DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R

By the time he got back to the house, Lucille felt like his arms and legs had turned into ice. And worse, he was starting to get a pretty nasty headache, reminding him of the migraine attack he had suffered a few days after he had woken up from his coma. Good thing that he still had the medication against it, but that didn't make it any less inconvenient. It was to be expected, though, after enduring so much stress and getting so exhausted. To be short; he had overexerted himself, and would almost surely pay the price for it by getting a migraine attack. Damn.

"Will you be alright from here?" the plush-animal woman asked, at the start of the small path to the front door.

"Yes." As convincing as he could manage at the moment, he smiled at her. "Thank you very much for walking along with me."

"You're welcome," she smiled back. "And I hope your friend will get better soon. Bye!"

"Bye!" he greeted back, before walking on to the door. Inside the house, he quickly closed the door behind himself and leaned against it for a moment. The warmth inside felt good against his cold body, but sadly it didn't do much good against his headache.

Letting out a deep sigh, he pushed himself away from the door and walked to the kitchen. After quickly putting the groceries where they belonged, he picked up the bag with medicines and put those in the bathroom cabinet. After about fifteen minutes, he could finally go to the bedroom with a fresh glass of water and pills against fever and pain, and one against migraine, just to be safe. As soon as he closed the door behind himself, the figure on the bed stirred and looked up at him drowsily.

"Kohaku. How are you feeling?" the blonde asked, putting down the pills onto his nightstand. "I got you some medicines."

"Do you have a headache?" the violinist asked, after a short glance at the pills. Evidently, he did feel a little bit better. "If you do, then you should go to sleep."

"I…" No, he couldn't tell his friend what happened. Not now. "Take these two, they'll cool down your fever and reduce the pain in your lungs." Giving his friends the two pills and the glass of water, he sat down onto the bed. "And yes, I do have a migraine, I think."

Quickly, Kohaku swallowed the pills. Even though he still looked pale and sick, his eyes were clear now. "What happened? You really do look bad, a beginning migraine shouldn't make you look so sick."

"N-nothing." To his own terror, he suddenly felt tears burning in his eyes. "Nothing, I'm just tired."

"Lucille…" With obvious effort, Kohaku sat up a bit more straight and placed his hand on Lucille's cheek, forcing the singer to look back at him. "Didn't we agree not to lie to each other? Please, don't put up that mask again. Whatever happened, you can tell me."

"I… I went…" Taking a shuddering breath, bowed his head to hide his face behind his hair. Probably sensing the blonde's discomfort, Kohaku allowed him to. "Near the village, I ran into one of the Queen's dogs. I had really tried to be careful but… he just was there suddenly."

"What did he say?" Kohaku asked softly, caressing the blonde's cheek. When there came no response, he asked; "What did he do?"

"R-raped me." Finally, Lucille couldn't fight back the sobs. "H-he said…that I shouldn't forget that I… I d-don't deserve happiness… And that they c-can kill it without even t-touching you or Eles." The violation itself, to his surprise, didn't hurt half as badly as what it meant in his mind. "I-I wanted you to b-be my f-first!"

"Babe…" Trembling from more than just the fever now, Kohaku pulled the frail singer into his arms and held him tightly. "I'll kill that bastard! If he ever shows his face again, I'll shoot his damned balls off!"

"That w-won't change a t-thing!" the blonde sobbed, burying his face in his friend's nightshirt.

"Lucille, I love you! He doesn't, so he only used your body. As far as I'm concerned, that doesn't count like sex! Hell, did you really think I'd love you any less because one of those fucking bastards violated you like that?" Breathing heavily, his lungs punishing him instantly for yelling, Kohaku looked at the small blonde in his arms. Unsurely, Lucille stared back, still feeling horrible. "Lucille. I love you. I'd kill for you, and I'd die for you. Whatever I can do to prove that my love you will never get any less, tell me and I'll do it. But please, don't make yourself feel so bad by doubting my love for you."

"Kohaku…" His head pounding painfully, he felt something he really didn't want to feel right now. "I feel sick…" Turning around while he said it, clumsily dropping himself off the bed to get to the nearest trashcan, he was just in time to aim into that. "S-sorry… I guess I should take that migraine pill."

"You do know you just killed my ego?" the violinist informed dryly.

"What?"

"I give half a speech about how much I love you. And in response, you throw up." Kohaku couldn't hide a grin. "Geez, you're horrible."

"Didn't do it on purpose." Carefully, Lucille stood up and walked to the bathroom to empty and clean the trashcan and his face. After going back to the bedroom and taking the medicine, he quietly got underneath the bed-sheets and cuddled against Kohaku. Though his head was still pounding painfully, at least he didn't feel so desperate and stressed out anymore.

"Babe, how are you really feeling right now?" the taller man asked softly, wrapping an arm around the thin blonde.

"Better. Not great, just… not that crappy anymore." Letting out a shaky sigh, and wiping away the last few tears, he kissed the violinist. "I love you too. And I'm so unbelievably happy that you love me. Unlike throwing up suggested."

"Good." Sighing somewhat shallowly, Kohaku relaxed against the blonde. "By the way, thanks for getting me those pills. I don't know about the fever, but the pain is already getting less. Just makes me kinda sleepy."

"Then sleep. You need it."

"You too. By the way, how did you get home without collapsing?"

"That woman from the plush-animal-stand walked along with me. She noticed me looking like a zombie at the marketplace," Lucille explained.

"Then at least you weren't alone." Another sigh, which resulted in a cough. "If you need to talk or anything, just wake me up. 'Kay?"

"Sure honey," Lucille lied, knowing he'd never even consider disturbing his friend's sleep while he was so ill. Kohaku worried about him enough, and he obviously needed to rest as much as possible. With a soft smile, he looked up at his friend's face. Kohaku's eyes were already closed, and his mouth was slightly opened. No doubt that it would only be moments until the violinist would be deep asleep.

He didn't stay awake long either, though. Only a few minutes after Kohaku had fallen asleep, Lucille slowly drifted off too.

Large halls. The castle. Cordie. Then, guignols everywhere. His parents getting killed. He practically felt Cordie's raw hate when he fled, leaving here to be queen while she didn't want to. He tried to kill here once, and failed. Then killed all his comrades to save his own miserable life. So much more hate. Everyone hated him. He deserved it. Then, suddenly, he was at that spot in the forest again. That bastard raping him. Even though Lucille knew, by this point, that he was having a nightmare, the horrible feeling of deserving all the bad that happened to him felt just as real as it had at that moment.

"Lucille?" As loud as he could, which wasn't too loud at the moment, Kohaku called the blonde's name. No response, Lucille kept crying and squirming in his arms. "Wake up…" It ended in a coughing fit, leaving him feeling both breathless and nauseous. And Lucille was still obviously trapped in whatever nightmare he was suffering. "L-Lucille… please…" Weakly, he shook at the blonde's thin shoulder, hoping that it wouldn't startle him. Immediately after Kohaku had shook him, the singer twitched and then shot up with a gasp.

Unseeing, wide blue eyes stared right through him, seeming even larger in that snowy white face. "Lucille?" Kohaku managed to whisper, making his friend finally wake up fully. Letting out a somewhat choked sob, Lucille made a dive towards him, burying himself against Kohaku's chest, and successfully knocking the last bit of air out of the violinist. "L-Luci… C-can't brea…breathe…" His lungs felt like they were burning, and he had to force himself to take a shallow breath when the singer quickly moved off his chest. To his own horror, he felt tears burning in his eyes from both pain and panic. Damn, scaring Lucille was the last thing he'd want to do now.

"Kohaku? Kohaku, breathe! K-Kohaku!" His hands shaking, Lucille caressed the violinist's hair. "Should I call a doctor?" Unable to do anything else than shake his head, Kohaku did so. If the doctor would find out how sick he was, then Eles would be forced to stay home to take care of Lucille. But due to money, that wasn't a possibility, so Lucille would probably be sent back to the hospital to revalidate. That, Kohaku couldn't do to the blonde. So he'd just have to get better without needing a doctor.

Forcing himself to take another few breaths, the pain in his lungs sending the tears dripping down his cheeks, he finally felt a bit less breathless again. Now, though, everything suddenly seemed to be getting blurry, and Lucille's voice sounded so far away. Refusing to let his eyes close, he breathed a bit more deeply, trying desperately to ignore the pain. He needed oxygen, if he'd faint now the blonde would surely panic completely. But it hurt so much… Worse, his lungs didn't even seem to get enough oxygen from the air he was trying to breathe in.

"Kohaku!" The scream startled him, and he realized with some shock that his eyes had fallen shut. Damn… since when were his eyelids this heavy? "Kohaku…" The blonde really was sobbing now, and the violinist felt tears falling onto his cheeks which he knew weren't his own. "Don't leave me! Please!" Leave him? Did he really look that awful? Choking, nearly passing out… Okay, he probably did look like crap. Damn, not much of a choice left, if he didn't want the blonde's fear to become truth.

"C-call…" He couldn't pronounce the word 'doctor', but Lucille had already understood what he was trying to say. The last thing he felt was the blonde jumping off the bed, and hearing him stumbling towards the phone. Then, his consciousness finally left him.

Don't worry, he'll live… I feel guilty already about making him be so ill T-T'

I'll update again next week^^