When Shizuka awoke she was in a pitch black room, laying on a mattress with a metal collar around her throat. As she looked around the lights began to turn on slowly and they illuminated a man standing by the door to her cell.

"Good afternoon my dear." Came a voice as slippery as a buttered snake, "Did you sleep well? No headaches, nausea, or cramps?"

"Who the fuck are you?" Shizuka spat out with as much venom as she could muster.

"Ahhh. Such manners. I expected better from a lady of your status." He continued.

"What status? You don't know me and I sure as hell don't know you so what in the world are you trying to pull?" Shizuka replied angrily as she looked over the man in front of her. He was a plain man with brown eyes and blond hair. The type that she saw every day in the crowds as she walked around the malls and shops around town. A perfectly average man in every way. Except for one.

He was the same man that had captured Connall and forced him into a cage. He knew of Connall's past with the Death Watch and most importantly, he was trying to break her friend by using her. As she pieced all this together a faint stirring could be felt in her gut as her mind planned many vicious ways to kill the man in front of her.

Shizuka was more than most thought. She wasn't a great defender like Connall, she wasn't as smart as Saya or good with weapons like Kohta, Saeko, and Rei, and she wasn't a good leader like Takashi. But by God, she knew the human body. She had passed her medical classes without even trying and had read through every medical book that she could find and knew how to cure and inflict injuries that would reduce even the strongest man into a quivering wreck with less force than was needed to lift a pen.

As her mind plotted new ways to inflict pain upon this evil bastard in front of her, her stomach had other plans. Her stomach quickly began to twist into painful knots that dropped Shizuka back onto the bed clutching her stomach in pain.

"HAHAHA! That proves it! You really are a Marikawa! Oh I thought you were all dead long ago. I've wanted to use one of you for a very long time." The man cackled as he watched Shizuka writhe around in pain.

While the man was laughing at his luck and Shizuka's pain another pair of eyes opened. These a cloudy blue as the man tried to remove the cobwebs from his mind. Connall looked around as best he could and quickly discovered that he was strapped to a medical table.

"Ah good. You're awake. It'd be a pity to let the boys in while you were unconscious." A shadowy figure said from just beyond the halo of light cast by the above lamps.

"How ya been Fuckface?" Connall asked, "Whats it been 65? 70 years since I last saw you?"

"It's been 68 years!" The man screamed hoarsely as he stepped into the light. He was an elderly man with little wisps of hair on his head and large liver spots speckling his visible body parts.

"You did this to me!" He yelled as he gestured to his left leg that was apparently amputated mid-thigh. "You crippled me. You took the only thing that mattered to me. I was never allowed into the military because you crippled me! Now I can have my revenge. But alas I am too old and weak to make you suffer as you should. So instead, I'll have my associates do it for me." The man smiled wickedly as a door opened behind him and several men walked in with evil grins on their faces.

"You see when you escaped you killed many of our men."
"Oh dearie me." Connall interrupted with an extremely condescending tone, "I feel so bad."
"Oh you will. I taught each of them everything about how to inflict the maximum amount of pain while not leaving a mark. They also have the added incentive because they are related to the men that you murdered."
"If they didn't want to be dead, they shouldn't have stood between me and freedom."

With that their conversation was over as the man stepped away and the others stepped forward with various implements in their hands. As the man exited the room he left with the sound of pained grunts coming from the bound captive bringing a smile to his face.

Several weeks later

Connall awoke and was surprised to find that he wasn't in a hospital bed and with no guards or monitors for him to have to deal with. With a pained grunt he began to get out of bed until a very surprised Shizuka began to walk over.

"Connall! What are you doing? You shouldn't be awake much less moving around." Shizuka said.
"Shizuka? What are you doing here? You should be on the plane with the rest of the group. How the hell did you get here?" Connall replied.
"I'm here because you tried to sneak away. Ever since I saw that damn sign in the clinic at the military outpost a few weeks ago, I knew that you were in more trouble than you let on. Don't you remember? That's' how they got you again. They threatened me until you agreed to get in a cage."
"Shit. I knew I should've waited til take off. So why am I in this bed and with no guards? Last time this happened I turned the place into a cemetery."
"They said that you wouldn't dare endanger a friend and they put an explosive collar around my neck. If you do anything that they don't like they will kill me. I don't have the collar on now because they figure as long as they don't do anything too rash you'll be easier to handle."
"Well what do you know, an old dog can learn new tricks. So other than to keep me on a leash easier why are you still alive. What I told you is enough to get anyone killed. They don't like anyone even thinking they might exist but you're still here. And what did he mean when he said you were a Marikawa?"

"I don't know." Shizuka replied, "He said that he thought that all of us were dead and he was excited to be able to use one of us. I don't know anything else."
"Great. Neither of us know what is going on and they hold all the cards and knowledge. This is gonna be tougher than I thought."

Before they could go any further in their conversation the door at the far end of the room opened and the creep in the white suit walked through.

"Well how are you sleeping beauty? Did you have a nice nap?" He said condescendingly.

"Absolutely Francis. I had an especially nice dream of fucking your mother in the ass a while ago. If you want, I can tell you all about it later. I know how you're into those things."

"Sarcasm doesn't become you Connall. Now come, we are way behind on your experiments since your unscheduled leave and I want to catch up. Don't worry about I'm sure the guards will be happy to entertain her while you are occupied. And since you weren't present at the first meeting about the rules I'll give you the short version. Do anything we don't like and she will pay the price. If you run she dies if you refuse an order… Well there are worse things than death."

"You better not be implying what I think you are. Or they are going to need a new doctor for the tests. Along with a new base. You have my word, you don't do anything to harm her and I won't give the Company a new definition of 'Hell on Earth'." Connall replied with a low growl.

"Deal. Now come we have much to do and little time to do it in."

After Connall had left the room and the door was closed again Shizuka broke down crying. She wept for her friend and the trouble she had caused him. Because of her Connall was back in this hell and now that he had given his word he could never leave or else he would break his vow. 'But, he would only break his vow if he left or disobeyed them and they hadn't hurt her.' Shizuka thought as she dried her eyes before spending the rest of the day planning on how to cause the Company, as Connall referred to it, to think that they needed something from her and get hurt during the process.

Months later

"Don't worry Shizuka, they are just going to test my endurance and immunity today. I'll be a little weak for a couple days from the toxins and stuff but I'll be fine by the time movie night comes up." Connall said, completely misunderstanding why Shizuka was so nervous.

"Ok Connall. Long as you're sure that you won't get hurt too badly. Heh. It's weird saying that. I'm so used to saying 'Don't get hurt' It feels weird to add on 'too badly'. Shizuka replied.

"I know. You are a doctor to the bone and never want anyone to get hurt." Connall replied as he left under heavy guard.

Thousands of miles away

"THE HELL YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN'T FOUND THEM YET!?" screamed a very angry young lady, "YOU FUCKERS SAID THAT THEY'D BE BACK BEFORE I COULD SAY ANTIDISESTABLICHMENTARIANISM! I'VE HAD ENOUGH TIME TO NOT ONLY SAY IT BUT WRITE A DAMN BOOK ON IT'S ORIGINS AND MY CONNALL STILL AIN'T BACK YET!"

"Saeko calm down." Rika ordered thoroughly ignoring how possessive Saeko was of her fiancé, "They've tracked them down but with no planes and all the zombies in the way it's going to take some time."

"Time!" Saeko exclaimed, "Time! They don't have time. They've been in those bastard's clutches for months and we've done nothing." She continued at a much lower volume.

"I know but don't worry. If they wanted him dead, they would have killed him at the outpost. That coupled with the lack of bodies means that Shizuka is alive as well. They are probably just experimenting on Connall trying to get new drugs or something." Rika replied.

"How can you say that? They could be torturing him for all you know!"

"He withstood centuries of imprisonment with them. If he didn't crack, then there's no way they could crack him in a couple months. And there's no way that they are hurting Shizuka cause he's not back yet. So, that means that they are holding Shizuka and him using Shizuka to make sure he doesn't kill them all again. Now are you going to keep bitching or are you going to train for the assault that we are going on?"

"Let's go. You have much to teach me and little time to teach me in." Saeko said as she dragged Rika after her heading to the nearest training yard.

Back with Shizuka

After Connall returned from the latest batch of tests he was dropped on the couch in front of the small TV before the guards exited the room again.

"Damnit Connall." Shizuka cried, "How can long can you keep this up? You may be immortal to age but you can still be killed. Why must you push your luck this way?"

"To protect you. If I didn't do this, they would take you and use you as a test subject as well. It's better this way. I know I can handle it." Connall replied just before nodding off to sleep.

"Oh Connall." Shizuka said as she bemoaned her love's condition before falling asleep next to him as the TV droned on.

In a darkened room adjacent to the prison cell stood Francis watching as the two subjects cuddled on the couch.

"Seems I was right." He said to himself, "Well if you can't have the chicken why not go for its eggs. Activate the serum." He ordered as he watched the sleeping couple hoping that this latest test would bare better fruits than the previous iterations.

As he watched the sleeping couple several technicians began flipping switches and typing commands furiously into the computers hoping that all would go according to plan.

While they typed away at their computers tiny capsules in Connall's body released a cocktail of drugs into his system while the TV turned to a more risqué channel with the volume turned up just enough to be heard.

Connall awoke extremely groggy and was very slow in piecing together where he was as the TV played something that he couldn't hear. As he became more awake he began to notice that his body was telling him to fulfill a certain need. One of the oldest and most basic needs of all. The need to procreate. And with a beautiful maiden sleeping right next to him he didn't even have to go looking for someone.

Without conscious thought he began to strip Shizuka of her clothes as they were in the way. As he did this Shizuka woke up and upon seeing what was happening she screamed. This angered Connall and he slapped her lifting her up off the couch before going back to trying to rip off her clothes so he could scratch an itch that he had been unaware of until he had awoken.

When Shizuka finally recovered from the blow both she and Connall were naked with Connall between her legs about to take from her something that could never be replaced. Panicking she grabbed the snack dish from the small table in front of the couch and smashed it over Connall's head. With him temporarily dazed she pulled back her foot before implanting it with as much force as she could into his gut aiming for his solar plexus.

With his breathe knocked out of him and still dazed from the dish to his head Connall couldn't recover in time before Shizuka escaped his clutches and ran to the other side of the room hiding on the other side of a small table. "Connall what are doing?" She begged of him as he recovered and threw the couch away from him.

Unknown to either Shizuka or to Francis, Connall was fighting a desperate battle of his own completely unaware of what was going on in the real world.

Connall had awoken in a familiar landscape but this time instead of being clear it was very cloudy and he couldn't see anything in the distance as he could every other time. "SHADE!" Connall yelled within his own mind, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" His answer came in the form of a figure flying through the air before smashing into him.

Connall looked over the figure and the closer he looked the worse it was. Several bones were sticking through the phantoms skin and he was covered in blood and deep cuts. "What did this to you? Nothing should be able to hurt you, I mean you are a figment of my imagination how can something hurt you?" Connall asked as he tried to bandage the wounds with scraps of what used to be the shade's shirt.

"IT did."
"What do you mean IT did?" Connall replied in askance.
"I mean that you are a complete bastard. You couldn't just like one chick NOOOOOO you just had to fall in love with three of them."
"What are you talking about? I don't even love one person how can you say that I love three?"
"You really are an idiot aren't you?" The Shade asked rhetorically, "I mean that you are in love with three different women and somehow you managed to do what is supposedly impossible and awaken The Guardian without even realizing that you love someone let alone three of them."

"Fine if you're so damn smart who am I supposed to be in love with?"
"Uhhh." The shade grunted in exasperation as he waved his hand and three pictures came up with very familiar faces; Shizuka, Saeko, and Rika.
"How can I love any of them? I just met Shizuka and Saeko a week or two ago and I only just met Rika."
"Wow! You really forgot? I would've thought that the girl that kicked your ass all those years ago and sent you to the hospital with 7 broken ribs, a broken shoulder blade, and a fractured skull would've made a more lasting impression. As for Shizuka and Saeko, well, love is not only blind but apparently stupid as well." The Shade replied.

"Fine. So I might actually like them a little bit, what does that have to do with you looking like you went five rounds with Mike Tyson on steroids after fucking his wife?" Connall asked desperate to get off the subject of his love life.

"When someone like you loves someone it awakens an instinct to protect them at all costs. The form this instinct takes varies from person to person. You apparently got more of my genes than I thought and you became the second bearer of Cerberus the Hell Hound." Upon seeing the confused look on Connall's face he continued, "Cerberus is the not-so-mythical protector of Death's Gate. I became the first bearer of him long ago when I paid old skeleton face a visit. Don't ask, you don't want to know. Anyways long story short I had fallen for three women and I needed to protect them from something no one could stop so through a couple misadventures I ended up with Cerberus in me. One head to protect each girl. How you got him is a funny story actually…" The Shade was then interrupted by a loud voice from nowhere screaming for Connall to please stop because he was hurting her.

Connall immediately recognized the voice as Shizuka's and began charging around trying to find her. "STOP!" The Shade yelled, "If you want to save her you need to get to Cerberus and stop his rampage, then you need to stop yourself. Cerberus is trying to protect her but you can't protect yourself from yourself. To stop him you need to convince him that you can do it without his help. Now Go! Hurry!" The shade said and before any further words could be spoken Connall took off like a shot in the direction that the Shade had come flying from.

When Connall arrived he was greated with the sight of the biggest meanest canine that he had ever seen. Cerberus was easily 3 stories tall with pitch black fur with white flames coming from his mouth and paws. "Hey! Hey Cerberus!" Connall yelled, "Stop! I can handle this but you need to stand down!"

"Why should I believe you?" came a voice directly into Connall's mind, "Your foolishness led to our mate being hurt and I must destroy anything that hurts your mate."

"Yes. I understand but you were to only do so if I couldn't protect them myself. And with you smashing around in here I can't put my full attention on her protection. So you see, right now you are a liability not an asset. OK. Just let me protect her. Please?" Connall plead.

"You have 5 minutes. If you don't fix it by then I'm stepping in. Understood?"
"Crystal." Connall said as he faded from the landscape thinking he would be prepared for anything.

Connall had been stalking to the table that Shizuka had been hiding behind until for no observable reason he just stopped cold. Thinking that it was just a trick to get her to let her guard down Shizuka just became more highly strung than she had been previously.

Connall blearily looked around as he tried to figure out what was going on while he had been stuck conversing with dumb dumb and fluffy. When he realized that he was butt naked and in front of the object of his affections he blushed hard enough for it to be seen from space and immediately covered himself as best he could as he collapsed to the floor.

Shizuka, seeing that Connall was himself once more, rushed over to his side completely ignoring the fact that both of them were in their birthday suits. Connall looked up at her and then around at the room before asking Shizuka what had just happened.

She explained to Connall that she had awoken to him stripping her and when she had tried to get away he nearly knocked her unconscious and then continued as if nothing had happened. She continued telling him that he had nearly raped her before she had broken a bowl over his head and kicked him as hard as she could in the stomach.

Connall felt sickened that he would ever even consider doing such a thing even more so to a friend of his. But before he could even begin to apologize he felt his control slipping once more. Just like when he was younger and would lose control.

"Shizuka! Get away from me!" Connall commanded.

"What?" Shizuka asked with a confused look on her face.

"I'm losing control again." Connall grunted as he had to force back the red haze that seemed to cloud his vision, "Run to the bathroom and lock the door. Out of sight, out of mind."

"Lock the bathroom. As long as they are in the same room the drugs will force him to mate with her and then we will have an army that none can stop." Francis said as he watched from behind the one-way mirror.

"The doors locked it won't open!" Shizuka called from across the room before she rushed back to Connall, "You have to fight it. You've never let me down before and I know you can win. You just have to fight it." Shizuka said to him with tears in her eyes as she watched her love poisoned by the bastards that held her and him to do something he never wanted to do.

"I can't. Whatever this is is too strong for me. I have to… to…" Connall stopped mid-sentence as he tried to think of somewhere for her to go to be safe from him for the night while the drug wore off. But there was nowhere else that she could go that he couldn't easily get to her. Unless… "Shizuka, get away for a minute, I have an idea." Connall said with a strained voice as he held back the primal, nearly irresistible urge to just take the woman next to him.

Shizuka backed away from Connall slightly still close enough to help him in an instant if he should need her. As Connall stood up he limped slowly to the table before crushing it into pieces with a hammer fist. The tabletop nearly ceased to exist from the force of the blow as the legs snapped off forming short spears of hardwood. The chairs were next as Connall unleashed a miniscule portion of his rage upon the unfortunate pieces of furniture.

Connall collected the table and chair legs before approaching the only entrance and slamming a table leg into the door and the frame pinning the door shut until the wood was removed. He then moved to the side towards the wall and with the wall to his back he lifted up one of the pieces of wood and speared himself through the arm between the radius and ulna bones so that he could not escape. Connall repeated the process with the remaining 10 pieces of wood using the two table legs as the main shackles and the 8 chair legs to ensure that he couldn't move and break the table legs without ripping apart several arteries and veins.

Shizuka stood in shock as she watched the love of her life staple himself to the wall using spears of wood that were as thick around as her wrist if not thicker. Connall soon passed out from the pain and blood loss but Shizuka was too afraid to approach him for fear of awakening him and the monster that the Company had forced him so become. She had never felt such rage and that night something deep within the kindest heart that Connall had ever met, something snapped.

The meek shy Shizuka that he and everyone was so accustomed to was changed forever. The ones that did this would soon discover the true meaning behind 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned' not because they ignored her or hurt her. No Connall wouldn't allow them anywhere close enough to do such a thing, instead they had scorned her by hurting her beloved and nearly forcing him to rape her. And nothing and no one would get away with such a thing.

The rest of the night Shizuka sat on the bed watching Connall making sure he was still breathing and planning on how to show the Company exactly how badly they had just miscalculated.

Inside Connall's mind

"See fuzzy butt. I won. Now you listen to me, unless I directly and explicitly ask for your help you will do nothing without my express permission. Am I understood?" Connall asked as he glared at the former Guardian.

"Yes." A deep voice answered within Connall's head "But I must ask, who is the bitch? She smells much like a Marikawa; However, they were reported as extinct many years ago."

"First off, her name is Shizuka Marikawa. Secondly, I know that bitch is just your term for female but if you ever call her that again I will rip your head off and shit down your neck. Capiche?"

"Understood master. And if she is a Marikawa then you are certainly a lucky man. Few ever gain the eye of a member of that clan and even fewer catch a female's eye. Before you ask, the Marikawa's were a clan of doctors who loved peace above all else. There were some that even the mere thought of violence would cause them physical pain. They were the best doctors in the world. But the clan was supposedly wiped out many years ago during one of your people's many wars. They were wiped out by two armies because they each received intelligence that their people were ignored at the clan compound while the doctors focused only on the enemies' soldiers. Each army launched an attack and the doctors were slaughtered to a man."

"So how is she alive then?" Connall asked.

"That I do not know, but you have proven yourself an interesting, and extremely honorable man. Few would be able to catch a Marikawa's eye and even fewer would seek to stop themselves from hurting their love in the way you did. You have passed my test and I will allow you to use me as you see fit." Cerberus said with a bow of his heads.

"No. I will not use you. If you wish to be used join the Death Watch. They need all the help they can get. But if you wish to fight by my side then you can be my partner. No more, No less." Connall said as he stretched out his hand.

Cerberus leaned his center head forward and shoved it into Connall's hand while stating "Nothing would make me happier.".

"Good. Now rest up. We have much to do tomorrow after this toxin leaves my system. I just hope Shizuka will forgive me. "Connall finished in a low tone.

"She truly loves you. And if what I feel is correct, then I almost feel sorry for the poor fools that pissed her off." Cerberus replied with an evil glint in his eye.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't worry about that right now. For now, rest and recuperate, you will need your strength sooner rather than later." Cerberus finished as he lay down before Connall.

Connall looked at the Guardian with a puzzled look on his face before his body reminded him how tired it was after the events of the day. Connall shrugged figuring he could ask the mutt in the morning stepped closer to the mammoth canine before laying on one of his paws and falling into true sleep for the first time in months. One of Cerberus' heads opened a single eye before looking on Connall with a small grin and bringing his tail to blanket the immortal. "Things will definitely be more interesting from now on." He thought before he too slipped off into the arms of Morpheus.