Author's Note: I've been updating a little less than usual because of a release of a new fiction: Dead Lotus. Please read and review that if you have the time. In addition, I had a request to give this story a horrible, sad, depressing ending. I will do my best to accomodate such a condition, since I might as well because I don't really plan on doing another sequel. There will be no more of this particular story after this segment is complete with twenty chapters, like the first portion.

The next few minutes were a blur that Horohoro couldn't seem to grasp the full meaning of. The ambulance came, and he rode with Ren to the hospital, screaming his name the whole while.

They wouldn't let him go with Ren into the emergency room. He had to stay in the waiting room, only to guess what could be happening. He felt like his heart was being torn apart into little pieces when he saw Ren, lifeless and helpless, wrapped within white sheets on a hospital gurney, being wheeled out of his sight. He wondered if this was the last time he'd see him.

The receptionist even had the nerve to offer him a coloring book, which he bluntly refused.

There were various magazines scattered around the room. Mostly on medical topics. Horohoro sighed. He knew that the doctors here would be nothing like Faust. They couldn't do what the shaman doctor could, and there was a possibility they wouldn't be able to help Ren.

He twiddled his thumbs impatiently. All his contemplation was starting to hurt his brain.

Slowly, but surely, he allowed himself to fall into a deep sleep. His head nodded, his eyelids fluttered closed, and he fell alseep right there on the squeaky floral print vinyl couch.

However, this blessing was tainted with the dark fingers of nightmares, which tore their way through his mind.

He was floating. Yes, floating in a surreal world which seemed to have no dimension or meaning. The only thing that looked familiar to him was Ren's form in front of him.

He reached out towards Ren, confused and usnure of what to do.

It was like Ren was made of air. His hand seemed to pass right through the Chinese boy's. He couldn't reach him, he couldn't touch him. What was keeping them apart?

Panic overwhelmed him as Ren seemed to drift further and further away. He tried desperately to go after him, but something dark intercepted his useless attempts.

A skeletal figure with yellowing bones, clad in a shroud blacker than night stood between them, seperating them. The creature extended his robed sleeves, and a terrible darkness seemed to billow from them, the evil tendrils snaking around Ren and strangling him.

Ren called out to Horohoro for help, but the Ainu found he couldn't move. He tried with all his might, but it was like someone had pressed the PAUSE button on the remote control of his life. With a sick feeling in his stomach, he realized the figure who had appeared was none other but Death.

Ren reached out to Horohoro, and with a burst of strength, Horohoro wrenched free from the invisible force restraining him. He tried to grab Ren's hand, but in an instant, it was swallowed by the darkness. And then he was gone.

"What did you do to Ren!?" he screamed at the robed skeleton, crazy with fury and confusion.

"I didn't do anything. I'm merely escorting his soul to the afterlife. It was YOU. YOU killed him. You're a murderer."

Death nodded curtly at Horohoro, as to signify that his business had come to a conclusion. Then, it, too, was gone as well.

"NO! REN!"

Horohoro jerked suddenly jerked awake, accidentally kicking over a small magazine stand in the proccess. He was breathing heavily, with drops of sweat rolling down the sides of his face.

It was obviously just a dream, but it had seemed so real that it scared him immensely.

At that moment, a nurse entered the room, smiling at Horohoro and telling him that he could see Ren for a few minutes. The blue-haired teen eagerly jumped to his feet and followed her down the hall into the room Ren was being cared for inside.

He looked terrible. His face was pale and flushed, and he was shivering under his thin covers. Horohoro pulled up a chair next to the bed, taking Ren's trembling hands in his own.

A doctor had inserted a long needle into Ren's arm, and Horohoro watched as a red liquid flowed through the pump. He felt like throwing up.

"Don't worry, it's natural for him to feel cold," the doctor explained. "We're in the process of removing bone marrow for testing. We're not removing so much that it'll kill him, but it hurts him a little."

"A little? That's a lie," Horohoro snapped. He could tell by Ren's facial expression that it hurt not a little, but a lot. As the doctor removed the needle from his flesh and bone, a small whimper escaped his lips, causing Horohoro to squeeze his hands tighter.

His nightmare began to replay in his mind.

"YOU killed him."

"You're a murderer."

Horohoro shook his head madly, tears pouring down his face. It was all his fault. What had he done?

Was Ren really going to die?

"Please hang in there, Ren...you can't leave me. Please don't leave me...not again..."