Probably the second most standalone-ish standalone I've ever written.

Feel free to read with zero knowledge of Damned verse. You'll catch up with important info within two chapters, so… it would mean a world if you would give it a shot :)

If read as a part of Damned, it follows Here's to Us. Kinda.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

I.

…You said you'd wait forever
But I blink and the world was gone…

Snow Ghosts – And The World Was Gone

He snapped his eyes to the darkness. It was the first thing he was aware of; utter and complete darkness.

"Whoa!" female voice welcomed him, slowly lightening up the room.

Flames started licking his surroundings, faintly at first, just around the edges, creating a very blurry picture. His fingers twitched as he found a way to move them. And Jesus, his whole body was aching. It might be his usual status, but the pain usually wasn't that strong and dull at the same time, he usually didn't feel like he got hit by a truck.

He was lying on a bed. Very, very uncomfortable bed, old mattress, scratchy sheets and cheap detergent, with faded smell of antiseptics. He had a nose cannula, and an i.v. in his inner elbow. The other one was somewhat stiff, in an elastic bandage, he realized, and his knee was something and his ribs were bandaged as well and he was recognizing he obviously needed that a lot as he started categorizing the damage made to his body. It wasn't exactly soothing. It almost seemed as if he got hit by an actual truck. Or a car, not that it mattered.

The woman's breathing was faster, heart beating like crazy. She was honestly startled by something; as the image of the world got a little sharper, Matt realized that it had to be him. There was nothing and no one else who could cause that.

The sound grew louder – beeps and cries, heartbeats, breaths and voices, squeaks and clinks. The smell of antiseptics got stronger too. Matt didn't want to think what the other smells were, honestly grateful for the cannula, no matter how unpleasantly it kept pinching his nose.

It wasn't hard to figure out he was in a hospital. Listening harder, he could even tell it was Metro General. What he fucking had no idea about was why and how and when. He had no clue.

"Mr. Murdock? Can you hear me? Are you in pain?" the woman asked and Matt got a distant feeling she wasn't asking for the first time.

"Yes," he choked out, voice raspy from not using it for too long. How long was 'too long'? And. What. The. Fuck. Had. Happened.

Also, I'm blind, not deaf, thank you very much.

"Oh, I'll bring you something for that," she hurried and Matt's mind was one big question mark until he realized she thought he just answered her second question, that he confirmed he was in pain, which he was, but he definitely didn't want anything for it. Perhaps the i.v. was only with saline and before, it was with… what kind of a med was that?

Before he could stop her, the door to his room opened and he quickly focused on the person coming in, hoping they would explain more than the nurse.

It was a man. And Matt knew the man very well. From the sound of his long-ish hair and breath with mint toothpaste, his not so fancy suit and cologne, to his heartbeat. He spent years and years sleeping with that heartbeat in the same dorm room.

"Foggy?" he called out silently, clearing his throat so his voice was more than a gasp. Apparently Foggy heard him, because his breath hitched and he paced to Matt's bedside, stopping abruptly in awe.

"You're awake!" he stated the obvious, astonished, laughing somewhat chokingly. "Holy fucking shit, you're actually awake, Murdock!"

The delight in his best friend's voice made him smile. "That I am," Matt admitted, trying to sit up straighter. Yeah, not such a good idea. His body felt like it wasn't even his. Matt shifted uncomfortably and the nurse finally took a hint, raising the upper part of his bed. "Thanks."

"Sure. I'll be back," she hummed, turning to Foggy. "Something's wrong with him, you ring, you understand?"

She didn't wait for his agreement, walking out of the door.

"I would have to be ringing since the moment I met him," Foggy muttered under his breath and Matt couldn't help grimacing.

"What happened?" Matt blurted out the moment the door clicked behind the woman.

Foggy's heart jumped in panic. "You don't remember?"

Matt frowned. Remember, remember…. What was the last thing he remembered? He closed his eyes as if it could help and the current picture in his head would disperse with that action. Which, of course, didn't. Closing his eyes never helped, because he wasn't using them.

He had been working a case…? Yes, he had been working from home – as usual, ever since the Nelson and Murdock had fallen apart – and… and what? There was nothing he could remember next. That could not be good.

"Jesus, Matt. This can't be good. You… you were in an accident," Foggy said cautiously, slowly, as if he was afraid of Matt's reaction.

Accident? What kind of an accident? Was it something they made up? An excuse for his injury he had gained as Daredevil? An injury he didn't remember getting?

"I don't-" he let out finally, feeling absolutely helpless. Remember, Matthew, remember. Use your brain dammit!

"Car accident," Foggy chuckled humourlessly. "You just can't stop being the hero, can you?"

Car accident? That actually did sound like something they had made up. In fact, old injuries he detected in late state of healing even matched the story. So there was a thin chance he had gotten hit by a car. But being a hero?

What?

"You were coming from your lunch date-"

Soft sound of her rather short hair, still growing to the right length, the one he loved, now barely brushing her shoulders, caressing her cheekbones. Her laugh; she always laughed at his jokes, no matter how stupid they were, and the flutter of her heartbeat telling him she meant it, that she was happy. Tiny tinkling of her charm, the one he gave her and she never put it away unless she was in their gym. Her body leaning to his, as she was pretending to lead him down the street. Light scent of vanilla and coconut and faint tones of coffee enwrapping him, and him on her, as he kissed her cheek. Her breath hitching, her heart skipping a beat, one painful beat he would die for, when she registered the car the same moment as him.

Vera.

Christ, he had gotten hit by a car and Vera had been with him.

"Is she alright?" Matt burst out, sitting up hastily.

Foggy seemed startled by the sudden movement – Matt's body as well. But shit, they had gotten hit by a car. And in this room, he could smell antiseptics, he could smell very faintly some perfume he couldn't identify, but not her. She would visit him, maybe not every day, but he would be able to smell her anyway, wouldn't he? So why didn't he?! Something cold squeezed his heart, making his breathing difficult.

"Foggy, is she alright?!"

Hand on his forearm. "Matt, calm down." Matt opened his mouth to yell at him that he would fucking not calm down. "She's fine."

Foggy's furious but steady heartbeat was loud in his ears and he inhaled shakily, releasing the breath very slowly. Foggy wasn't lying. She was alright. Matt fell back to the scratchy covers, feeling he could breathe again.

"She had just bruises, few scratches. She said you practically served as her personal human shield. You really like her, huh?"

Matt hoped the look he sent in Foggy's general direction was as exasperated and incredulous as he attempted. "Yeah, I would think that's rather obvious for a while now, Fog."

Matt had no idea where Vera was now, and he would ask, but the most important info he had already gotten. She was fine. One would say she might even be so fine a blind man could see it.

And as he was relaxing, he was realizing other things. Like the fact Foggy was here. He sure didn't have to be, but he was. Their friendship suffered from past secrets and lies, but they were still friends. The realization made him smile, something warm spreading in his chest.

"You're beaming, Matty-boy. Who would think Nancy Knopp would bewitch you like that…" Foggy hummed contentedly, setting all alarms bells in Matt's head off.

"Nancy Knopp?"

Foggy froze. "Yeah. Nancy Knopp. Your girlfriend. The one you saved from getting smashed on the pavement? The one we're talking about?" Matt's friend laughed nervously, his heartbeat doing funny things, his palms sweating.

Was that supposed to be a prank?

What was Foggy thinking? Matt was out of his mind, worried sick about her and Foggy was talking about someone else completely to cover a potential lie? To make fun of him? Or why?!

"Look, Foggy, I… I really don't feel like joking right now," he announced, something ugly creeping to his voice, making Foggy's body temperature rise. "So I'm gonna ask again. Is Vera alright?"

For a horrible half-minute, the room fell completely silent. Matt's expression was expectant, twisting in horror with each second that passed.

Foggy, I swear to God-

"Matt," his friend breathed weakly and Matt felt like his body got disconnected from his brain completely. No. No. NO. He saved her from a robber, he saved her when being kidnapped, she survived a freaking bullet wound and a katana wound. She had not died after getting hit by a fucking car. Something terrible tingled in his fingertips, strange numbness "Matt, what are you talking about?"

"For God's sake, Foggy!" he rasped, not quite believing he was able to speak.

For the first time, he realized Foggy was panicking, honestly scared. He was too scared to tell Matt. God, no, no, no, no. Not again.

Foggy's voice was low, barely a whisper, sounding terrified.

"Who the hell is Vera?"