The rain had not stopped its steady onslaught. In a way, Zechs was glad for it, since it lessened the traffic on the streets and washed away the blood that kept falling on the unforgiving ground. He found it hard to see, the rain clouding his vision and the loss of blood making him weak… He had tried to use a makeshift bandage for it but it hardly held in the blood.

It was mid-day, but impossible to tell by the dark storm clouds that covered the sky. As Zechs walked alone on the flooding sidewalk, only a few cars were brave enough for the weather and passed him by at a walking pace, afraid to get caught within the floods that would most likely come. At first he had no idea of where he was heading, or why, but as the rain pelted his weakened form it all became more clear to him.

In the car that he had given Suzuka as her transportation were discreet directions to a safe house he owned miles from the shoreline and into the woods. He had used it once or twice when the war was raging deep and had a steady supply of anything he would need, but nothing meant for a woman save for the food and beddings. Otherwise all he had was his own loose clothing and a toothbrush, not even a phone so the house would have no way to be tracked.

In his mind, he hoped he was heading the right direction, and that she had gotten there safely from the rain. What a man thinks about while walking through the pouring rain, knowing that he has mere days before death and that he is giving his one means of life to a woman who could probably care less about his well being can differ, but his thoughts stayed the same. They stayed on her… Always her. He knew what he was getting himself into and he was fully ready for it… He would not tell her he had contracted the disease so that she would take it, give her thanks, and continue on her existence… Without him.

"What did I expect her to do…" Zechs' low voice murmured, to the void of rain and sound around him. With his hand, which had been partially cleaned by the rain, he pushed a single platinum blonde lock from his eye and continued forward, before going across the street into a less populated area. The smell of the sea, the ocean, filled his lungs partially, although it was greatly dulled by the smell of the rain as it stirred the smell of the dirt from the worn roads.

He was soaked to the core, wounded, weak, depressed, and angry. Angry at Treize who had smiled as he dealt the blow that would take his life away. Angry at himself for giving the ultimate sacrifice to a woman… Depressed that he couldn't admit… That he loved her.

His feet stopped in their tracks, and the steady stream of water was broken by his stillness. He had never admitted it before to himself, and he didn't actually admit it but he knew… A one-sided love… Reminded him so much of the way Noin had loved him…

His feet traveled on the worn road made of sand that was barely visible. He had walked miles, and the pain was almost so much that he wished to fall down, and fall asleep, never to get up again. Yet, he knew he had to at least get the antidote to her, and so his feet took step after step, until he was slowly able to see the safe house, and the small bit of smoke able to be seen from the chimney despite the rain.

Zechs' hand had been holding the wound since he felt that he would give up… He was practically holding the two sides of the laceration together to stop further tearing. Treize had made sure he dug in deep… But Zechs knew that if he had hit any vital organs he would have been dead. He forced himself to remove his hand, and slowly wrapped it around the doorknob, before weakly turning it.

His boot made a loud sound as he stepped in, and was able to close the door behind him. He could feel his eyes rolling into the back of his head, willing him to go unconscious, willing him into the black sleep…

Before his body met the floor, he was able to faintly see Suzuka stand suddenly, and her eyes, wide…

Before the blackness.