Time for a new story…that's always exciting. I tried to bulk up this one up wit h much more detail than I usually do…but to me it kinda looks the same. At least the plot is mostly original? Ah whatever, enjoy I guess *grumbles* lyrics are from "

The stagnant scent of formaldehyde and other chemicals hung thick and heavy in the air of one of Delilah's many hideouts. Cassian nearly suffocated as he stood in the doorway.

Had it been 2 years already? He blinked, instantly recognising the eerie yet familiar set-up in front of him. The doctor's lab, his workspace, preserved in the condition that he'd left it in. From the cold walls and stone floors, to the desk near the right wall and the metal lab table in the middle of the room, everything remained the same. Cassian took a deep breath of the chemical filled air, although he was not entirely sure that he wasn't only imagining the scent. After all, this room held many of his memories…

"doctor, wake up!" Cassian shouted and Jizabel's eyes shot open.

"What is it that you want, Cassian?" he snapped, and his assistant cringed.

"Sorry…it's just that you fell asleep over your notes again, doctor." He motioned to a pile of papers strewn on the floor next to the desk. Jizabel cleared his throat, regaining a sense of composure.

"I was merely resting my eyes, Cassian. I'll be upstairs shortly…" Cassian looked at him sternly, and Jizabel felt the need to add, "It's not your job to watch over me. Besides this work needs to get done tonight." The older of the two walked out of the room without another word.

"I beg to differ, doctor…you're going to get sick again if you keep staying up this late…" he thought to himself as he walked down the hall.

Cassian opened his eyes again to the picture in front of him. Haphazard stacks of paper still sat on the desk, threatening to spill onto the floor with the slightest movement. A few jars of hall-knows-what still lined the shelves

The silvery array of medical instruments that the doctor constantly kept near him were on a metal tray next to the lab table. The only one missing was a plain, sharpened scalpel. Cassian's stomach tightened, for that was the same blade that the doctor had used to slice his own throat with.

Other than the layers of dust that had gathered, and the cobwebs in the corners, nothing had changed…and yet, everything was different. Something was missing without Jizabel there…

Cassian had returned an hour or so later. He shivered, pulling the robe he had on tighter around his small shoulders. The candle on the doctor's desk had nearly burned itself out. Of course, the doctor himself had fallen asleep again. He trembled slightly in the cold air of the laboratory. Cassian shook his head, and smiled a little before walking into the room. Jizabel stirred as his assistant's footsteps approached. Gently, Cassian draped a blanket that he had grabbed from his own bedroom around the doctor's shoulders. Jizabel smiled a little and muttered something in his sleep. It was then that Cassian realised that he'd just given his only blanket to Jizabel. He shrugged, and thought to himself,

"Oh well…I don't mind being cold tonight."

Cassian half-hoped that he'd look over at the desk again, and Jizabel would be there, completely asleep with that same small smile on his lips. Those were selfish hopes, he reminded himself. That man had suffered throughout his whole life, he deserved this freedom. Freedom from pain and reality. From everything that had been taken away from him, and the fear that had taken its place. Yes, no one deserved this freedom more than Jizabel.

His fingernails dug into his palms and the first signs of tears prickled his eyes. No human being should have had to endure so much torture. Between "punishments" by his father and nightly encounters with Cassandra (the man who's body Cassian now inhabited) his life truly was a living hell. Even Cassian had contributed to his pain by leaving him at that place, at Delilah, all alone. Guilt washed over him briefly, as the same question that had plagued his mind since the day Jizabel died repeated itself.

"What if I had been there sooner?" He shook the thought from his mind and reminded himself that he could not change the past.

Cassian realised at the moment when Jizabel pulled the blade across his neck just how much the younger man meant to him. As he held his fragile body in his arms, everything came crashing down over him all at once, as Jizabel the man, the boy that he'd worked under for so long took his own life to save the life of someone he hated, someone who had never cared for him…not like Cassian did.

He turned on his heels to leave, glancing behind him once more to see if Jizabel was there. Of course, he wasn't. The doctor was gone. Dead. He would never come back…