"He did this once in Detroit." Phichit and Viktor had regained some breath and were jogging about the city again, calling out for Yuuri every once in a while, keeping their eyes peeled for any sign of life among the darkness. "I found him in an alley somewhere, out of breath and still panicking."

"Do you know why he does it?" Viktor scanned back and forth across the streets and lawns they passed. "Does he know?" A regular panic attack was one thing, but jumping out of bed and sprinting away into the freezing Russian night was something different entirely.

"He compared it to a nightmare." Phichit recalled the conversation he'd had with Yuuri when they were waiting for Celestino to pick them up. "You know, the one where you're running from something but you don't know what you're running from, how far behind you it is, or how to get away? And it seems like you're not even moving? That one."

"Yeah, I know the one." Viktor cringed, imagining what that would be like. When he had that particular nightmare his dream form always managed to trip on something and he would jerk awake before he hit the ground, out of breath and drenched in cold sweat. To live it, have it be real, unable to wake up from it… he had to find Yuuri. Soon.

Suddenly, the pounding of the pair's feet was accompanied by the first few notes of Shall we Skate? prompting Phichit to tear the phone from his pocket.

"Did you find him?!" He nearly screamed into the phone, completely forgetting that there could be a possibility that someone else was calling him. Someone who wouldn't know what the hell he was talking about. He was relieved when Otabek answered him back.

"We're in the park by the rink, call and ambulance!" Phichit's relief however was snuffed out when he heard Otabek's tone and the words that came with it. "Yura! Eyes open!"

"Park by the rink!" Phichit called to Viktor before he began making demands. "What happened? Viktor! Slow down!" Phichit picked up his pace, needing to keep up with the Russian man considering he had no idea where the hell they were or where they were going.

"Just come and call that ambulance!" the line went dead.

"Praṇām!" Phichit cursed in his native tongue as he pushed his legs to catch up with Viktor. "Viktor! What's the park called? Otabek says they need an ambulance!" "What? WHY?!" Viktor somehow gained more speed, desperation taking hold of his body, forcing him beyond his natural limitations. "I don't know just tell me the name of the park!"

"Izmaylovskiy!"

"Thank you!" Phichit ground his teeth, grateful for at least one bit of helpful information, annoyed with everything else that had been said. Why couldn't people just answer his damn questions?!

Viktor ran, not bothering to look before crossing streets, tuning out Phichit's conversation with the emergency operator, ignoring the burn in his lungs and the shaking in his legs. He knew where Yuuri was. That was all that mattered.

Viktor ran faster than he'd ever run before, blocking out the sounds of angry car horns, ignoring Phichit's pleading for him to slow down and be careful. When he reached the park, he followed the sound of Otabek begging someone to open their eyes. When he came upon the scene, he stopped dead. Otabek was cradling Yurio in his arms, sobbing into his chest, his knuckles were bloody and so was his right arm. Yurio was limp, eyes closed, and had a dark purple ring of bruises around his neck. There was a pile of a man sprawled not far from Otabek and Yurio, unmoving, face bashed in beyond recognition. Yuuri was shirtless, knees hugged tightly to his chest, shaking hard and rocking back and forth.

"Yuuri!" Viktor skidded and dropped to his knees in front of his fiancé.

Phichit arrived on the scene, eyes widening in horror as he took in the carnage. "Yurio!" he decided, seeing as Viktor could handle Yuuri's panic better than anyone else. "What happened?" He demanded as he fought tears. Yurio looked half dead, Phichit needed answers.

"I don't know, the bastard was strangling him when I got here." Otabek sobbed.

"Is he…" Phichit choked on his words, unable to bring himself to finish the sentence.

"His heart is beating." The reply came in the form of a snarl, Otabek refusing to even acknowledge that there was another possibility.

"Okay, I called the ambulance." Phichit wiped away tears defiantly, he refused to break down right now. He was the only person who would be able to communicate when the paramedics got there. Everyone else was occupied. "I'll go back out to the sidewalk so I can flag them down."

"Good." Otabek nodded, not really paying attention. "Good. Hurry!"

Phichit didn't think he had any run left in him, but he was off again, sprinting out to where he hoped the ambulance would pass by. He'd also requested police, having reported the potential of an assault when he'd called earlier. He was glad that part had turned out to be true, otherwise he could have been charged with misuse of the emergency call system. However, he was also scared out of his mind, considering how limp and lifeless Yurio had looked.

As soon as his sock feet connected with the pavement, Phichit began to hear the sirens, way off in the distance. When the flashing lights came into view, Phichit waved his arms over his head, getting the attention of the ambulance. A police car was in hot pursuit.

"This way!" Phichit called as the paramedics and police jumped out of their respective vehicles. Five pairs of feet pounded behind Phichit as they ran through the park. He unnecessarily pointed Yurio out as the one who needed medical attention and told the police that the other unconscious man was the one who had attacked both Yuuri and Yurio. Yurio was loaded onto a stretcher, wheeled away without question by two of the paramedics, Otabek chasing after them, not letting Yurio out of his sight for a second.

"How long was he throttled for?" One of the paramedics was throwing questions to Otabek as they approached the ambulance and began loading Yurio in.

"I don't know, as soon as I got there I separated them, though." Otabek was fighting tears as his Yura was hooked up to a heart monitor.

"Was he conscious when you got there?"

"Barely."

"Pulse is weak, he's fading, where the hell is Zolin?!" The paramedic who was poking and prodding at Yurio demanded.

"Here!" the third medic suddenly appeared, zipping straight past the back door of the ambulance and into the driver's seat.

"What they hell are you standing around for? Get in!" Otabek was suddenly grabbed by the front of his shirt and hauled into the back of the vehicle, the door slamming shut behind him. He quickly sat down on the bench next to Yurio as the ambulance lurched, speeding and screaming towards the nearest hospital.

"What's his name?"

"Yuri." Otabek could feel the adrenaline wearing off and the pain in his arm begin to set in. "Yuri Plisetsky."

"And what's your name?"

"Otabek." He nodded, still blinking back tears.

"My name is Ilia, this is Nikita." Ilia explained as he looked into Yurio's mouth, searching for tracheal obstructions. "We're going to take care of Yuri, okay? He's going to be fine."

Otabek just nodded, knowing that if he spoke again his steady stream of tears would become an all-out waterfall. He just held Yuuri's cold, shaking hand in his equally cold hand, which was shaking just as hard.

Ilia and Nikita threw Russian words back and forth as they checked Yurio over. Otabek was both grateful and frustrated that he didn't understand the foreign language; he was glad he wasn't hearing anything that would make him worry more, but he also kind of wished he knew what was going on.

However, as soon as Otabek's wish was granted, he would have so much preferred to be left in the dark.

"Shit!" Nikita spat as the heartrate monitor began beeping hysterically. "Come on, Yuri! Fight it, stay with us!"

"Zolin!" Ilia banged on the window that separated the driver from the passengers. "We're losing him! Step on it!"

"Yura!" Otabek squeezed his hand tighter, tears coming full force as the ambulance lurched again, gaining speed.

"Shit!" Nikita pressed his fingers into Yurio's neck, searching for a pulse as the beeping leveled out to one steady tone. Otabek knew what that meant. "No pulse!"

"YURA!"