A/N: I promise chapter four of BCBP is coming. It's just a little, um, delayed. I've been seriously sick lately, and getting through school is taking up all of the precious energy my body isn't using to get better. Seriously, I think my school caught the plague. Or maybe the lunch ladies are trying to poison us, 'cuz everybody's sick, but still coming to school. The only people skipping are the lucky few that are still healthy and wish to remain that way.

So, anyway, it's kind of hard to focus, thus I find myself only able to write random 'shots, my specialty. Plus, there's been a surge of TrainxEve fics lately, and I want to keep that going! There's not enough fluff for this couple to stuff a pillow! But that's changing, oh yes it is! Mwhahahaha…

Disclaimer: I don't own Black Cat…yet. But when I do, you LeonxEve supporters will be SORRY! But not even half as sorry as TrainxCreed shippers! *evil cackle*

~Make the Pain Stop~

MANGA-VERSE!

Eve couldn't see, or even feel. The world was an endless abyss of darkness, leaving her trapped in a numbness she had never experienced before. She couldn't even feel her lungs as they took air in and out, couldn't sense her own self. She could hear, however, and the steady beeping of a heart monitor was the only hint of her whereabouts she had.

Obviously, she was in a hospital.

She couldn't figure out why, though. In her eternal state of unfeeling blackness, she couldn't even figure out which way was up and which way was down. She had never felt so helpless, and she hated it.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of a door opening, then the hum of voices.

"Here you are, sir. She's came here in critical condition, but we've stabilized her," a female voice said. A nurse, maybe?

Footsteps. A nearby chair scraping against a tile floor. The rustle of clothes as someone sat down.

A feeling of warmth abruptly broke through her numbness, enveloping what Eve guessed would be her hand. The comfort spread through her. She still couldn't feel anything else, but the single sensation was soothing, assuring her that there was a world past her current state of nothingness.

Eve decided it must be Sven. After the Apostles of the Stars were eliminated, he had developed something of a fatherly side. It wouldn't surprise her if he felt the need to hold his surrogate daughter's hand while she was comatose.

"Lil' Princess…," a male voice sighed. A voice that definitely, positively, absolutely did not belong to Sven.

Train…?

"You look pretty beat up, Princess," he said with a humorless chuckle. He sounded…depressed? That wasn't like Train at all. Concerned, Eve struggled to find some way to reach out to him, but knew it was a futile attempt. She might as well have been dead.

"I knew you'd try to catch a bounty on your own someday, but a nanotech scientist?" he questioned. What does he mean? Did I…?

No, wait. It was coming back to her. Sven had showed them the poster for a man who killed people to study them so he could develop a human-like bioweapon made of nanomachines, like her. She had been so enraged that she had left to catch the man without Sven or Train. She hadn't even told them she was leaving.

But when she got there, she found she couldn't use her nanomachines. The man had a machine or something…Ugh, it was all still so blurry…

She did remember his eyes, though, as he had backed her into a corner, scalpel in hand. Intrigued, insane, and filled with lust. Lust for learning, and…the lust Sven was determined to keep her away from. That man was so much like Doctor, Eve could hardly tell the difference.

Eve was snapped out of her thoughts when Train began to speak again. "We started searching town when we realized you were missing. We had no idea where you were, we didn't even think that you would…," Train cut himself off. "Anyway, the hospital called us around midnight, while we were still looking for you. I don't know how you got away, Princess, but someone found you in the streets and called an ambulance. You were still conscious, but barely."

Was she? She couldn't remember completely, but she could almost recall a panicking couple…the man taking out a cell phone…flashing lights and sirens…

"You passed out while you were in the ambulance. When they called, they said…they didn't…didn't think you'd make it…," he continued. His voice shook slightly. The warm feeling increased as Train tightened his hold on her hand. It was so unlike him, and that scared her. How close to death had she been?

Train fell silent, letting the beeping of the monitor fill the room. The silence was pronounced, as if he was listening to something intently. The heart monitor? Why would he listen to a heart monitor?

"You look…dead," he said bluntly, as if answering her question. "It's hard to believe you're alive in there."

Oh…

Once again Eve tried to fight her way through the darkness that engulfed her. She needed to see him, dammit! She needed to reassure him that she was okay!

It was quiet once again until Train finally said, "I know you're strong, Princess, even without your nanomachines. But you're still just thirteen, you know?"

Don't sound so worried. I'm fine!

"I was going to go beat up the guy that did this, but Sven insisted he should, 'cuz I almost killed the last person that hurt you."

Did he mean Doctor? Or Durham? Honestly, Train beat up a lot of people for her. Eve would be insulted if she didn't feel so…safe. She usually hated being protected, but with Train it felt different. Everything seemed to feel different with him.

"I was…worried," he confessed. "I mean, of course I was. But I was more concerned than I probably should've been, I guess. Maybe even more than Sven."

More warmth spread through her as his hand brushed her bangs from her forehead. But she couldn't just feel the warmth now, her numbness was fading. And the first sensation to hit her was pain. Mentally, Eve screamed in agony. It hurt so much!

She clung to the feeling of Train's hands, one still intertwined with hers and the other travelling from her forehead to cradle her cheek. She had never wanted to embrace someone as much as she did now, but she couldn't even gather the strength to open her eyes.

When he spoke again, she held onto his words like a lifeline. "I don't know why, but I feel so protective of you. Ever since Durham almost killed you, and I've only gotten more overprotective since then. It gets harder and harder to see you hurt.

"I thought I was going to go insane in that warp world. I couldn't find you, no matter how much I searched." A pause. "I felt a little like that tonight, too."

She had felt so much like she was in the warp world, too. Especially when the man was about to make his first shrike with the scalpel. Back in the warp world, Eve had blindly believed Train would come save her, telling Doctor Train would come to give him some 'bad luck'. Tonight, when the scalpel cut through her flesh, she had screamed Train's name. Not Sven's, just…his.

He hadn't saved her then, but she felt like he was saving her now. The pain was so horrible; she would probably go insane if he wasn't distracting her.

Her bed shifted as Train moved his hand from her cheek to beside her head, leaning on it as he bent forward. He was so close Eve could feel his bangs brush her forehead. "Lil' Princess, you have to wake up, okay? No matter what," Train mumbled softly, pressing a light kiss to her forehead.

And then he was gone. He straightened up, pulling his hand out of her limp grasp, scooting his chair back and standing. Panic squeezed her heart, clawing at her stomach and clouding her mind as his presence started to fade. The sound of his footsteps grew fainter as he walked further and further away. He was leaving her!

"I have to go convince the doctors to transfer you to Dr. Fugimura's clinic before they realize you're healing too fast," he said, his composure slipping back into place as his voice turned casual once more. But Eve could tell it was forced.

Train! She wanted to scream. Come back!

She poured every bit of strength and willpower she had into breaking free from the darkness. She just needed to open her eyes, or move a finger, or speak! Something, anything!

The door was opening, sounds from the hall pouring into the room. No! He couldn't…he couldn't leave her! No!

"Tr-…Train…"

It was weak and barely audible, but he heard it. He was back by her bedside in an instant, before the door even shut, before she even realized she had managed to call out to him. "Lil' Princess?" he asked tentatively.

"Train…," she said again, her voice wispy and shaking. But she couldn't get enough of saying it, so she repeated it once more. "Train…" She opened her eyes slowly, squinting at the bright light above her.

"Lil' Princess!" Train called joyfully, his hands on both sides of her face as he directed her gaze from the burning light and led it to rest upon his golden orbs. "You woke up!"

He looked so relieved, yet alarm still had a hold on her. She reached towards him, weakly grabbing his wrists. "You can't…leave me…the pain, it…"

His expression turned serious immediately. "You're in pain?" he asked. He located a button on the wall and pressed it, calling a nurse. "We'll have someone bring you painkillers."

Train took another look at her eyes, glazed over with agony. Guilt and self-disgust seized him. He hadn't come to her rescue this time, and now she was paying for it. She looked so pale and fragile, wounds everywhere, blood soaking through her bandages.

Expression softening, Train sat beside her on the bed, bending down and slipping his arms underneath her back. Carefully, he hoisted her up into a sitting position, being as gentle as possible, avoiding any injuries. He pulled her onto his lap and leaned her against his chest, rubbing her back with one hand and threading the other through her hair.

"I'll make the pain stop, Princess. I promise."

Eve nodded against his chest, wrapping her arms loosely around his torso.

He already had.

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A/N: Yep, there you go. I kinda like this one, I think. I hope you do too.

I know I've already had Train all angsty over Eve getting hurt in Reminded, but that felt more like a TrainxSaya fic, yeah? And I was reading chapters 162 and 163 again and I just love how determined Train is to save Eve, and how majorly pissed off he is at the Doctor. He even shoots a Saya-lookalike to find her!

Maybe Train and Eve are a little OOC in this one, but Train is an angsty character, and he didn't know Eve could hear him. I believe that if Train truly thought he was alone in a hospital room with a person he cares about nearly dead, he would be a little angsty. And Eve? When she woke up in Dr. Fugimura's clinic after the Durham incident, she was overly concerned about a scratch on Train's cheek, remember? I think she's a bit more open and vulnerable when she's injured.

Or maybe I'm over-analyzing fictional characters. I seriously need a life XD