Same Difference

He couldn't stand to be away for much longer. His face, his voice, the memory of Jackie haunted him. Everything was in ruin; it was in ruin by his doing.

"…V?..."

He couldn't let Chan get away with this.

"Big V?!"

He had to come back, just to spite him.

"What are you doing here? You're bleeding!"

Valmont was on the floor, sitting on his knees. His breath was slow, but heavy. He stared at the empty room, unaware of the blood on his right sleeve.

"What did you do?" Finn carefully picked up the injured arm.

The clothing was torn, shards of glass sunk deep into his skin. And in his hand he held something, a talisman.

"You didn't!"

Valmont turned to look at the magical item with minimal interest. And without a word he dropped it. The talisman hit the ground where all could see that it was the Tiger.

"I couldn't get the rest. I had to get out before they caught me," Valmont finally spoke.

"But," Finn said, "couldn't you have broken into the case with something else besides your bare arm?"

The British man flinched at the now conscious pain when Finn tried to remove a piece of glass from the arm.

"I'll be fine," he said, pulling his arm out of the other man's grasp.

By his appearance Valmont looked like he hadn't been 'fine' in a long time. His hair had grown slightly longer and was very unkempt. And he looked as if he hadn't shaved in a week. His green suit was dirty and worn out, torn in a few places with a few seams had come undone. But his eyes, pretty blue eyes, looked like they were robbed of sleep and probably his sanity.

"Wow boss," Ratso picked up the stained talisman, "Of all the talismans you could have stolen, you got this one."

Valmont quickly snatched the item back with his uninjured arm.

"Chan will have to pry it from my dead, cold hands!"

Suddenly, the talisman lit up. The light traced the animal figures and it split into two pieces. The former henchmen were thrown off a bit by the magical force and blinding light.

"Er…boss?"

"What!"

"I think I need a doctor."

Dark Valmont began quickly removing the debris from his arm while his Light just stared at his wounds in shock.

"Woah, déjà vu," said Ratso.

The trio had no clue how to fix this problem as none of them had ever used the Tiger Talisman. Once Dark Valmont cleaned up most of his arm he got up and started to head out.

"Where are you going boss?" Chow asked, keeping his distance as he remembered how Jackie's Dark side behaved.

"None of your business."

"You're going to get the rest of the talismans," his Light said, watching him walk further away, "And…"

"And deal with Chan, for the last time."

"No, you can't do that. First of all stealing is wrong. And…"

Dark Valmont stopped at Light V's words.

"Don't you say it!" he glared back to his other side.

"You know why you can't kill Jackie," Light V's voice trembled.

"Say it and I'll kill you!" Dark Valmont started to make his way back.

"I love him."

Right at that moment Dark Valmont jumped his Light.

"Big V!"

Valmont had his other side pinned down to the ground, his left hand firmly around his Light's neck and his right hitting any and every reachable part of his body.

"I told you to shut your mouth!"

Light Valmont tried to get his Dark side off him, but his struggle to breathe took away most of his strength. And with each blow his body reflexively paused his breathing in pain. It took the effort of all three of the shocked onlookers to pry their boss off his Light side. Dark Valmont landed one final hit across his Light's face, splattering blood from his mouth onto the floor. Finn rushed over to check on Light Valmont while Chow and Ratso continued to hold Dark Valmont back.

"He's not breathing!" Finn began to panic.

"You should have left well alone!" Dark V shouted, not caring if his Light couldn't hear him.

Wiping the blood off Valmont's mouth, Finn started mouth-to-mouth. Just in a matter of seconds Light V woke up, coughing up some blood before going unconscious again. Too preoccupied in reviving his Light, Finn didn't notice at first that Dark Valmont had fought off Ratso and Chow and escaped from the building.

"Do we get him back?" Ratso asked.

"Not now!" Finn tried to pick up the taller, injured man, "We need to get this into to the hospital!"