Meanwhile

Train frowned as he looked around the hospital he'd found himself in. How exactly he'd ended up here he wasn't quite sure (well, he knew who had set this up) but Train had the distinct feeling he wasn't going to like whatever he found here. Not one bit.

His misgivings were proven true not ten seconds later.

"NO!"

Train's head snapped to the side as he heard the same shrill shriek that had haunted him since the first time he'd heard Lia's screams in that hospital less than a month ago. His finger was already on the trigger of his Hades as Train whipped around to sight the source of Lia's pain. None of it was real exactly, he knew that, but if the heat from the desert had been any indication, anything that attacked Lia was most certainly capable of harming him in this world as well.

What he saw, however, froze Train in his tracks and he could only watch in almost complete helplessness as he witnessed a scene eerily similar to the one from a few weeks ago.

"Keep her down!"

A doctor shouted from inside the emergency medical room as Lia thrashed on the bed, fighting violently against the hands that attempted in vain to keep her still. Her appearance only added to Train's heartbreak as her screams rang around him.

Lia looked like absolute hell, her long blue hair lathered in blood and for some reason a little patchy where it looked as if her hair had been pulled or burnt. The left side of her head was covered in blood-soaked bandages, probably from a reopened wound due to Lia's hysterics and, judging from the bit of skin peeking out on her neck, due to some form of third-degree burns. Her face and arms were also covered in cuts and minor burns, but most disturbing were the blotches of purple and red bruises that seemed to cover almost every inch of her skin.

Lia was apparently immune to this fact, however, as she fought violently against the nurses and doctors trying to heal her, her eyes squeezed shut as she tried to escape whatever nightmares were trapping her in her mind.

"No!"

Lia continued screaming, and a nurse cried desperately, "Doctor, needle!"

"Let me go!"

"Here, help me!"

"NO!"

"Watch out!"

"Train! Saya!"

"Keep her steady!"

"TRAIN!"

Train's hands fisted tightly and he swore someone was going to pay as he watched Lia scream for him, each cry tearing at his heart, until the drugs took effect and she fell unconscious at last.

Outside the room and standing beside Train were two men whom Train only now paid close attention to. One had his arms folded tightly across his chest while the other stood more at ease with his hands folded behind his back as both men watched the room from behind the viewing window. Despite their close proximity, it seemed no-one could see him - as though Train were merely a spectator in a dream… although this was quickly becoming clearly more a nightmare than a dream.

Train remained standing by in silent horror when Jenos - his jaw clenched so tightly his muscle was jumping - turned to face Belze.

"Where is he?" Jenos asked, his tone even but deadly and cold as an Arctic wind. His arms tightened even further around his chest, as though he were fighting the urge to charge out of the hospital.

Belze remained fairly impassive in the face of the younger man's anger, although the Vice-Captain's eyes held a hint of sympathy as he looked down at the furious brother of the grieving girl now lying unconscious on the hospital bed before them.

"Black Cat disappeared after breaking into headquarters to reclaim his handgun. We are, of course, searching for him but…"

Jenos's lip curled at his superior's words while Belze trailed off tactfully. They both knew that Chronos's priority at the moment was not the traitor that had not killed a single soul as he escaped his masters; no, the priority was Lia's attackers and Anubis's killers who were still at large and the suspected leader, Creed Diskenth. There was no need for it to be spoken aloud; Jenos was furious enough as it was.

As if to prove this fact, Jenos spat viciously, "So he comes back for his weapon and not-"

Jenos cut himself off, glaring moodily at a corner. If looks had the power to expel the energy placed behind them, the potted plant in the corner of the room would have exploded with the force of a nuclear bomb for Jenos's expression was uncharacteristically dark and dangerous. Belze let the younger man stew, simply standing in silence while Jenos contemplated the many ways he could kill the man who had broken his baby sister's heart and at the worst possible time at that.

"And the woman? This Saya Minatsuki?" Jenos asked at last.

Belze shook his head.

"There was nothing to be done for her. According to the local police, she was already dead by the time they were alerted."

"But Creed didn't finish her off?" Jenos asked slowly, speaking more to himself while his brow furrowed in thought. "Even though we're fairly certain he was the one who attacked her... From what I've heard of him, he wouldn't have left her in one piece once he started. So he was interrupted."

Belze paused as though weighing his words before he responded.

"It seems that way."

Jenos smiled bitterly, grim understanding shining in his darkened gaze.

"So. She was his choice in the end. And yet, it's still his name Lia continues to call." Jenos muttered as he watched his sister twitch minutely, the powerful drugs unable to completely quench the strength of her grief and consequent hysteria.

"Ungrateful brat."

"Which one of them?" Belze asked mildly, and Jenos turned away.

"Both of them." He replied before he walked away.

Belze let the younger man go without a word - Lia wouldn't be waking any time soon and Jenos needed to let off some steam.

Lia spun, flipped back and leapt off building walls as she avoided the barrage of Durham's ki-bullets. Katashi fired off lightning bolts every once in a while as well, apparently just for something to do while he watched with rapt attention as Lia swiveled and dodged all their attacks.

"Dance, little lady!" Durham crowed as Lia was forced to simultaneously spin and twist into a duck as two of Durham's ki-shots came at her too closely for her to jump out of the way.

Lia dodged the next shots that Durham fired her way, neatly avoiding all the bullets. The cursed gunner had yet to use the gun hidden in the mask over his mouth - which had been the cause of her failure two and a half years ago - but Lia knew it would only be a matter of time.

She glanced at Katashi, where the man was standing by and simply watching with amusement, and her eyes narrowed. It was now or never.

Lia spun as Durham fired another energy ball. But she went what seemed to be the wrong way and as she moved, she felt another Ki bullet heading right for her. Lia had almost no reaction time left before it exploded in a ball of energy, puncturing the very ground where Lia had stood.

"Now I've got you!" Durham shouted, eyes dancing with mad glee.

But he froze as Lia's Elysium, in rifle form, touched his temple.

"I got you." Lia said coldly, not even scathed while the ground where she had been just a second ago was still smoking from the mini crater Durham's energy ball had created.

Before Durham could react in any way, not even able to swing his arm or head around, Lia pulled the trigger.

Train started as he now found himself in a hospital recovery room, and his heart clenched while his brows knitted at the sight before him.

It was clear that some time had passed since the emergency room incident. Lia still looked terrible, sickly-looking and too thin with dark purple shadows under her haunted eyes. Her hair, however, seemed to have been washed by someone that probably wasn't her if her dirty fingernails were any indication, and the bruises on her skin had now faded into various shades of yellow and green. The bandage was still there on her head, but it seemed that they had repaired the rest of the skin on her face so as to leave no scars. After all, a face as beautiful as Lia's was an asset to Chronos - they wouldn't want it marred.

Beside her bed was a psychiatrist that Train vaguely remembered from his Chronos days; he'd never seen the woman himself but there were plenty of other broken souls in the organization who had been forced into therapy at some point or another.

"How are you feeling?"

Lia didn't respond but the psychiatrist went on, undeterred.

"Do you feel ready to discuss what happened that night?"

Silence.

"Miss Hazard, you will never be able to find peace if you cannot move past the ordeals you were forced through."

No reaction.

"Perhaps you wish to know what has become of Train Heartnet?"

That got a slight reaction and Lia turned her head slightly to stare at the psychiatrist though her expression was still relatively blank. The psychiatrist nodded.

"Of course, you must be concerned about your former mentor." The psychiatrist said soothingly, although it was obvious that the woman knew there had been more between Lia and Train. Which meant the Elders knew as well. A tiny part of Train mentally grimaced as he weighed what that meant, what actions could have been taken against Lia. Because of him.

"It must be painful, knowing he has turned from Chronos. Knowing he betrayed you and left without even a goodbye."

No response though a slight flicker of something appeared in Lia's eyes. The psychiatrist tilted her head as she peered at Lia.

"Perhaps we can discuss the reason Heartnet left? Miss Say-?"

The reaction the psychiatrist got was instantaneous - too much so.

Train flinched as Lia lunged suddenly with the grace and power of a panther, the IV stand beside her falling with a crash. But he couldn't quite pity the psychiatrist even as alarms blared and nurses and guards came running in to pry Lia away from the psychiatrist. They weren't quite fast enough nor was the psychiatrist's basic Chronos training in self-defense anywhere near enough to help her. By the time the guards pulled Lia off, not three minutes after she had first attacked, Lia had already broken the psychiatrist's right hand, arm and a few ribs and scratched deep wounds on the older woman's face. One had even gone through an eyelid though Lia had had enough control not to actually damage the eye. After all, she only wanted to get a message across - not be killed for treason.

"Write that down in your report." Lia spat viciously at the traumatized woman before her, before she was forced into unconsciousness once more.

Durham's body collapsed while Lia twisted out of the way as a bolt of lightning came flashing down to strike where she had been seconds before.

She turned to face Katashi, her face smooth and cold as ice while the Taoist straightened himself fully for the first time since he'd appeared. Katashi sneered, looking from Durham's fallen form to Lia.

"Well, well, well." He drawled, his dark eyes never leaving Lia's grey ones. "Looks like the little girl's grown up a little."

Another flash of lightning came speeding down at her and Lia dodged while Katashi called menacingly, "But you're still not a match for me. Let's see how long you can play with the big boys!"

At first, Train couldn't understand what he was seeing this time as the scene around him changed yet again. And then, with alarming clarity he realized what it was.

His gold eyes widened, and before he even fully knew what he was doing, Hades was in his left hand and he was firing at the two dark-haired males in the dirty, abandoned alleyway.

His bullets did nothing to the illusions however, and Train's jaw set. His eyes flashed with pure fury as Train watched the men through the rain that fell steadily down as if the sky were crying as it bore witness to the evil below. A man Train recognized as the Taoist gunman he had previously fought and killed about half a year ago (Durham Glaster) stood near the entrance to the narrow street, playing with his guns in pure boredom while his 'friend' continued to press physically down on a bloodied and burnt, severely injured young woman lying on the wet ground with her clothes torn aside - a young woman with long blue hair.

"Ngh!" Lia groaned, before she glared up at the man straddling her.

"Release me." She snarled savagely, but Katashi just laughed while the ground smoked where Lia had been a second ago before she'd barely dodged the lightning strike. Unfortunately, she hadn't been as quick in reacting when Katashi suddenly lunged at her, hence her current predicament.

Katashi leant down and he purred, "Feisty, just like I remember."

He chortled, eyes gleaming with a mix of desire and bloodlust that almost made Lia hurl as she recalled the last time she had seen the same expression in the Japanese man's eyes.

"And you remember how I like them feisty. There's something so satisfactory about breaking that."

"Never." Lia hissed. "You never succeeded and you won't ever succeed. If I have to remove your miserable head from your body one hundred times over, I will."

"Never say never, Hazard." Katashi laughed.

Lia bucked, almost succeeding in throwing the Japanese man off - but he had anticipated her move and (although her movement had been swift and powerful) Katashi was just able to hold on that he pinned her back down. Lia snarled in frustration and anger, and Katashi's smile widened even as the malicious, crazy glint in his eyes grew brighter.

"It's nothing personal." Katashi taunted and Lia's teeth ground at the same words coming from his mouth that he had used two and half years ago.

The scene before Train had shifted yet again, and for a very brief moment he was grateful - standing by helplessly while his beloved was in so much pain, was violated in a way no-one should be, had been unbearable.

But the scene that greeted him this time hit him like a truck and any small relief he had felt vanished.

"Lia!"

Train's whispered horror was echoed by Jenos's yelling as the Chronos Number pulled an unconscious Lia out from the bathtub.

"Lia! Dammit!"

Jenos dragged his sister onto the bathroom floor, knocking over the empty bottle of pills that had been lying on the edge of the bathtub in the process, before proceeding to quickly perform CPR on Lia's abnormally pale body that still bore faint hints of the ugly bruises that had covered them before. The burns on her face were completely repaired however, creating a sickening contrast with her abused body.

Train felt bile rise in his mouth as he watched Jenos press his mouth over Lia's and blow air into her before he began to press on her chest.

"Come on." Jenos muttered as he pumped on his sister's chest, anxiously staring down at her face for any sign of life. "Come on, Lia, please… Don't do this to me. Don't die on me. Don't do this… come on..."

At last, Lia began to cough and spew up water, convulsing slightly in the process. Jenos turned her immediately on her side, letting her body expel as much water as it could while he swiftly pulled out his phone and hit number 2 on the speeddial.

"Captain, I need medical for Lia - now." Jenos said urgently the moment Sephiria picked up. "Please, Seph-nee. She tried to kill herself."

Sephiria hung up instantly, and Jenos wrapped Lia's shivering form in a towel, knowing that Sephiria would be sending help immediately. He just had to wait… if only it wasn't one of the hardest things he had to do in his life as he held his freezing sister close.

"God, Lia." Jenos muttered as he stared down at Lia where she was trembling, still unconscious, in his arms. "Do you really hate the Numbers so much you'd choose death rather than become one?"

Train could only watch with an aching heart as Jenos bent his head over his sister's unmoving one, and then the scene swirled, shifting as if in a dream.

Once everything cleared, Train found himself standing once more in a hospital waiting area. Jenos stood, watching Lia sleep through the looking window. This time, it was Sephiria who stood beside the distraught brother, the young woman's clear eyes on the older Hazard sibling and the only sound for a long time was the heart monitor as it beeped faintly in time with Lia's weakened heart.

"She will recover, Jenos." Sephiria spoke at length, indicating Lia. "I fear it was the shock of the news so soon after Black Cat's departure and the death of Saya Minatsuki that was the cause of her lapse."

"Shock? She tried to kill herself because she was about to become a Number." Jenos argued. "She's not cut out for it, we both know that. Yes, she has the skills but she doesn't have the ruthlessness it takes; the ability to accept the brutality in exchange for serving the greater good. She thinks with her heart, a heart that I fear has already been broken too much. I won't see her hurt any more, Seph-nee; I can't."

"She is already greatly altered, Jenos, even if you don't want to see that."

Sephiria's voice was firm but not unkind and there was even a hint of pity in her eyes as she looked at Jenos.

"As you say, her heart has become too damaged. She is no longer the girl you raised and I'm sorry to say I don't believe she ever could be again."

Jenos turned his head away, but he inhaled sharply at Sephiria's next words.

"If she does not accept the honour the Elders have placed on her, Julia will be deemed a traitor."

Jenos glanced at Sephiria sharply, and the Captain softened at the desperation and confliction that danced across Jenos's face. Placing a hand on his shoulder, Sephiria spoke in a kinder tone.

"She will learn. Guide her - only you can do that. Let her see there are still some things worth living for."

"I won't be able to fill what he was." Jenos muttered darkly, his gaze on the ground. "I'd never heard her as happy as she was when she was talking about him whenever we talked on the phone. And I've never seen her like this."

He gestured to where the deathly pale wisp of a woman lay, and Sephiria sighed.

"Perhaps not. But you are all she has left now. Let that be enough for her."

The scene swirled around Train once more, but this time it was as if a fog had descended over everything. Train shook his head, his jaw still tight with emotions he dared not release just yet, and he looked around warily. What was Doctor planning next, Train wondered. As if it were not enough to have extracted such memories from Lia - probably Doctor was able to do such a thing now that Lia was inside his warp world - what other horrors could the man have planned now?

"Train..."

Train's head jerked up at the familiar voice, and he looked wildly about for the source.

'It's impossible… is this another trick?' He wondered, when Saya's soft voice called again more urgently, "Train, Lia needs you. Here-"

Train looked up, eyes going wide when he saw a ghostly hand appearing from the sky down toward him.

It could be a trap… but…

Train reached up and his heart knew the truth as he felt the warm, ghostly touch of a friendly hand around his.

Katashi was still laughing when Lia pulled her ultimate move.

It wasn't one she used often, mostly because she rarely needed it. But the Taoist before her had bested her once and - even in this dream world - she wasn't about to let him do so again. In a move that mimicked the one she had used to ultimately defeat Katashi years ago (months after their first battle), Lia lifted Elysium.

This Katashi was prepared, having already seen the outcome of the fight from Lia's memory apparently, and Katashi fired dual lightning strikes to knock back Lia's blade and to strike her left side where he expected she would roll away. But he was in for a surprise as Lia instead collapsed her blade and fired her rifle, releasing three consecutive bullets.

Katashi flinched, momentarily confused as the bullets went completely wide, before he leapt up as he realized the bullets had rebounded off the cobbled streets and nearby building walls. He dodged the first bullet but not even someone far more skilled than the lightning Taoist would have been able to avoid the next two.

"ARGH!" The Japanese man exclaimed as the second bullet pierced his left knee, rendering him immobile, while the third and final one punctured his right shoulder almost simultaneously. The reflected bullets had created a trap wherein he couldn't escape, and Katashi swore - only to freeze as he felt a familiar cold metal against his neck.

It was the exact same feeling as two years ago and it was the last thing he felt as Lia gave him no chance to react. Katashi didn't even have time to conjure another of his lightning blasts before he was dead as Lia swung around, turning her weapon with her.

She didn't even look back - she didn't need to. She'd clearly felt the muscles and bone tearing under her blade and a series of small thuds followed by one louder thud of a body hitting the ground told her all she needed to know.

"That… was personal." Lia muttered.

Without looking at the beheaded body behind her, Lia made to walk forward; only to pitch forward onto her hands and knees as she started vomiting on the ground. Shivering violently, Lia pushed her hair shakily behind her ear and she tried to fight the ringing in her ears as she squeezed her eyes shut.

But it was no good.

Seeing Katashi again and reliving parts of that horrific night; recalling the morning she had awoken (days after being found and rescued by Sephiria, who had arrived just in time to save her from being killed by Katashi even if the Captain had been too late to stop his other actions and had been unable to defeat them due to her concern of protecting Lia first); learning as soon as she awoke that Saya was dead and Train had left her behind; remembering how she'd struggled with the PTSD and growing depression as her belief in Train waned and her abandonment sank in; flashing back to the day she had been informed that she was to replace No. VI after his tragic death at Creed's hands, to be a Number like Train had been. Like she had never wanted to be.

It was too much, the hopelessness, despair and pain that had almost killed her back then; that had only grown since as she had completed task after task as a Number, a position she'd accepted for her brother's sake after his panic at finding her almost dead; that she had forced herself to repress for her own sanity; that she had since managed to keep locked under control so long as she was conscious. All of it was now brought sharply to the forefront of her mind.

And like with every relapse she had had since the terrible incident two years ago, that despair opened the floodgates for everything else. Lia clutched her head, whimpering as the festering wounds in her heart, in her very soul, sent spasm upon spasm of pain wracking through her. It was as if she had been on full-body anesthesia only for the drug to wear off abruptly in the middle of a heart-surgery. An indescribable pain tore through her very heart, a heart she had tried so hard time and time again to cut out just so she could escape that same pain.

"Stop..."

Lia whispered as the faces that haunted her almost daily since she had taken up her position as a Number began to flash passed in her mind's eye.

"Let me go…"

Katashi's face flashed in her mind, laughing with mad desire and dangerous bloodlust before his head fell to the ground and rolled away; Durham, with his infuriating smirk that twisted into cackling glee as his beak-like mask opened; Anubis, parts of him missing as he lay in a pool of his own blood; Saya, her gaze empty and missing the energy that had embodied the woman in life as she lay stabbed through the way she had been described to have been by Belze.

"Forgive me..."

But they never did. The faces of all the people she had killed in cold blood followed Saya's lifeless one as they always did, one by one.

"Please..."

One of many dead politicians. Another dead businessman. A female assassin whose red dress did nothing to hide the blood seeping out from the deep scythe wound in her back after a failed attempt on one of Chronos's politicians. More businessmen.

"-s!"

None of them had deserved to die. Especially none of the innocents that had paid the hefty price Chronos laid out, for nothing.

"-les!"

The face of a dead little girl who had gotten caught in the crossfire in one of her missions lingered in her mind, and Lia clutched her head.

"NO!"

"-ules! Jules!"

Lia's head jerked up and her eyes snapped open at the shout, a cry for her that she realized now had been coming steadily towards her.

"Trai-?"

Lia began, turning toward the source of the call. But she was cut off as a set of strong arms wrapped around her and Lia found herself pulled into a painfully familiar embrace.

"Jules." Train breathed, burying his face into her hair while his arms held her tight as the guilt of knowing just how he had failed her before overwhelmed him.

"Jules… I'm so sorry. Please, forgive me."

Tears filled her eyes and Julia burrowed her head into Train's chest the way she had ached to do for so long that she had forgotten what it was to live without that pain. And now, like a balm being spread on an open wound, she felt his warmth spreading.

Before she knew it, Julia was weeping into Train's chest the way she should have so long ago. As she ought to have the night Saya had been murdered and Julia's spirit mangled. The night their life as they had known it had ended forever.

*A/N If you or anyone you know has ever been sexually attacked or abused, please call your local help hotlines. Know it is not your fault. It is not a weakness to ask for help, it is the first step of healing. I pray that none of you or your friends and family ever have to deal with men or women with so much evil inside of them.

Song of the Day: Requiem from Tasogare Otome x Amnesia. The link is: /3jmFVJwMW-s