Darkness. For what looked like almost an eternity, that was all Shiro had known; pure and silent darkness. She had been drifting endlessly within it, like a bottle thrown in the ocean by the last survivor of a sunken boat, carrying his message for help, but forever doomed to roam the seas without ever meeting the earth. But then, suddenly, and without a single clue on how it happened, Shiro awoke within the dark void for the first time after only God knows how long.

"Where... where am I? Why is it... so dark? What happened?" Shiro asked herself with a small voice, almost like a whisper. She would've liked an answer to her interrogations, but she'll felt so tired, she just wanted to go back to sleep. And she was just about to close her eyes and let herself slip once more into the darkness- maybe for good, this time -when all her last memories painfully came back to her: Deadman Wonderland, "Aceman" making her remember her childhood, her realizing all the horrors that she did, the ferris wheel and her fight against Ganta.

Ganta... At the thought of him, Shiro felt horrible. Her only friend, her only love, he who made all the pain she went through as a child bearable... Why did she make him suffer like that? How could she? She killed all of his friends with this accursed power, put him in prison for a crime he didn't do and turned his life into a living hell. Worst, she even tried to kill him more than once. And not just him, but tons of other people as well who did absolutely nothing to her. And why? Because of anger? Jealousy? Because she was a monster and monsters act like that? Shiro never wanted this, she never ever asked for this, to be the woodpecker with the poisoned beak. All she wanted was one simple thing: to be happy. That's all she ever asked for, to be happy and to be with Ganta.

But it was impossible and Shiro knew it. She knew that she would never know happiness and never be with Ganta ever again. She had done too many horrible things to deserve all of that. After all, Shiro was a monster. The monster called "Wretched egg" who had caused the "great Tokyo earthquake" that destroyed so many lives and caused so much pain to others, just like the woodpecker from the lullaby. And now, she was "here" in order to pay for all that she did, forever trapped inside the darkness, forever alone for all eternity. Shiro knew that was the truth.

And it was completely devastating her. To be left all alone once more and to never be able to see Ganta ever again was for Shiro a punishment worthy of hell. She just fell to her knees, bitter tears streaming down her face. She didn't want to be left all alone, not again. She didn't want to suffer such a cruel fate, but she couldn't do anything about it. She was going to be forever trapped in this prison all alone and no one was coming to save her, not even Aceman. Yet, even though it was pointless, even if Shiro knew that it wouldn't change a single thing, she managed, through her tears and pain, to pronounce those four words that she hoped from the bottom of her heart would reach the one they were addressed to: "Ganta, I am sorry."


Yukki was an ordinary nurse with nothing exceptional about her. She loved her job and was doing it perfectly. She always loved interacting with people and helping others has always been an important thing for her, so her job as a nurse was the perfect fit. Normally joyful, Yukki was feeling sad at the moment. It was because of the patient that she was now assigned to.

Exactly a month ago, the hospital had received a new patient: a young albino girl named Shiro who was in a coma. Yukki hated seeing people in a coma, she found it so cruel for them. But what was maybe even more cruel was what her new assigned patient had as well as her coma. Yukki's heart nearly stopped when she first saw the girl; the poor thing had absurdly long scars running down her arms and legs. And when she saw the two others that went all the way around her waist, practically cutting the girl in three, it didn't help at all.

But the scary thing was that those scars did not look like those that would stay after a simple wound. Those scars... They looked like the girl had been... had been cut in pieces and then brought back all together by someone with great knowledge about surgery. Worst, upon further examination, it was found that the scars had been present for about ten years. When she asked the boy who was with Shiro how she got those scars, he simply said "child abuse" with a dark grim expression. "What kind of twisted monster would do such a thing to a child?" Yukki thought with horror. She had seen injured children due to child abuse, but NEVER to this extent.

Let's mention said boy that was there when Shiro was brought in and who always came to visit her- along with seven other persons which Yukki assumed were Shiro's friends -. It was Ganta Igarashi, the famous teenager who had been falsely accused of murder and sent to the now abandoned prison Deadman Wonderland, prison which Yukki heard horrible stories about. Stories of inmates fighting each other to the death... using their blood. Just like that day, whenever the boy came to the hospital, his eyes were filled with sadness and guilt. Yukki once tried to make Ganta tell her why he was like that, but the boy refused, saying that it only concerned him. Sometimes, Yukki would hear him cry in Shiro's room when she came to tell him that the visits were over. That's exactly why Yukki hated it when people were in a coma.

Ganta came by again- he actually did so everyday -and he brought a box of candies this time. That was very sweet, but also very sad at the same time, to know that he couldn't share the box with his girlfriend. All because of that damned coma! That was so unfair! Still, Yukki needed to do her job, which consisted on taking care of Shiro until she finally woke up. And much to her surprise, as she was walking towards the albino's room, she heard whimpering coming from the inside.

Yukki immediately rushed to the door and saw Shiro tossing around on her bed, tears streaming down her face that had a look of absolute despair. She was having a nightmare! The nurse instantly got to the bed with the intention of gently shaking the albino in order to wake her from the nightmare, and from her coma in the process. But the moment Yukki made contact with her shoulders, Shiro's eyes opened up and she shut herself upward on the bed with a scream of terror, which sent Yukki falling on her back due to the surprise.

A bit dazed by the event- and the fall -, the nurse got back to all her senses the moment she heard Shiro's fast and heavy breathing. She got up to see the girl she had been assigned to for a month now sitting on the bed, trembling like a leaf with her face stained with sweat and tear marks. The poor thing, she must have had a terrifying nightmare.

"Sweetie, are you alright?" Yukki asked with a concerned voice, trying not to scare her.

Shiro didn't even hear the nurse. Still shaking from head to toe and trying to calm the rapid breathing coming from her strangely dry throat, she looked around frantically to see where she was. Just a moment ago, she was trapped inside the darkness and now she was in a room decorated with flowers, sitting on what seemed to be an hospital bed. An hospital... The idea of being in one brought a sense of dread to Shiro. She then realized that she was no longer wearing her pink and purple bodysuit, but instead a light white blouse that showed her scarred arms past her elbows. Her gaze then fell on the dialysis machine on her left, to which Shiro gave a puzzled look. It instantly turned into a look of fear when she saw that a tube starting from said device... was connected to her arm with a needle!

"Wh... what is that thing? What did it do to me? What were they doing with me? Am I... Am I back at the medical center? No, I don't want to be back! Please not that! No, no, no, NO, NO!" were Shiro's terrified and confused thoughts as her trembling right hand frantically tried to pull the needle out of her arm, only to be stopped by a mysterious hand and a voice that said "Don't touch that.".

Yukki had decided to stay quiet the whole time to let Shiro calm down from her nightmare. But she had to make herself known to the girl when she saw her trying to yank the needle out of her arm. The moment Yukki grabbed her right arm, Shiro froze and slowly looked behind at the shoulder length brown haired nurse with a scared look, still trembling. Yukki immediately softened her slightly stern gaze.

"It's alright, dear. It's only something to keep your blood clean and healthy." Yukki told the trembling girl with a soft smile, all the while softly stroking her right hand in a reassuring manner.

Reassured a little, Shiro tried to reply something, but all she could produce was a hoarse sound quickly followed by coughing. Yukki placed her hands on Shiro's shoulders when the latter had brought her own to her neck.

"Whoa, easy, easy there. Just try to breathe slowly." said the nurse to the young albino who tried to stop coughing. Following her advice, Shiro regained control over her breathing pretty quickly. She then gave the nurse a little smile of gratitude, to which Yukki replied with a smile as well.

"Alright. Wait here, I'll get you a glass of water and something to clean your face." said the nurse as she made her way to the drawers in the room, only to then turn back to Shiro and say: "Oh, I almost forgot my manners. My name is Yukki."

Shiro nodded to show that she understood and also touched her face to realize that it was wet. As Yukki went to pick different things out of the drawers and prepared a glass of water, Shiro was thinking about her current situation. She couldn't be at the medical center. First, there weren't nurses back there and the doctors never treated Shiro this nicely, except maybe Sorae. Then, if she was in an hospital, she could only hope that the people there would be nice to her like Yukki.

At the same moment, Yukki came back with a glass of water that she handed to Shiro who drank it eagerly, the cold liquid soothing her sore throat.

"Thank you." said Shiro, who felt like it's been an eternity since she last spoke.

"You're welcome. And you have a really lovely voice." replied Yukki with a smile. Turning slightly pink at the compliment, Shiro thanked her with a little nod.

Yukki then went to dip a small towel into a bowl filled with warm water to wash Shiro's face. The albino took the opportunity to ask the nurse one of her interrogations.

"Um... Yukki..san?" Shiro asked uncertain and not really used with using the honorifics. It still got the nurse's attention so she pursued.

"How... How did I get here?"

"It was your boyfriend Ganta who called us. He was with you when you were transported." the nurse answered.

Did Shiro hear it right? Her boyfriend Ganta? As in Ganta Igarashi? Ganta had called the hospital so that they could take care of her and even stayed with her when they brought her in? It made Shiro grow a warm smile, but it disappeared when a terrifying memory came back at full force: the darkness. The horrible thoughts of never seeing Ganta ever again, being trapped all alone forever and never knowing happiness took once more a cold hold on her.

Yukki was just done with dipping her towel in the bowl when she heard Shiro's whimpering and sniffling. She looked up and saw the albino holding her trembling figure in her arms, her eyes shut tight pouring with tears and her bottom lip quivering.

"Hey, hey, hey what's wrong?" asked the nurse with concern, putting a hand on the crying girl's shoulder.

"I-I w-was sure th-that I'd n-nev, never s-see h-him ag-again. Th-that I'd b-b, be all al-al, alone for-forev, forever." Shiro answered in between hiccups, crying even more.

Understanding that she spoke about her nightmare, Yukki gently took Shiro into a warm hug, telling her that it had just been a bad dream and that everything was fine. Shiro really appreciated the hug from Yukki, but if she really wanted to be hugged by someone, it would be by a certain raven haired boy who conquered her heart.

"Ganta..." she simply said, still crying.

"You want to see him, don't you? No problem, I can call him whenever you want." the Nurse replied kindly.

Shiro froze for a second when she heard that and then looked at Yukki with teary eyes filled with hope.

"R...really?" she hopefully asked, a smile slowly growing on her face.

"Yes, really. He comes here everyday to see you. He even brought you that box of candies today and he drew something on your hand as well." she said, pointing both the box and Shiro's right palm.

When Shiro saw the drawing, the mark of Ganta on her right palm, it made her remember the events after their fight, events that her pain and sadness had pushed aside. After telling him that all she wanted was to be happy, Ganta had drawn his mark on her hand and said that she was his, no matter if he never forgave her of if she never forgave herself. Just seeing this mark filled Shiro with the biggest happiness ever. This mark alone ment so much for her. It proved that Ganta loved her even after everything and that her deepest wishes would become true.

So, with eyes now sparkling with tears of pure joy, she looked up once more at the nurse and told her: "Please, make him come."