A/N: Hello friends, and welcome to part 2! By making sure to upload part 2 in a timely manner, I meant the same day, because apparently writing is more important than sleeping.

Anyway.

Oh god, the hate. I am so sorry. Please don't hate me.

xSilentWolf- PLEASE BABY PLEASE, DON'T BE LIKE THAT.

Tahimikamaxtil- Thank you so so much!

TheBosnianWizard- PLEASE, THE HATE, I CAN'T HANDLE IT.

Okay… IF YOU CAN, please enjoy yourselves! Read, review, love me, all that good stuff.

Zed adjusted the bundle in his arms, hoping that the shadow was leading him in the right direction, doing his best to move faster, always faster. His hands were sticky and there was blood on his clothes, blood that was definitely not his, so he had to hurry…

He was at the small cottage sooner than he expected, and the relief was nearly blinding. He carefully freed one hand, knocking very loudly on the door, trying to fight back his frustration when it wasn't immediately answered. The woman who did answer was nothing like he would have expected; bronze skinned and dark haired, as far from Syndra as you could possibly get, but Zed knew he was in the right place.

He tilted the weight in his arms before she could tell him to leave, enough so that the blanket dropped away from his arms and to the ground, revealing Syndra's sickly pale face, pinched in pain.

"She's injured."

It was evident from the very fact that Zed had come to Karma at all, and the blood that was slowly beginning to stain everything. Karma looked shocked and afraid, but she held the door open, pointing Zed in the direction of what he assumed was the bedroom. He set her down on the only bed, adjusting the blankets around her before rushing out the same way he came, this time ignoring Karma at the door.

It was all he could do.

This was… dark. Everything was dark. Like shadows.

Everything was shadows.

Karma paced up and down a very dark hallway, doing her best to keep the movements silent. She had something of a routine going; walk up to the door, glance at it, walk passed the door, and repeat. She'd been doing this for hours, but no matter how much she willed the door to open, it stayed closed.

It had been so long.

Karma hadn't gotten a good night's sleep in days, but she could wait, she had to wait. It was the least she could do, because all of this… all of this worry and pain and guilt were her fault. She should have known better, she should have protected her, she should have done something.

But that was the past, and as much as Karma could dwell on it, she knew that for now, she had bigger things to worry about than what she couldn't control.

A small click saved her from her tortured thoughts, and she stopped her frantic pacing to look up at the door that was finally opening. The woman walking through the doorway looked up, smiling humorously at the now very still Karma.

"You'll wear holes in the floor."

Karma tried to laugh, but it turned into more of sob on the way out.

"Soraka."

Karma ran up to the door, trying to peer around it before Soraka gently pulled it shut. She held up a finger to silence Karma before she spoke, taking a small breath.

"I'll answer your questions, but you need to tell me something first, and it's very, very imperative that you tell the truth."

Karma bit her lip, waiting for a question she knew she couldn't answer.

"Who brought her to you?"

Soraka had those big yellow eyes fixed on her face, making it nearly impossible to do the only thing Karma had been asked not to; lie.

"I don't know."

Zed pulled away from the shadows, stepping lightly into the room illuminated only by a small candle on the bedside table. He tilted his head to the door, making sure one last time that he was alone before crossing the room and pausing by the only other piece of furniture in the room; a small, narrow bed, burdened only by the smallest bundle of blankets.

He lifted a hand, hooking a finger behind one fold of the blanket and gently pulling it away, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling in his throat when he revealed what was beneath.

There was silver hair spilled haphazardly around a very pale face, eyes cradled in bruised flesh, normally full lips pinched into a thin line. He paused for only a second before pulling the blanket down even farther, leaving it bunched up at the bottom of the bed. He moved the hand from the blanket and to the loose dress she was swathed in, pulling it very slowly over bare legs and over her hip, dropping the handful of fabric at her ribs.

As bad as it had been to see her face, this was unimaginably worse.

The flesh that stretched from just below her left ribs to the middle of her stomach was dark purple and crossed with stitches, the mark contrasting so drastically with the rest of her body it was almost easy for Zed to convince himself that it didn't belong to her.

But it did, and killed him to know that it was his fault it was there.

When Selvi had stabbed her, everything was so… surreal. He could hardly remember stabbing Selvi himself, but he vividly remembered every gruesome detail when Selvi's limp body slipped, and the hand that was still curled around his dagger pulled, kept pulling, dragging the blade across Syndra's flesh. Selvi had missed; the initial wound could have been treated so much easier, but this…

His fault.

He let his finger hover over the gash, lowering it until it was just barely ghosting across the shadowed skin, running along every inch of bruised flesh.

"Your imagination is very lacking."

Zed's hand froze, pausing over the last stitch of the wound. He lifted his eyes to the lavender ones attached to the raspy voice, allowing a very small smile to curve his lips. He moved the hand back to the dress, covering her bare skin once more and tugging the blanket up to her chin. He perched very lightly on the edge of the bed, careful not to move or touch Syndra in any way.

"What do you mean?"

Although a whisper, it made Syndra's sound weak and frail by comparison. She slid one of her hands out from underneath the blanket, maneuvering it beneath one of Zed's and smiling when his fingers curled around it in response.

"You went through all the trouble to get the dress off, and that's all you do?"

The smile transformed into that signature smirk, and it was hard for Zed to remember exactly what it was they were talking about.

"Syndra."

She closed her eyes, the simple whisper making all the pain she felt feel so small and far away.

"I needed this. To see you."

Zed moved his other hand to rest very, very gently against one of her cheeks, staying silent until she opened her eyes again.

"I can't stay long."

She laughed, a choked sound that resembled a cough more than anything.

"I know. This is you we're talking about."

It was meant as a joke, but it made the guilt eating away at him burn all the more.

"How are you feeling?"

It was a question with an obvious answer, but it was hard for him to think of something more appropriate to say.

"I'm… Okay. Soraka says there's more work for her to do, but in a week or so, I can leave."

Relief overshadowed the guilt he felt, even if for just a moment. He squeezed the hand still clutched in his own, being careful not to squeeze too hard.

"Syndra, I'm sorry."

She shook her head, pressing her free hand over the one Zed still had laying against her cheek.

"Don't. Please don't. It's over now."

And it was; Selvi would never hurt her again, he would never let anyone hurt her again, but it could never make up for what he'd done.

The light around the edges of the only curtains in the room was enough to distract him, and he tried to smile as convincingly as he could at her.

"Time to go?"

He nodded, giving her hand one last squeeze.

"I'll be back soon."

He slid off the bed, pulling one hand free to balance himself and then leaning over her, being more careful than he ever had before lowering his face and pressing his lips to hers, savoring the feeling before slipping back into the shadows that brought him here.

Syndra opened her eyes when the pressure against her lips disappeared, blinking blurry eyes at the now empty room. It should be enough that Zed had visited at all, but she would've given anything for him to be able to stay.

She snapped out of her daze when the door clicked, blinking rapidly to clear her eyes before Karma came to sit on the edge of her bed, much like Zed had earlier. Karma kept her hands in her lap, twisting the fingers around each other before speaking.

"You look better."

Syndra tried to keep a straight face and even tone.

"I feel better. Can I leave soon?"

Karma kept on twisting her fingers, not quite sure on how to phrase her answer.

"As soon as you're healed, we can't… keep you here, but Syndra… there's a problem."

Her stomach dropped; there was no way for her or anyone else to know Zed was here, he'd never let himself get caught.

"We both know who brought you to me when you were injured."

Syndra's mouth twisted. Not the problem she was thinking of, but just as worse.

"I told you, I had enough power to bring myself before I lost consciousness."

Karma shook her head, placing her twisted fingers in her lap and refusing to move them.

"You don't have to lie, Syndra. I won't tell anyone. And that's the problem."

Syndra didn't want Karma to be punished for something that was her fault, not after what she'd done for her, but short of giving Zed up, there was nothing she could do. She frowned at the lumps underneath the blanket that were her mangled body, vision blurry once more.

"Please, Karma."

She lifted one of the hands from her lap, deciding halfway through the action to drop it back into place.

"Syndra, I won't. But you may want to reconsider."

She shook her head, ignoring when the movement pulled at sore muscles.

"Karma, no. And I'm done discussing it."

She shook her head in disappointment, muttering a quick 'feel better' before rushing out of the room.

Syndra watched the door close behind her, deciding that as incredible as it sounded, the stab wound was the least of her problems.