It had taken a month for Bel to come out of his coma, and when he had finally awoken, Squalo wasn't sure he was prepared for whatever was waiting for him – and then, just seconds after Bel had tilted his head to see who was in the room with him, Squalo definitely knew he wasn't prepared; it broke his heart to hear the boy scream in absolute terror.

Dino had been at the hospital, too. He was understanding when his friend said he needed to leave the room, and he listened carefully when the nurses came in to examine Bel and give him a check over. He had known to expect a little bit of cognitive haze due to the coma, but hearing Bel not saying a word to any of them worried him; could that be because of the injuries? The coma? The… the trauma…?

Either way, it was clear Bel wasn't going to speak any time soon; no matter what prompts he had been given by the nurses, not a word spilt from his mouth.

"Is there a reason he won't talk?" Dino sat by the bed. He stared up at the nurses in worry as one of them wiped down Bel's body with some wet wipes; Bel was usually so talkative when he felt safe, so this kind of silence was unusual when Xanxus wasn't around.

"Well, it's too early to tell exactly why, but it's not uncommon for someone in his situation to be so quiet." The other nurse who had been writing information down on her clipboard took the empty seat next to Dino, and her voice was gentle as she explained things. "I don't believe he has a head injury as the CT scans did not show any damage to his skull or brain. He could still be very confused from the coma; they are not like in the movies; he will not just wake up and be perfectly fine. However, since he hasn't been in the coma for all that long, he will recover at a much faster rate, and he will not be a vegetable. What I am most concerned about is his mental health; he has suffered something truly traumatising, and it's not uncommon for trauma victims to become mute."

"Mute?" Dino's eyes widened at this; if Bel became mute… Then… "Do… Do you think that's what it is…?"

"I think so, yes. The good news is, most people who are electively mute begin speaking again sooner or later; it just takes a while and some therapy for them to begin talking again. If he is electively mute, he's going to need a lot of love and patience for him to feel safe again, and I cannot stress the importance of therapy enough. He's going to need all the support he can get if he is to get better again."

Dino nodded. He wished he could reach out and take Bel's hand, but he was afraid to do so; the last thing he wanted was to frighten the child any more than he already was. "I was talking to my friend about when Bel gets better. I think I'm going to move to Japan with him to try and give him a fresh start somewhere else."

"That is a very good idea, but make sure to give it some time before you take him there; he needs to rest first or else he may find it extremely stressful and difficult to cope."

"Yeah, I will." Dino offered a shy smile before he looked back to Bel. He found the boy rolling over to his side now that he had been bathed. His back was to Dino, the boy seemingly turning to look out of the window, and he could only wonder what was going through the younger blond's mind – then again, he wasn't sure he wanted to know. "Do you think Bel will be okay…?"

"I think so; his injuries have mostly healed by now. He's going to have a lot of scars left over, but we otherwise expect him to make a full recovery physically."

Dino nodded. He got to his feet as he looked back at the nurse. "I should check on my friend and make sure he is okay; he's taking this very hard."

"As expected." The nurse, also, stood up. She patted Dino's shoulder as she offered a comforting smile. "Make sure to take care of your friend; Belphegor isn't the only one who will need support in this time."

Dino understood; he understood very well; all of their friends had been shaken after hearing what Xanxus had done, but there was nothing any of them could do; even if they were to call the police, Xanxus wasn't going to be arrested – and if he was, he would get out within days, if not hours; he came from a very powerful family, and this would not be the first time he had gotten away with such atrocious crimes.

No; it was better for everyone to pretend nothing had ever happened; that way, they would all keep their lives.

~~XX~~

Bel didn't know how long he had been staring out of the window for; all he knew was that the sun had set, and now he could no longer see the trees that were swaying in the strong wind. He lifted a hand to rub at his eyes, but he flinched when he heard his sheets rustle from the IV cords he had disturbed; he was terrified of Xanxus coming back for him, and the last thing he wanted was to have to go through that again.

Bel didn't know what he had done to provoke Xanxus' wrath; he had simply followed his every-day routine and gone to school like Squalo had asked him to. He had had breakfast in town with his guardian, and he had crept out of his bedroom silently and turned the TV down as low as it would go so he didn't wake Xanxus. He had even dressed himself for school and cried in silence when Xanxus' kitten had attacked him.

What had Bel done wrong that morning? Maybe he would never know for sure, but one thing was for certain; what Xanxus had done to him was Bel's fault. He had done something wrong, had motivated the other's attack, and no amount of begging and promises to never tell anyone had been enough to stop the teenager from hurting him.

Bel was terrified, too scared to sleep lest he dream about what had happened. Instead, he lay there in silence, staring out of the window at the blackened world, crying as he trembled, fighting against the sleep that so badly wanted to consume him.

Bel didn't want to relive that morning; he wanted to forget it had ever happened – but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't stop playing it over, and over, and over again in his mind.

For the first time in his life, Bel wanted to die.