It's Official: I hate school. Too much work, too much stress, too many arrogant people roaming the hallway. It's like DELILAH's headquarters. Yes, I just made that reference. I can't be nerdy there. Trust me, say the word "anime" at my school and they'll string you up by the neck. Frickin' judgmental bastards. Somehow I managed to write the next chapter to Gone Forever, and here it is…

"but…doctor…" Cassian stuttered, "you're not supposed to…supposed to be alive!" The colour faded from his face, and he took a step back from the person in front of him. Instinctively, he reached for one of the knives he constantly kept with him and raised his arm. "I watched you pull the blade across your throat!" he noticed the glistening scalpel clutched in the other man's hand. The doctor smiled, taking a step closer until only a yard or two separated him from his former assistant. "Jizabel! For Christ's sake! You're…you're d-,"

"Dead?" the other man asked, or rather questioned with unusual calm. He held out a shaky, porcelain white arm, and grabbed Cassian's hand holding it to his own wrist. The unmistakable pulsing of a heartbeat spread through Cassian's fingertips. His eyes widened, and he yanked his hand back, still feeling the unearthly palpitation flowing through him.

The room fell silent as Cassian thought. Surely this was a trick of the mind, or a hallucination. Jizabel, the doctor, Cassian's superior was dead…so how could he be here? Unless…

Cassian opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted.

"Cassian…I know that you do not believe that this is me…but I assure you that I am who you think I am, who you know I am." Something about the way the doctor was talking was very different from his usual tendencies. Finally, Cassian found the voice that he had been searching for,

"How are you alive?" he half-knew the answer. Jizabel stared at the floor, and Cassian noted that his usually isolated, vulnerable eyes no longer held that look of complete loss. It seemed as though he lacked that same child-like ignorance that he had before, and without that, he only seemed frightening. Cassian suppressed a shudder, as he realised that this is exactly what Jizabel had been like when they first met. Cold, and cruel. It wouldn't be until months later that Cassian would see a softer side of him.

Jizabel smiled and began to speak,

"Never mind that, Cassian. We should get out of here." He looked around as though to be sure they were not being followed.

"I'm not going!" the older man found himself saying, dangerously close to the brink of tears. Jizabel looked back with a questioning look on his face.

"Why?"

Cassian choked back a sob. He was 36 years old, and he was not about to start crying. "You have no idea…Jizabel," something in him felt as though it was alright to say the younger man's name now rather than just referring to him as "doctor". "When you died my life turned into hell. It took me a year to convince myself that you were gone, and another six months to realise that you weren't coming back and,"

"Now I'm alive." He stated matter-of-factly. "Why can't you understand that?"

"You've been dead for two bloody years! Now you expect me to just accept that you're standing here, in front of me?"

"Just…trust me, Cassian." Cassian eyed him. Again he felt that something was wrong. The Jizabel he knew, the real Jizabel never spoke that way. In truth, Cassian was terrified of the individual in front of him.

"How in bloody hell can I trust you?" he almost laughed. "I must be going mad! You're dead!"

"Must we really go down that path again, Cassian?" Cassian's breath hitched, and he suddenly felt very childish. Slowly, he shook his head, still attempting to take in the situation.

His legs felt like they were made of lead as he walked to the wall, gripping the cold bricks for support. The doctor sat on the ground, crossed legged next to Cassian, who sunk to the floor as well.

Cassian ran a shaky hand through unruly brown hair, and stared at the ceiling. Silence settled over them.

How could the doctor possibly be alive? One can bleed to death within thirty of forty seconds when their neck is slit. Besides that, Cassian had buried him in the middle of the woods. Six feet under. Even if Jizabel really hadn't been dead, he would have suffocated before he was able to escape from the makeshift coffin. Even if he had escaped…why now? Why come back now of all times? How did he know that Cassian would be looking around DELILAH's old headquarters that evening? How did he know what room to find him in?

"Jizabel" must have noticed Cassian thinking, for he leaned over, and gently ran a hand down the other man's cheek.

"Doctor…Jizabel… whoever you are really…" he began coldly, "I don't understand…you say that you're alive… and yet there's no possible way you could be." Cassian brushed the hand away, and looked the other man in the eyes. They did not seem as cold now.

"…Do you want me to be?" he asked thoughtfully.

More than anything.

"…Well, yes…but I mean…how?" the younger man sighed, sinking further down the wall. Their hands brushed momentarily. Jizabel thought for a while, then responded,

"How do you think I am?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, how do you think I'm here right now?" Cassian noted a certain waver in his voice, the sound of genuine confusion. This was more like the doctor he had known. So cold on the outside, but so childish and scared. Those emotions only Cassian had noticed.

Cassian shook his head, feeling tears building up again, but why?... He did not know that either? Happiness that the doctor wasn't dead? Confusion? Sadness that this could all be a dream?

"I honestly…there're only a few ways…" he concluded "One…I've finally gone mad. Two, you're a ghost. Three is you're a deadly doll, which would make no sense since DELILAH is dead, and you couldn't be one since only you know how to make them… you and the card-," his breath hitched. Could Alexis really be alive? No. He was gone. Dead. Cain had finally killed his father, hadn't he? And if he was a deadly doll, then shouldn't he have a scar across his throat from when… He pushed those thoughts aside, and continued reciting ideas, until one final one escaped his lips. "Or…you're not really Jizabel…"

"I already told you that I am, Cassian. How else could I know so much about you, or this place, or myself." Cassian shot up from the ground, shouting,

"I don't know, alright? The only other option is that you never died, which you did! I saw you. I buried you 6 feet under." He stressed. "I must be going insane! That's the only explanation!" Cassian didn't notice as Jizabel stood up too, standing just a bit too close. Again, as his former assistant continued to rant incoherent ideas of how it was "clearly impossible" for him to be alive, he ran a hand down his cheek, bringing it to rest on Cassian's trembling shoulder.

"…I can't tell you much… because I don't know," he said softly, gently, "…but what I can say is that DELILAH is still very much alive…but if they knew I was here right now, with you," he said the last part as though Cassian had been some traitor to the organization, "they'd kill us both."