This chapter's only a short one as I found it rather difficult to write.
When Fran came to, he was lying in what seemed to be a hospital room; the walls and benches surrounding him were white, as was the bed and blankets he had.
Groaning, the boy pushed himself into a sitting position with his elbows, looking around for Squalo. His body hurt and, looking down, he noticed he had quite a few bandages wrapped around it, most noticeable on his skinny limbs.
Fran couldn't remember what had happened for him to be here – all he remembered was getting out of the car to go and look for Squalo.
"S-squalo…?" Fran's call was met only by silence.
~~Squalo~~
Squalo was annoyed by the nurses who refused to let him go and check on Fran – just because he had burns covering the majority of his body didn't mean he'd never had worse injuries before; this was nothing.
"Voi!" Squalo wasn't sure where his sword was, but if he had it here with him, he would most certainly have brandished it in the air as he threatened the lives of the women who were only trying to help him. "The little shithead needs me!"
"And you need rest!"
"The fuck I do!" Squalo roared; he wondered if he would eventually get his way if he protested enough – it worked every other time he had to deal with people he didn't live with. "Let me out!"
"Sir, the police are on their way to talk to you. We need you to calm down or we're going to have to sedate you."
"Voi!" Squalo was beyond pissed – he knew that, as a Varia member, the police couldn't do shit to him, but he could only imagine how Fran would be if they decided to interview him. Should he keep his anger to himself for once? If only so that the nurses would leave him alone and he could sneak out to check on Fran? "Do you have any idea who the fuck I am?!"
"Sir, you need to relax!" the three nurses that were in the room with Varia's Rain were starting to become agitated by their patient's lack of cooperation and aggressiveness.
"Fuck you!" Squalo – out of pure instinct – swung his arm out when he sensed someone approach him. It wasn't until his fist connected with soft flesh and a feminine cry of pain sounded did the man realise what he had done; he had just attacked a nurse.
The woman in question had been knocked to the ground, blood streaming down her face from a gash on her forehead; she must have hit something on the way down, Squalo assumed.
Squalo, who had had enough of this, jumped out of the bed and stormed his way over to the door as best he could with a damaged leg. He paid no heed to the women behind him, instead poking his head into every room he came across until he found Fran, fast asleep in one of the private rooms.
The long-haired man entered the room and ripped the IV tubes from the boy's body. He heard Fran squeak as the younger was scooped up into strong arms, but he couldn't bring himself to care if he was hurting the other – he wanted out of this place. Now.
"We're leaving, shithead!" Squalo snapped at the boy. He was in too bad of a mood to care about the way Fran flinched and whimpered – the mission was completed, and he just wanted to get back to the Varia mansion.
Fran was almost too scared to tell Squalo that the tight hold the man had on him was irritating his burns; he couldn't remember ever seeing the older male this worked up, and he was almost afraid Squalo would take it out on him.
He's scary when he's angry… Fran was careful to not let a sound escape his lips; his fingers clung to the white hospital gown Squalo wore, and he could only wonder where they were going.
The Rain Guardian, however, knew exactly where they were going; they had to walk halfway across town just to get the car that had been abandoned by the building they had destroyed – and this fact only made Squalo angrier than usual.