Author's Note: I dedicate this chapter to all of those who have stuck with me, even though I don't update as much or as often as I should. I thank you for all the love and support and send you hugs! Now, to the next chapter and remember, I don't own a thing!


Even though he only lay a few feet away, sleeping soundly, Ran felt as if Ken was miles away. The redhead stared quietly through the glass window into the recovery room, feeling the anger boiling up inside of him. Who had done this to his partner? Who would want to do something like this, and Ran wasn't even sure what it had been that had damaged his friend.

"He won't wake up any faster if you keep staring at him," A voice remarked behind him.

"I know, but I've waited this long, I won't leave him now." He replied as he turned towards his comrade. "Question is, why are you still here, you should go home and get some rest."

"Same reason as you, I guess." Yohji smiled softly. "You should be resting too, you know. You've got some serious injuries."

"I'm fine," He replied.

"Come on," The blond gently grabbed his friend's arm. "Let me make you some coffee to at least keep you awake."

Taking one more look behind him, Ran finally caved in and let Yohji pull him away.

Meanwhile, miles away from the flower shop and the quietly resting Weiss members, a man sat in a room, quietly planning his next move. Schuldig had stood, watching the entire scene, happy with its outcome. Of course, what he really wanted was for Ken to destroy the entire Weiss group, but he had patience, and he would wait even if it took eternity to do.

His fellow Schwarz members were off doing something he didn't much care for, and found himself doing his own work. He actually preferred being alone, never had to listen to others' orders and felt complete control as he watched poor, defenseless Ken slowly go insane. No one in his group knew about the experiments he had been doing on the Weiss member, only because he knew that they would want to take over and claim the glory for themselves. Especially Farfarello; he would have done much worse things to Ken during those few weeks, and Ken wouldn't have survived. Then where would they have been without their puppet?

Schuldig would wait for a few days, letting the group think that the worst was over, and then he would watch as the entire group was slaughtered by the hands of one of their own. Slowly, he sat back in his chair, a smile creeped across his face as his demented mind was busy with future plans.

It had been a long time since Ken had had a peaceful night's rest, but for some reason, his body just felt restless. He kept falling in and out of consciousness, hearing voices and feeling people around him. Something was telling him that it was safe, he was safe, but at the same time, he felt like he needed to run away. He couldn't tell what day it was, or where he was, all he wanted to do was sleep. But he knew he couldn't do that forever.

"How does he look doctor?" A familiar voice drifted through his foggy head.

"Physically he looks like he's doing much better," A reply came. "Mentally, I'm not sure. We won't really find out until he wakes up."

"You could just ask him yourself,"

"Ken!" Omi smiled, "You're awake!"

"Yeah," Ken tried to smile back. "Sorry if I worried you."

"It's ok."

"How are you feeling?" Manx asked as she stepped closer to the bed.

"Tired, and confused. What happened?"

"You don't remember?" Yohji remarked. "You…"

"Were caught off guard during our last mission." Ran stepped in. "But don't worry, a little rest and you'll be back to normal."

"If you don't mind, I'd like to do an exam of him and then ask him a few questions." The doctor replied as he noticed the looks the members of Weiss were giving Ran.

"Of course, we'll be waiting in the lounge." Manx nodded and opened the door, allowing the rest of the group to leave.

"Thank you."

"Ok, so what was up with the lying, Ran?" Yohji huffed as he threw himself onto the couch.

"Yes," Manx turned to the redhead, "I'd like to know too. He has a right to know what happened to him, and you."

"Ran?" Omi asked as he swiveled in his chair.

"Do you think he really deserves to go through the pain of guilt if he found out he tried to kill me? If he found out the truth, who knows how it'll affect him, he might even quite the group. I can let him have that on his conscious, not for me."

"He'll find out eventually," Omi softly remarked. "Then what?"

"When the time comes, I'll be the one to tell him. Until then, he needs to rest without a guilty conscious."

Later that night, as Ken fell back into a deep sleep, images flashed into dreams. Sweat beaded against his forehead as he tossed and turned in his bed. But what started out as a nightmare soon vanished as quickly as it had begun and he was quickly resting once again. Phase one of Schuldig's plan had been placed into action, it was only a matter of time before the results would begin to show.


Ok, so here's the latest installment. I'm going to try and update this every other week for you guys. Let me know what you think ok! Thanks again for sticking with me for so long!