I should mention something: I haven't seen all the games; I've only seen walkthroughs for Under The Knife, Second Opinion, and a very small part of Under The Knife 2 (the reason for the latter being that I do not like Derek and Angie's artwork in the game [Derek looks much better with longer hair and lighter skin]), so if I make a continuity error or factual error or some other mistake, please let me know. And now, to the story! Which starts about a month after New Blood.

In a secret cave built into the mountainside behind an apartment complex on the outskirts of Angeles Bay, several large tanks, filled with a nutrient-rich liquid, gently hummed with electricity, along with countless other pieces of equipment. It looked almost like a mad scientist's lab. But the tanks were the main piece.

Suddenly, two men entered the room. They looked tired.

"Sam, you know I can't do that! They'll get suspicious!"

Sam said, "Do you have any other ideas!?"

The other man just sighed and sat down at a large desk in front of the tanks. He was a young man, appearing to be in his early thirties. He had bright, blue eyes and short, crisp, golden hair that matched nicely with his tanned skin. His oval-shaped face oddly contrasted with his muscular, powerful-looking body. He was also 7 feet, 6 inches tall.

Sam looked very similar to him, except that he looked ten years younger, had clearly Caucasian skin, was quite skinny, and was only 5' 9".

"Sam, this is IMPORTANT. I've spent far too long on this to give up."

Indeed you have. "Look, why don't we ask Marion for advice?"

The man slowly turned to glare at Sam and said, "Don't you DARE get Marion involved in this."

"All right. In that case…" Sam turned around and yelled, "Marion, I think you better get out of here."

After a few moments, he saw a little girl dart out from behind a console and rush for the door. When Sam turned back to the other man, the look on the latter's face made the former say, "Hey, she came in here on her own!"

The other man rolled his eyes and put his head on the desk. "Oh, what am I gonna do?"

Unable to think of anything helpful, Sam stayed quiet. At least, until he heard the other man crying.

Going over to comfort his brother, Sam said, "Ohhh… Rauzis…"

Rauzis didn't react as Sam hugged him. He knew that Sam hated to see him upset like this, but he also knew that Sam would never be able to truly understand him. He did appreciate Sam's efforts, though.

Sam said, "What's wrong, Rauzis? Is it mom?"

"…Yes."

"I see… Rauzis, look, I…I…"

"Sam…don't. Just...don't."

For several minutes, they stayed there, the only sounds being the humming of the tanks and Rauzis's quiet sobbing. Sam was at a total loss. He hated seeing his brother like that, but there was nothing he could do. Their mother had suddenly died three years earlier, shortly after Rauzis had officially become a surgeon. Her death had been hard on all of them, but Rauzis had been the most attached to her, and he had already lost two other family members that he loved dearly; his father and sister.

Finally, Sam said, "Rauzis, I know that now's not a good time to bring it up, but shouldn't you be getting ready to head to Hope Hospital soon?"

Rauzis dejectedly said, "Yeah... I guess I should."

He then got up and walked towards the door, his hands in his pockets and his head hanging down.

When he was gone, Sam sighed and looked at the tanks. "I wish Rauzis made you telepathic," he said. "Then maybe you could give me some advice on what to do."

There was no sort of response. Sam turned away and headed for the door.

It feels so ironic, he thought. These things were meant to bring death...and now they're going to bring life. I wonder what HE would think of this...

o~*~o

Marion ran back to her room as fast as she could. She didn't even stop to greet her mother. She was scared, and whenever she was scared, she would go to her room to calm herself down.

When she opened her door, she was greeted with the familiar sight of over a hundred drawings and paintings (mostly drawings) hanging on the wall. They were so realistic, they looked like photographs. What was truly astounding, though, was the fact that Marion had made every single one all by herself.

Marion would often have dreams of a place with enormous fields of flowers, forests that could only be described as enchanted, vibrant oceans filled with life, and, occasionally, a city with large parks, no paved roads or cars, or even pollution; to put it simply, a paradise, by the standards of both kids and adults. Upon waking up, she would draw out the scene she had dreamed about. Because she had the dreams almost every single night, she had quickly become a fantastic artist.

About 40% of the drawings\paintings had in it at least one person, who was enjoying the scene depicted in the artwork. Every person she knew (and even a few she didn't know) was in one of the drawings.

Marion turned her attention to a drawing of a man in doctor's clothing with brown hair sitting in the shade of a tree.

I know I've seen him before…but where?

o~*~o

Derek ran as fast as he could. He had to get away from the monster chasing him. It was an enormous black spider with a single white eye on top of its head and a large shield on its back with three rings of color; the inner ring was white, the middle ring was red, and the outer ring was green.

But the color of its shield wasn't important; what WAS important was that the spider was quickly catching up to Derek. He been running for so long; his lungs felt like they were burning and he felt like he was going to drop dead from exhaustion. The only thing that prevented him from losing his will were two invisible voices inside him that urged him to keep running. He didn't know where they were coming from or why they were telling him to keep running, but he didn't really care. He felt he could trust them, and right now, that was good enough for him.

…Suddenly his foot slipped out from under him, and he landed hard on the ground. Before he could even try to get up, the spider leapt onto his back. He felt the spider's claws carve into his back; the fact that he wasn't wearing any clothes only made it easier for the spider. Derek felt an enormous, dulling pain ripple through him as the spider made it through his back and into his organs. The pain faded as he blacked out, but the voices didn't; they actually got louder. It wasn't long before he could make out what they were saying and what they sounded like.

Wake up! Please, wake up!

Please, you can't do this to us! We're only five years old!

The instant he heard that, Derek struggled to open his eyes. Kneeling next to him were two young children. His vision was extremely blurred, but he could still just barely make out their faces. One child had a pink shirt with large yellow flowers, and had a headband in her long, yellow hair. The other child had a light blue shirt and brown hair. He was also crying.

The child put its hand under Derek's head and said, "Please…don't die…" …The child was a little boy.

o~*~o

Derek awoke with a jolt. He was staring at the ceiling. The whole thing had been just a dream. He put his hand on his forehead and groaned as he sat up. He had a terrible headache.

What on earth was that dream about? What exactly was that thing? And who were those children?

As he put on his glasses and got out of bed, he felt a sudden, sharp pain go through his chest. Derek froze, alarmed. The pain left as quickly as it had come, but Derek's fear didn't. The last time he had felt pain like that was when he had been infected with GUILT.

Whatever had caused it wasn't affecting his breathing or pulse, though, so he decided to take some aspirin for his headache and got ready to head for work.

He made a mental note to get checked out if the chest pains came back.

Author's note:…This is a lot better than my first attempt at this!

Characters (introduced in this chapter):

Rauzis, Age 29; Well-known for his warm and compassionate personality, Dr. Rauzis completed his residency at Hope Hospital and has been a surgeon there for the past three years. He hopes to be able to transfer to Caduceus someday.

Samuel, Age 25; Rauzis's younger brother, he has lived with him since the death of their mother three years ago. He has a bachelor's degree in psychology and once spent a summer at boot camp.

Marion, Age 7; Rauzis's daughter, she is curious about her father's work and has dreams of becoming a professional artist.

Derek Stiles, Age 36; Famous worldwide for being the one to exterminate GUILT, he was transferred to Caduceus Japan seven years ago, along with his assistant, Angela Thompson, and Caduceus USA's research director, Victor Niguel, to help break down the stigma surrounding the Healing Touch. He hopes to be transferred back soon.

I think that's all I wanted to say…