Three days had passed, and Bel wasn't getting any better. His doctor had finally allowed the Vongola trio in to see him, supervising the visit in case something went wrong.

Tsuna and Yamamoto sat on the chairs resting against the curtain that surrounded Bel, hiding him from the other patients sharing the large room. Gokudera hesitated before he stepped in, not knowing what to think as he saw that Bel was laying in a hospital bed with countless IVs and a ventilator covering the lower half of his face.

"How is he...?" Tsuna was almost too afraid to hear the answer upon seeing the Varia Storm like this.

"To be honest with you, he's doing poorly." The doctor - Tsutsumi - frowned, tapping his chest with his clipboard. "His lungs are giving out, and he isn't making any progress with the amount of antibiotics we're giving him. We're doing all we can for him."

Bel's bangs still covered his eyes, so the other teenagers weren't entirely sure of if he was awake or not - if he was, the blond hadn't moved since Yamamoto and Tsuna had sat down, even though he was lying on his side facing them.

However, when Gokudera moved to stand beside them, Bel's body twitched. Four sets of eyes focused on the older teenager and, when he started shifting his weight closer to the Vongola, they understood instantly; Bel wanted Gokudera.

"He wants you, Gokudera-kun..." Tsuna placed his hand on the silver-haired male's arm, guiding him forward.

Gokudera wasn't conscious of moving his feet; all he knew was that he was somehow moving toward his Storm counterpart. He felt as if he could throw up when a shaking, stick-thin arm reached out for him.

"Bel..." Gokudera was hardly aware of reaching out, taking Bel's hand in his own. He knelt by the bed, lowering his arm so that Bel's own rested against the mattress - there was no need for him to exert pointless energy when he was already so sick. "Bel, you dumbass... We told you this would happen..."

A faint, barely visible grin - but there nonetheless - crossed Bel's face as he heard this.

Gokudera reached out, running his hand through messy blond locks. The older male's hair had always been so well-kept, it was a shock to feel that the once-silky hair was so grimy, it felt oilier than anything he had ever touched before.

"Bet you feel like shit..." Gokudera shook his head, his hold on Bel's hand never loosening. "You stupid idiot, you should have told me you weren't feeling good. You could have stayed at my place instead of - well, wherever the hell you were. You spent all that time sleeping outside my front door, you didn't have to disappear then of all times..."

Bel squeezed the younger's hand, his mouth turning down in a frown. He moaned, his sound of distress sounding so different to what it usually was.

It was then Tsutsumi gently ushered the teenagers from Bel's bed, knowing that having visitors was putting too much stress on him.

Gokudera was hesitant to let go of Bel's hand, but when the older male started keening loudly, his body shifting in pain, he knew it was time to go - the pain he was in must have been overwhelming if Belwas distressed.

The Vongola Storm couldn't be sure as the older male's eyes were always hidden, but he swore he felt Bel's eyes follow him out of sight.

"Why haven't the Varia done anything about this?" Tsuna couldn't keep his thoughts bottled anymore on this subject - Bel had been in Japan for months now, and nothing had been done by Xanxus or Squalo to track down their missing member. Wouldn't Japan be the first logical choice to investigate? "Bel needs somebody!"

"They probably don't care, Tenth." Gokudera hated to say this when Bel was in such a bad condition, but it was how he felt. "Xanxus shot his own member for losing a fight. A missing member probably isn't going to make him react any better."

Yamamoto didn't say anything, remembering how bad Bel looked - he wasn't a doctor, but he knew if Bel was in the ICU and visibly in pain, the condition was more serious than he could probably ever comprehend.

"Imagine how he must feel being in the hospital by himself..." Tsuna's frown grew. "He's... He's always so happy and independent... It must feel like a prison in there for him."

"Do you think they'd let us visit him again tomorrow?" Gokudera bit his lip - ever since he had worked out that Bel's illness had probably been aggravated by the blond forcing his body to come to him, he felt as if he were responsible for taking care of Bel; after all, if it wasn't for Gokudera, Bel would never have left Italy again anyway.

"I don't know - he's very sick, Gokudera-kun. It might be better if he's alone; we really worked him up just by sitting there." Tsuna's soft eyes dropped to the ground. "...I'll... work out how to contact the Varia when I get home..."

Gokudera couldn't help but snort, believing the Varia wouldn't give a single shit about their Storm Guardian.

~~Namimori Hospital~~

"Bel-kun, can you sit up for me?" Tsutsumi stood by Bel's board, writing notes on his clipboard as he observed the teenager.

Bel made no sign he had heard the older male, and continued to lay on his side, silent. Tsutsumi reached out, carefully lifting Bel into a sitting position. He noticed that Bel swayed violently, before he coughed and, following that, vomited into the ventilator. The doctor was quick to remove it, watching as the blond vomited into his lap instead.

Tsutsumi waited until the nausea had passed before he laid Bel back down in the bed, replacing the oxygen mask until he could get a nurse to replace it.

"Septic shock..." Tsutsumi frowned as he wrote on the clipboard. "Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome already setting in..."

Tsutsumi looked down at the sixteen-year-old, seeing the boy gasp for air, his body curling into a ball.

"Chance of survival..." Tsutsumi wrote one more note on his clipboard. "...Extremely low..."