Uhm, sorry that all these chapters are so short, all! I don't mean for them to be, really, they just end up that way…

Chapter 6

And you're the same as me
You breathe the air I breathe
And we don't understand
Yeah, we don't understand.

Omi had stopped struggling. After Farfello finished with the wounds on his back, he'd moved up.

"You taste good," the madman had whispered in his ear, and without any other warning he had descended onto Omi's shoulder and sunk his teeth into the soft flesh there. With a scream, Omi had stiffened and then gone limp, unable or unwilling to fight anymore. When Farfello flipped him over and traced the lines of his abdominal muscles with the knife, Omi remained silent, dull blue eyes staring up emptily. After an indeterminable length of time, Omi vaguely sensed that Farfello had stopped. Glancing up, he came face to face with one amber eye. Farfello ran his tongue across Omi's jaw line.

"Don't fly away, angel." he heard, and then watched as Farfello left the room. The sound of the door locking echoed through the room. Unconsciously, his body curled into the fetal position. Tears slipped past his closed eyelids and were absorbed into the bed beneath him. He could feel the weakness of shock and blood loss set in, and he gratefully surrendered to a dreamless and painless sleep.

"No… no, please…"

Crawford grimaced and shook the boy violently. Blurry eyes opened.

'No, I don't want to wake up, I don't want to…'

Crawford dragged him roughly out of the bed.

"There's no time for this. Get up."

Omi stumbled along behind him as the left the room and walked quickly down the hall.

"Where…" Omi began, but with a glance he could tell that Crawford was in no mood to answer questions. Omi stumbled forward, almost hitting the ground, when something lifted him back up and pushed him onward. With a start, Omi realized that Nagi was walking behind them. Blinking back the stinging in his eyes, Omi continued on, well aware that he could not possibly escape with both Nagi and Crawford watching him. After some time they reached a door. Crawford opened it and shoved Omi inside. Omi froze. In the middle of the room was a metal operating table, complete with shackles to secure hands and feet. Along one side of the wall was a row of cabinets. A counter was on another wall, and it was covered in syringes and unidentified chemicals. Omi turned to run from the room, which smelled of rubbing alcohol, but his wrist was caught by Crawford, who violently turned his weakened form around again to face the operating table.

"Get on the table." he said roughly, pulling Omi towards the center of the room. Omi began to panic, pulling back towards the door and whimpering. Crawford growled.

"Nagi…" he began. Nagi nodded and with an apathetic look he levitated Omi up and onto the table, where he held him down. "Secure him," Crawford continued, turning to the counter and beginning to prepare things. Nagi locked Omi's feet down first, then moved to his hands. Omi was still attempting to struggle, but when he caught Nagi's eyes he stopped, seeing some foreign emotion there. Pity? Compassion?

"Help me…please…" Omi whimpered, encouraged by that look. Nagi blinked at him, looking slightly surprised, then suddenly turned around.

"Shuldig's here." he muttered, and hurried out of the room. Crawford whipped around.

"What?" he cried. Seeing Nagi was gone, he threw an empty beaker to the floor, smashing it. Omi flinched, pulling at his restraints. Crawford walked over to him, holding a syringe. He was muttering angrily, and he pushed Omi's arm down to keep it still. He roughly stabbed the needle into Omi's upper arm. Omi cried out loudly. He began to struggle again, but he could see the room blurring and spinning in front of his eyes. With another weak cry, his eyes slid shut and he went limp on the table.

Ken's breathing had become shallow. He was leaning against the wall outside the empty room, his eyes closed. Panic and anger still welled up inside of him, but he could also feel another emotion settling at the bottom of his stomach- despair. Sighing quietly, he pushed himself off the wall and opened his eyes. He looked down the hallway he was in. There was still a ways to go until the end. He began down the hallway again at the same speed, looking around him. Suddenly, he stopped. There were quiet footsteps behind him. Spinning around, he found himself face to face with Nagi, who looked nonplussed.

"Keep going." the boy said. "He's in the last room on the right. You might want to hurry." Ken looked at him, wide-eyed, before he felt a shove forward. Nagi continued to stare at him. "Hurry."

Shaking his head, Ken turned and ran down the hallway in the direction Nagi had indicated. With a quick glance back, he could see that Nagi was no longer in the hallway. He turned his eyes back in front of him, to the door, the last right in the hallway. He had more important things to worry about now. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door.

Omi lay spread-eagle on a metal operating table in the center of the room. He was wearing only the sweatpants he'd worn to bed the night before. A couple large bruises were forming on his face. His stomach had lines of crusted blood covering it. A bite mark on his shoulder and a fresh wound on his upper arm were bleeding. His head lolled over to one side, eyes closed and chest moving only slightly to indicate that he was alive. Crawford stood over him, holding a needle in one hand and a scalpel in the other. There were marks on Omi's forehead and cheeks and around his neck.

Ken's deep breath came out as a cough and he held his hand to his mouth to keep from being sick. Rage bubbled up inside him and he lunged towards Crawford, claws outstretched. Crawford turned around, anticipating, and jumped back. He snarled at Ken.

"You'll ruin everything!" he cried and swung out to punch Ken. Ken stumbled back from the blow, then attacked again.

"What've you done to Omi?" he yelled, jumping towards the other man. Crawford avoided him again.

"Nothing, yet, and you are the only thing standing in the way of my experiment." Ken's eyes widened.

"Experiment?" He then noticed the chemicals lining the wall on the counter. His eyes flickered back to Omi's prone form, then to Crawford. "What have you done to him?" he asked again, approaching the other man threateningly.

"I told you, nothing." Crawford said, not backing away. "And I'd like to get on with it if you don't mind…"

Ken smiled slightly. "I don't think so…" He quickly turned from Crawford and jumped towards the counter, smashing all the glasses full of chemicals. Crawford jerked and ran to the counter, attempting to save what was left. While he was distracted, Ken ran to the table in the center of the room. He pried open the restraints with little trouble and lifted Omi into his arms. Without a glance back, he ran out of the room and into the hallway. He jumped when he saw Nagi leaning against the wall near him. The boy nodded at him.

"Hurry." he said quietly. "Get him out." Ken hesitated, then looked at the boy.

"Thank you…" he said. "Without you I wouldn't have-"

"Go!" Nagi interrupted him. "Before it's too late!"

Ken could feel himself being pushed down the hall, so he turned and began running for the exit. Behind him he could hear pounding and he had a feeling that Nagi was keeping Crawford at bay. Ken flung open the door to the main room and ran through, ignoring the fighting going on around him.

"Let's go!" he yelled.

Yohji landed a solid kick to Schuldig's midsection and turned, running after Ken. Aya thrust his katana forward, keeping Farfello at a distance, and followed his teammates. They reached their car and Yohji jumped over the door and settled into the driver's seat, starting the car. Aya slid into the passenger seat, and Ken sat in the back, Omi draped across his lap. The car pulled away from the warehouse with a screech of tires. Schuldig appeared at the door. He smirked and shook his head. Nagi walked up behind him. Inside, Farfello licked his knife.

Ken shook Omi's shoulders lightly.

"Omi?" he asked quietly. The boy remained unresponsive. Aya turned to face them.

"What are his injuries?"

Ken gently lifted Omi to examine him. His breath drew in sharply at the sight of the lines of blood crusting on his back.

"Nothing… too bad. Two deep cuts on his back, a bite wound we'll need to clean, and shallow cuts along his stomach. He's also had some kind of drug put in him, I'm hoping it's just a sedative…"

Aya nodded, his glance flickering down to Omi before he turned back to face the road.

"What about you guys?" Ken asked, settling Omi back down.

Aya shrugged. "Nothing serious." he said. Yohji sighed.

"I took a couple good blows to the face, but I'll be fine." he said, his speech slurring a little. Ken blinked in concern.

"Should you be driving?" he asked quickly. Yohji laughed.

"We'll be fine as long as my eyes don't start swelling up…" He jerked the wheel and the car swerved to the edge of the road.

"Yohji!" Ken started. Aya reached over and pushed the wheel straight.

"What?" Yohji asked. "Just trying to lighten the mood…"

Ken rolled his eyes, but a small smile crept onto his face. Relief had begun washing over him in waves. Omi was alive, not seriously injured (though probably weakened from blood loss), and resting in his arms. For the first time that day, Ken relaxed. Everything was going to be all right.