Lalna felt his eyes snap open, a throbbing pain on the side of his head blurring his vision slightly, probably a concussion. He bolted upright, breathing quickly and heavily, felt his face for the gashes caused by the tainted scarecrow. He felt tiny indents in his skin, nothing noticeable unless you were looking for it.

He still felt the cold prick in his arm, along with a small hand on his shoulder attempting to get his attention. He shrugged it off and quickly stood, stumbling into his bedside table and pulling it over as he got up. He began raking both hands through his messy, sweat ridden hair, pacing around the room. He stumbled again and caught himself on the wall with his shoulder, just before the stairs that led further down into their home.

The scientist breath hitched and sobs began erupting from the pit of his chest, and in no time at all his face began to feel wet. He ripped the goggles off his head and tossed them aside, using both hands to cover his face as he sank to the floor in tears.

Nano watched as her mentor sank to the floor, crying his heart out. This was all her fault. She had seen what had happened to him in that world. She'd seen the fear in his eyes as he faced his worse fear. What she had seen had frightened her as well. She wasn't at all expecting to see three Lalnas in the same place, albeit, she had to assume one of them was Livid, and that the other was Lalnable.

The scarecrow was what she feared slightly more, she could see what the taint did to it, and it was never alive in the first place. It was evolving again, and this time, it wouldn't need a living host.

She had heard him scream so loud it echoed for miles, he had clamped his bare hands over his ears tight, trying to block out a noise she could not hope to hear.

It was her that had run to him, trying to shake him awake but the fear had consumed him. She had to wake him up through the real world.

Nano cautiously walked over and sat by the scientist. Only one hand was on his face now, the other was holding him up. She placed her hand on his, unintentionally making him jump, but he didn't look up.

"Lalna?" She ask softly. He didn't answer, but his sobs were quieting down.

"Lalna, are you ok?" She knew he wasn't, but she had nothing else she could think to ask him. After all, she had never seen him cry, not like this.

Lalna slowly shook his head and took a stuttering breath, removing his hand from his bright red, tear streaked face. He still wouldn't look at her, he kept his head down.

Nano gave him a sorrowful look and took his free hand that until now had sat limply on his thigh. He glanced up at her, fear- no, terror still clouding his beautiful emerald eyes. He sniffed, taking another stuttering breath before he finally spoke.

"Don- don't ever, don't you ever make me go back there again Nano, please" He rasped, swallowing new tears that threatened to fall. He clamped his eyes shut before speaking again, "It was horrible. I-I couldn't move. The screaming… Oh, the screaming in my head, I didn't think it would ever stop!" He opened his eyes again, blinking multiple times, allowing a few stray tears to run down his cheek.

"Oh, Lalna. I'm so, so terribly sorry you had to go through that! I didn't know- I didn't think that it would…." She trailed off, purposely not mention that she had seen everything. She knew that Lalna wouldn't have wanted her to see him like that, even now, he was avoiding her gaze.

Just as the scientist was about to cry again, she pulled him into a hug, squeezing him tight. She felt him tense, but gradually relax and hug her back. He nuzzled his face into her hair, the smell of her flower made it all that much a sweater scent.

After a long time, Nano slowly pulled back from the taller man and smiled. He returned a small, sheepish smile in return. His face wasn't red anymore, but his eyes were still a little bloodshot.

"Well… I guess I'd better go and fix the computer…" He said slowly, getting up as he did. They stood a moment, just looking at each other, although Lalna wouldn't hold eye contact for more than a few seconds.

Nano nodded and went to turn away, but as she did, so did Lalna. He swayed, stumbled and tripped over his own feet, landing another nasty knock to the head on the wall.

He leant against it, groaning in pain as his vision swirled with spots of light, fading to a static like state at random intervals. He shook his head, but only made it worse. His head was throbbing and every now and again, he would think he'd seen a monster right behind Nano, but was gone again when he blinked.

Nano was crouching over him, holding his head in her hands, talking to him, but he couldn't understand what she was saying. He knew why, but he couldn't form words of his own. They came out as incomprehensible drabbles.

Nano slung his arm over her shoulder and tried to heave him up, stronger than she looks, she managed to lift him up a fair ways before Lalna got himself up the rest of the way. She helped him across the room and to his bed where she pulled the covers over him and went to fetch some water and a cloth.

Livid was laughing at him, he knew that much but he was speaking also. The scientist was glad he couldn't understand it and grinned, imagining the frustration in the demons voice when he hadn't reacted the way he wanted him to.

For the next hour, Nano cared for Lalna. Dabbing his face with a wet cloth and making sure he drank water and ate a proper meal. She knew it would take possibly a day or more for him to recover, he had a pretty bad concussion. She hoped that the blows to his head would make him forget about what happened in the dream world, but when you experience fear like that, it was only a wish that you could forget.

A/N: Yea, I know. It's always Lalna :P Anyway, I gots meh plot bunnies back! They went on holiday without my permission. Naughty little things…