They returned to the hospital, bringing Katie and Sadie with them. Geoff had called the paramedics and they had assisted in the transport of Sadie, as well as Katie's body. As Justin, Lindsey, Beth, Cody, Tyler, Geoff, and the paramedics entered, the others could sense something was wrong. Gwen moved towards them, a concerned look upon her face.

"What happened?" she asked. "Are Katie and Sadie alright?" The crushing silence that met her was not reassuring.

Justin looked at her, silent tears falling. "K-Katie's dead." he choked. "We were too late."

Gwen hung her head. "What about Sadie?" she asked, fearing the answer.

"She's alive, but only just." Cody replied, glumly. "They were both in bad shape when we found them." He hesitated a moment before continuing. "Gwen, they were raped."

"Oh, God." said Gwen. Behind them, they heard Courtney and Heather retch and Duncan swear. D.J. ran from the room, the horror of the situation to much for him to bear. A horrified silence followed, none of them able to fully process this act of Dorian's evil. They sat waiting, hoping for the nightmare to end, but it didn't. After several minutes of shocked silence Izzy finally spoke up.

"Shouldn't we move Katie?" she asked, the pain of asking obvious on her face. The others agreed. Katie's body was taken to the morgue, and they were informed that Sadie had been moved to intensive care. They would spend the rest of the night mourning the loss of another of their number, and hoping for some good news on Harold.

The next day would bring more tragedy, but not before a valiant effort was made to prevent it. Harold's condition had gotten worse during the night and it appeared there was nothing that could be done for him. "This is unacceptable!" LeShawna shouted. "How can there be nothing you can do?" She was arguing with the doctor, trying to convince him to help Harold.

"I am sorry, miss, but there is nothing that can be done." said the doctor, not looking at LeShawna.

"LeShawna, listen to me." said Harold. "I am content. I have made peace with this. If this is the path I am to walk, than I shall walk it."

"No, there must be something." said LeShawna, tears flowing down her face.

"Well, there is one procedure we could try, but it's risky." said the doctor. LeShawna looked at him hopefully. The doctor continued, "It involves removing the tumor, and then replacing it with a bit of doner brain tissue. The doner tissue must be an exact match to allow for precise cohesion between it and the patient's tissue. It is recommended the doner tissue come from someone with a high IQ, somewhere in the range of 180. There is, of course, considerable risk, and the likelihood of death or sever mental impairment is very real, for both patient and doner."

LeShawna looked at Harold and asked, "What do you think? Should we try it?" Harold agreed, and LeShawna told the others. The next challenge was finding a doner. There were only a few of them who met the qualifications; Beth, Courtney, Izzy, Heather, Cody, and Noah. It was discovered, however, that though they all met the IQ requirement, only Izzy had compatible tissue. She was the perfect doner candidate; her IQ is 188, she has tissue that is compatible with Harold's, and, amazingly, she has extra. Izzy agreed to donate and they were off.

Just before the surgery began, Owen had a conversation with Izzy. "I think you're vary brave for doing this Iz." said Owen.

"Yeah well, I'm not about to let Harold die on us." Izzy replied.

"I am worried though." said Owen. "What if something goes wrong? I almost lost you once, I can't go through that again."

"Owen relax." said Izzy. "Nothing is going to happen. It'll be fine. Harold and I will come out of this alive and then we'll celebrate with you and LeShawna."

Owen nodded, but did not respond. He respected Izzy for her confidence, but he was still unsure about this idea. He could not shake the feeling that something was going to go wrong. He couldn't figure out why though. Was it the fact that Izzy was still in a back brace due to the hit and run? Or was it the fact that she was so willing to go through with this seemingly untested procedure? Perhaps it was both. Whatever the reason there was nothing he could do. Izzy was doing it, no matter what, and Owen had to accept that. After all, he didn't want Harold to die, but he didn't want them both to die either.

Harold and Izzy were taken to the surgery ward, a place Izzy had been in before, and the procedure began. They were both put under and the surgeon began cutting into Harold's skull. A second surgeon cut into Izzy's skull and the doner sample was removed. On Harold's side, the tumor was cut free, and the doner tissue was inserted. The procedure seemed to be going fine, when suddenly Harold crashed. Seconds later, Izzy crashed as well. The doctors frantically began trying to resuscitate them, to no avail. After several tries the lead surgeon called it, pronouncing them both dead on the operating table.

Out in the waiting room, an extremely tense LeShawna sat with an even more tense Owen. Gwen, Trent, Noah, Eva, and Chef joined them, waiting in silence to know the fates of two close friends. Owen glanced at LeShawna and was about to say something when the lead surgeon entered. He had a grave, saddened look on his face. "I'm sorry." he said. "We lost them both. Izzy and Harold are dead."

A/N: Okay, so that's chapter 25 and yes, I am well aware of the fact that the surgery I portrayed here is quite unrealistic, but given the medical technology we have now anything is possible, so just roll with it, okay? It's not like I ever claimed to be a doctor, after all. Also, I like to do weird shit in my fics, so yeah, that's my explanation. I don't really no what else to say, other than if you don't like it, don't read the fic.