waterfall. "Do you think he'll-"

"He won't let us back in," Anzu finished for her, "Not without trying to rip us limb from limb. Told me so himself."

"Why did you go by yourself? You're strong, sure but you're not as experienced as the rest of us."

"Would we call us experienced?" Jumin said.

Isas elbowed his friend in the side.

"Seriously, why?"

Anzu bit the inside of her cheek as she slowly rose to her feet. She looked Jumin and Isas dead in the eyes. Both boys gave her a nod.

"It's a bit of a long story...one that I'm going to need a lot of help telling."

------------------

Saburo woke with a screaming headache and a feeling of rocks weighing down his chest. He felt the roughness of the carpet underneath him.

When did he get inside? And when the hell did he get a rug?

He pulled himself up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He found himself in a...church.

Why was he in a church?

Last thing he remembered, the shop -- the house, it was on fire. He saw Akito and his friends, he chased after them, and then...then everything went dark.

So how the hell did he get in a church?

He jumped at the echoing voice. He got onto his feet, whiping his head around to find the owner of the voice.

"What the fuck? Who are you? Show yourself!"

Heels clicked against the marble of the altar. Glowing yellow eyes pierced through Saburo as the figure clad in black and white came into view. A devious smirk danced across the thing's face as he stood right at center of the altar, staring right at Saburo.

Well, staring at himself was more like it.