Recap:

A crash was heard, catching both of their attention. They broke apart from each other, alert and trying to find the origin of the sound. Another crash. They both looked at each other with the same realization.

"Shizuo!"

The couple had sped off in the direction of the said blond. When they reached the door, Shinra threw it open with great strength in panic. "Shizuo? Shizuo!"

Darkness surrounded him. The cold pricked at his bare skin while he groggily tried to regain his senses. He stirred in his sleep, turning his head this way and that, as if trying to shake whatever thought was clawing at his mind. His face was nearly as white as his knuckles gripping the blank sheets covering his body. Small, quiet groans grew louder and more painful, accompanied by a small chorus of "No, stop it. Shut up." It was a never ending cycle. Though, whatever thought was occupying Shizuo's mind had apparently hit a very sensitive nerve, because he jolted upright into a sitting position, his hand accidentally smashing against the tray full of scalpels, scissors, and other surgical tools, sending the small desk holding it up down to the ground, reduced to cracked pieces of the structure it had been before. The small, sharp objects performed a small tinkling of symphonies as they clattered to the ground. Beads of sweat rolled down the blond's forehead and cheeks, dripping on the soft fabric giving him warmth, but he made no move to dry either. All he seemed to be concentrated on was to even out his breath as he was panting for more air. Even after his lungs received the much needed oxygen, his body was still trembling, however, his fists more so than anything else, gripping the sheets with such strength that it was soon slowly being dyed red.

Whatever seemed to be aggravating him still lingered, because his refrain of denial picked up once more, albeit more reticent. It seemed to continue even as he gripped the sides of his head with his hands harshly, staining his bleached blond locks blood red, along with the bandages tucked neatly underneath them. Just then, it was as if the crash had just registered in his brain, and he shifted slightly so that he could see what caused it. The misplaced tools scattered on the floor with broken pieces of what used to be a desk was more than enough evidence to convince him that he did that, and that he was a monster. A monster who couldn't control his actions or anger. In a fit of rage, he ripped out the IV drip inserted into his vein and grabbed the pole of what held the bags of unknown substance and his scarlet blood with the arm that was sporting an IV just a millisecond ago, throwing it against the wall. The equipment had supposedly been upgraded by Shinra, made for being more durable for the more 'rowdy' patients, but it snapped as easily as a skinny twig once it hit the wall. Instead of making him feel better after releasing the pent up anger and stress, it only made it worse, and he hid his face in shame, clenching his teeth so hard he felt as if he would dislocate his jaw.

Muffled sounds came from the walls behind, sending a slight shiver of surprise up his spine. But he didn't care. It was probably nothing important. Probably no one important. Who would care to come and see a beast like him? He didn't deserve anybody. Hell, he didn't even know why he was here and who would go out of their way to save him. They should have just let him d—

"Shizuo? Shizuo!"

Shinra's yelling finally got through to the blond, snapping him out of his thoughts. But it wasn't like he was responding to the doctor. Instead, it looked as if he was doing his best to ignore him, avoiding all eye contact and flinching when the brunet reached out to comfort him. Shinra hesitantly retracted his hand, biting his lower lip in nervousness. Celty came in just a few seconds before Shinra after mustering enough courage to. When she saw the look of raw hurt in the bespectacled doctor, she placed a quivering hand on his shoulder, silently trying to tell him that it was okay. It seemed to have worked when he appeared to compose himself.

"Shizuo… You're bleeding…" And indeed he was. Shizuo tilted his head down so that he could see his arm producing massive pools of blood from the spot where he tore the IV away from his flesh, while also throwing the rest of it to the wall with that same arm. Even though he stared at the concerning amount of red that painted his whole arm, he didn't give much of a reaction other than that.

The Dullahan was now typing at her personal device faster than ever. [Shizuo! What's wrong? You have to get your arm treated.]

Again, she received no apparent response. Shinra was already walking over to the blond right after he grabbed a fresh roll of bandages and alcohol wipes, gently taking Shizuo's arm into his hand before it was out of his grasp in the blink of an eye.

"Leave it. Let it bleed," was his soft murmuring reply. Shinra blinked at the odd behavior of his childhood friend.

"Bu-but you'll most likely die of blood loss, Shizuo. Not even you are invincible."

"That's the idea."

A clatter could be heard through the quiet silence that seemed to settle uncomfortably in the room. Celty's hands were held out in the air, seemingly frozen, if it were not for the visible shaking. She made no move to retrieve the PDA on the floor, out of her reach. Shinra only sighed heavily, pleading with Shizuo with his eyes.

"Please Shizuo, let's not have this discussion. Let me fix you up right awa—"

"You can't fix something that is broken beyond repair." The cold, emotionless tone was starting to scare the doctor, as it already struck fear in the Dullahan. She was secretly afraid when this day might come. She just prayed with all her heart that it wouldn't. However, it seemed that all her prayers were as empty as Shizuo was feeling.

"Shizuo, you're being unreasonable. You're not broken. I mean, sure, you got a few broken bones but that's nothing time won't fix." The underground doctor offered a small laugh as he reached out for Shizuo's arm again. It was gone before he could even make the slightest of contact, hidden at the side of the bed opposite of where Shinra was standing.

"Why are you even trying to help? It's useless."

A frown and displeasure was evident on his face as Shinra kept his cool composure. "It's not like you to be like this, Shizuo. C'mon, just let me help."

His eyes were even more pleading and desperate than his voice. So much to the point where Shizuo couldn't bear to let him stay like this, especially when he was the cause. He reluctantly gave in. This time, when Shinra reached for his arm, he didn't pull away. The cool, wet feel of the alcohol wipes were making Shizuo uncomfortable, and it showed in his expression. As Shinra kept his eyes on his work, he asked the question he had been longing to know the answer to ever since he saw the bloody debt collector at his doorstep.

"What happened?"

Shizuo's passive eyes evolved into something even more passive, if that was possible. Without hesitation, he simply answered, "I ran into Izaya. He sent a gang of thugs after me and we got into a massive fight where I slipped up and got hurt."

Shinra gritted his teeth, his brunet bangs covering his eyes as anger was rising in the man. His nails dug into Shizuo's flesh, and it took all he can to not tackle the man against the bed, not that it would probably work anyway. A man of Shizuo's strength could easily snap his neck in half with a small flick.

"Don't you dare lie to me," he muttered between clenched teeth. He knew in his mind that the blond was lying even without his gut feeling intervening with the same feeling. It wouldn't explain why Shizuo was being brainwashed with depression, or why Izaya wouldn't have at least called him to inform him that Shizuo was hurt badly, which is what the brunet knew deep down that's what either would do if they saw the other in a condition like this just laying out in the streets, no matter how much they'd deny it.

A flicker of pain wasn't enough to make Shizuo so much as even flinch, seeing as how he dealt with getting hit with a car more than twice, getting stabbed with knives, pens, you name it. But Celty knew that inside, Shizuo was crying out of pain. But of what?

She reached over to the doctor, trying to pull his hand away from the ex-bartender to show that he was harming his patient even more. When Shinra saw the five small crescent shaped marks dug deep into his arm, he immediately apologized and began cleaning the blood off of his arm again, this time with extreme gentleness.

[Shizuo, you know that you can talk to me. Tell me what's wrong.]

"There's nothing wrong, Celty." Except for me living on this planet, he added mentally.

The black-clad woman held the PDA close to her, and couldn't help but dread the feeling that Shizuo was hiding something important from her. She secretly knew what it might have been, but didn't want to believe it. Deciding to leave her friend alone for now, she restrained herself from bombarding him with questions, reminding herself that it was not going to help him or the situation, only worsen it.

"We should really call Izaya for help…" murmured the doctor softly so the two occupants couldn't hear him. Though because of the tense silence in the room, they did. And they were not happy.

Celty was about to reprimand her lover of their promise he had made to her just minutes before, but didn't get the chance because in less than a second, he was shoved to the wall. Shizuo held him up a feet above ground, partly because of his height and partly because his hands were at the doctor's throat, pressing against it. There was a dangerous, even murderous, look in the usually calm mocha eyes of the ex-bartender as he narrowed his eyes at Shinra, growling.

"Don't you dare. I don't want that flea within a ten kilometer radius near me."

Shinra couldn't even reply in anything but strangled, incoherent words thanks to the pressure being applied to his neck, which felt like it could snap at any given second. He struggled to get free from Shizuo's iron grip, kicking about but not so that he could land any hits, and trying to pry his hands from his neck, but not so that he could hurt him. His friend was in desperate need of help and in pain, and he wasn't going to make that worse. Unfortunately, the feeling didn't seem mutual. Snapping out of her slight shock, the Dullahan ran towards Shizuo, trying to loosen his grasp so that he would let the smaller man go, resorting to even using her shadows to pull him away from the other. But to no avail, Shizuo was just too strong for her; going up against Shizuo in strength was almost committing suicide. But after seeing Shinra struggling even more as Shizuo's fingers tightened, she began to lose her temper, kicking the blond in the chest and using her shadows to pin him down on the ground. For a moment, he was hard to contain, thrashing about, but soon, a clear coat of guilt covered his eyes and he began to lay still on the cold floor.

Shinra was having a coughing fit, rubbing his hands over his red marked neck with hand imprints. Celty rushed over to his side once she made sure that Shizuo wasn't going to try anything like that, trying to stop the violent coughs. After a few seconds, Shinra was back to normal, and the awkward silence enveloped the room once again. The doctor threw a look of concern towards the monster of Ikebukuro and couldn't help but crawl over to him, stopping just a few inches from his side.

"Shizuo—"

"I'm sorry, Shinra. I'm…I'm so sorry…"

"It's oka—"

"I'm so sorry…"

Shinra opened his mouth, about to say that it was okay and that he didn't have to worry about it, but closed it shut once he saw that the blond closed his eyes shut, clenching his teeth as his knuckles turned white from his harsh grip. He realized that he was no longer listening to him, and slightly wondered if he was even apologizing to him specifically. Deciding to not disturb him, he got up to fetch the alcohol wipes and bandages, and continued to finish his incomplete job.

Yay for finishing Chapter 2.

I just wanted to say that I can't believed the number of favorites and alerts for this story. So... Thank you to icywarm for reviewing! Thank you to Night Sapphire, Unknown Variable, icywarm, yuz, and Faygo-Cytosis for adding this story to your Story Alerts. Thank you to Unknown Variable, Axelyssa, DeReZzeD ArI, icywarm, LifesGoodx3, and MCRxRoxx for adding this story to your Story Favorites! Thank you to Eastern Wavelength for adding me to your Author Alerts!

Also, I just wanted to ask you guys to please commission me on deviantArt for drawings or stories. If you're even nicer, please donate points to me. Usually, I won't go begging for points but...this is a special occasion where I have to for the sake of the new group I'm modding. It's called Animalis Cafe and it's a really cool group under construction, and we're just about finished with everything and is about to open as soon as we get to turn the group to a Super Group. For more information, check out my profile -at the very bottom- for the links to my deviantArt and Commissions Journal.

Thank you.