Hello out there, again. This is the much-debated, should-I-write, will-it-ruin-the-first-part, will-it-suck-in-general, "sequel" to Downfall. I got mixed comments about whether or not I should continue, but the fact is, I made myself all curious to find out what happened next. So I figured I'd share, and if no one likes it—same as it went with Downfall itself—I'll take this down. Please, please review, if too few reviews…I won't continue. (Which, if it sucks, may be what you want. It's great that I have so much faith in my writing, isn't it?)

-Sienna the sleepy (heh…alliteration…)

It was only a matter of time.

Of this much, Freddy Jones was sure. No one could abuse their body like this forever. It was only a matter of time before she snapped out of it, opened her eyes, smelled the coffee and went back to being good ol' straight-edge Katie. In fact, that night, he would have placed money on it being soon. That night he made a decision.

Did she even know she had a problem? He thought back to a night a few weeks previously, when his cell phone had gone off at four am. He'd taken to sleeping with it in his palm, just in case she called. Who else could she turn to? He was her best friend, and she knew it, she knew all she had to do was call and he'd be there in a flash, and to make things better, he'd never tell a soul. She could call Summer or Eleni or Zack and they'd come rescue her in a heartbeat as well—but they would try to help. Damn their consciences. They'd tell her she needed intervention.

All Freddy would do was answer the phone. He was speed dial number seven on Katie's cell, though he didn't know it. There were no other speed dials, either, Katie just liked the number seven best. And it was easy to remember when she was intoxicated.

"Freddy," came her muffled voice.

"I'm here, Katie," Freddy said, quietly because it was so late.

There were blubbering noises on the other end, but he waited. "I…I don't know what happened, Freddy."

"Where are you."

"I…I don't know…Freddy…"

"What? What is it?"

More sobs, and then softly, as if she was afraid someone would overhear….

"Freddy, I can't find my clothes."

He gulped, trying to swallow the idea of someone…no, he wasn't going to think that. Focus, focus on the problem.

"Where are you. Are you still in his room?"

"No. I found…I put my shirt on. And my jacket. I'm in the hallway…somewhere…I looked for my pants…but he was waking up…."

"Okay, okay." He was already pulling on a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt, grabbing an extra set to throw in his car. Picking up his keys, he tiptoed downstairs and slipped out the backdoor as quietly as possible. "I'm coming to get you, baby. Just find out where you are."

Sniffle, shuffle. "There's a sign, but the letters aren't normal. It's like…a triangle…and an 'O' with a line through it…and…"

He almost slammed the car door by accident. "Fuck. Are you in a fraternity?"

"…maybe?"

He drove for almost an hour. It was only a matter of time before he found her, he would have searched all day if necessary. When he pulled his black Cougar up to a likely-looking building, she bolted out, wearing only a t-shirt, jacket, underwear and flipflops. It was cold, and he tried not to notice anything while she changed into the clean clothes. His clothes.

"Where do you want to go?" Freddy asked.

Katie sat in the passenger seat, curled into a ball, ignoring the seatbelt. She bit her thumbnail and stared at the brightening world through red-rimmed eyes. Every bit of her hurt. Why, she wanted to know, why did it all hurt so bad?

"Just don't take me home," she said. So he didn't.

That was the first time they'd watched the sun rise from this random field. Today was the sixth, but maybe it didn't count, because only Freddy was conscious for it. Katie slept straight through, peacefully oblivious to the growing light, the chilling wind, Freddy's movement and Freddy's urgent voice. Because, despite his best efforts, Katie would not wake up.

"Come on, Katie," he said, holding her face in his hands. "Come on, it's morning."

She didn't even twitch. He lifted her wrist and dropped it, only to watch it hit the roof with a little crack.

"Please wake up," he begged. "Please."

What was his plan? His carefully devised plan, one of watching and waiting, and guarding Katie nightly. If he was always with her, surely he could protect her, and then she wouldn't do anything bad and they could be together and maybe then she would say she loved him when she was coherent. And no one would have to know about Freddy's Big Mistake.

No one would see he was almost killing the girl he loved.

It had to be scrapped now, obviously. She needed more help than he could give her. So he gathered her into his arms and tucked her into the car, buckling the seatbelt around her limp body and wiping away the burning tears that crept into his eyes. She had to wake up, didn't she? It was only a matter of time.

They peeled out, Freddy merging carelessly back onto the road. It was only about six in the morning, so traffic wasn't an issue, but that didn't help if he didn't know where he was going.

He called the only person he could think of, who was not happy to be woken at six am.

"What the hell, man," said Zack groggily.

"Zack, Katie's hurt," said Freddy by way of a morning greeting.

There was a pause. "Bad?"

"I dunno. I think so."

"Take her to the hospital. Call an ambulance. Why are you calling me?"

"I can't take her there, okay?"

"Why?"

"Because! Look, we'll be at your house in like five minutes."

"How am I supposed to help?!"

"I don't fucking know! I don't fucking have anywhere else to go, alright?!"

"Alright! Chill!"

Another pause, this one heated by Freddy's panting. He looked over at Katie—still there. Still gone.

"What happened, dude?" asked Zack finally.

"I'll tell you when I get there."

"Is she okay?"

"No."

"You seriously need to—"

"Give me two minutes."

Freddy hung up, unable to stop breathing heavily. There was a turn in the road, but he went ahead and passed the slow semi truck and turned onto Zack's street. Things…they had to be okay. She would wake up, he was sure, she had to wake up because it wasn't possible for Katie to die. That was all, it was just…impossible.

Or only a matter of time.