Trigger Warning! References to self-harm ahead! Proceed with caution!

Sebastian continued to stare down at his prisoner entrapped in the large metal cage. The man was pacing back and forth breathing heavily and occasionally growling. His once kind, brown eyes were now a piercing red and full of animalistic rage. The man's glasses lay shattered on the cold floor. Sebastian watched curiously as he noticed the veins on the man's arms pulsing erratically. Without warning, Mark transformed into a black panther. His eyes kept their evil tint of red but his fur was ragged, his sharp claws were unsheathed, and his long fangs glinted through a harsh snarl. The raging beast continued to prowl around the outside of the cage and threw itself against the bars every now and then.

Sebastian heard heavy steps thundering toward him. The thumps stopped and Sebastian turned around to see Dream standing before him.

"What's the report on Eli's situation?" Sebastian asked.

"Sir, it seems that he had been taken prisoner by Saph and her friends." Dream saluted his leader. Sebastian rubbed his forehead and sighed in frustration. Dammit, why does that girl always have to get in the way of things?

"Sir there's more…" Dream continued and Sebastian looked up with interest.

"Saph and her friends want to make a trade… Mark for Eli." Sebastian stroked his chin in deep concentration. We can't acquire more test subjects without Eli, but Mark is our most successful subject yet! If I give Mark the antidote and send him on his way then he'll tell his friends about this place and we'll be completely exposed. But… what if I don't give him the antidote? If I don't give him the antidote then he won't tell anyone anything. If I'm lucky then he'll trash the school in a fit of rage. It'll be the perfect cover!

"It's a deal then. Dream prepare Mark for the trade." Dream stared at his leader with confusion.

"Why on Ear-" Dream began.

"Do as I say." Sebastian quieted him and the large man left the room and his leader to his thoughts.

(The cage) Trigger Warning!

Dream entered the cage that held their most prized subject cautiously. Riana and Alex were right behind him, ready to attack and defend if necessary. Both of the younger Elite members gasped when they caught sight of Mark in the corner of the cell. He was hunched over and spots of blood pooled around him. Riana covered her mouth in surprise and horror as she noticed that the glass from Mark's glasses were ripped out of their frames and were in his hand. The edges were sharp and almost soaked in the crimson liquid. When their prisoner turned to face them they had the full view of what he had done to himself. Deep gashes sliced across his arms, wrists, stomach, shoulders, and even some on his face. Streams of blood dripped down his form. The fact that his red eyes resembled those of a lost child and tears streamed down his cheeks confirmed that Mark was indeed broken. What surprised the three Elite members more was that his sad eyes switched back to their normal savage rage state. The prisoner lunged at them and they discovered that subduing this monster wasn't going to be easy.

Trigger Warning Over!

(The next day in Saph's room)

Saph awoke with a bitter, empty feeling in her stomach. Mark had been gone and pronounced sick for a couple of days now. Both the group and her were getting extremely worried about Mark and even considered sending search parties out for him. But they wouldn't even know where to begin looking for the Order's hideout. Saph's muscles clenched around her bed sheets just thinking about what they might do to him; she was worried sick. Whenever she thought about her last words to him she felt sick to her stomach. In her mind she forgave him for acting so controlling over her. He was just trying to keep her safe and he was right about not trusting Jake. Saph sighed and sat up in her bed to try and keep the tears from flowing from her eyes. She had to stay strong… for him.

When her emerald eyes glanced around her room, they fell upon something that wasn't there before. A large burlap sack sat in the middle of her floor and the various lumps on it suggested that a human was inside. She stepped towards the bag with caution. Saph carefully tore back the bag to reveal the unconscious man that had been missing for the last couple days… Mark.

"MARK!" Saph gasped and yelled at the same time. She reached down and inspected the various cuts and bruises on his face. Most of the blood was dried but when she tore back the rest of the bag she found that many, many more cuts were still bleeding. Saph reached down and placed her hand on his chest and breathed a sigh of relief when she felt his heart beating. She quickly treated his wounds and wrapped his arms, stomach, and shoulders with bandages. Her hand caressed his cheek as she hoped and begged for him to open his eyes and be with her again.

"Mark…please come back. We all need you…I need you." Tears streamed down her face as she leaned in and pressed their foreheads together. Her body shook as Saph sobbed for only a few minutes, but it felt like hours. Suddenly, Mark's eyes fluttered open.

"Mark!" Saph breathed a sigh of relief and held him tighter. When she pulled back to look at his eyes, she was shocked to discover his eyes were no longer brown but a bright red. Her relief quickly turned to horror as his lips were pulled back in a snarl and he knocked her over, pinning her down.

"Mark! What are you doing?! It's me Saph! Don't you remember me?!" She squirmed and squealed before pushing him off of her. Her instincts took over as she took her pair of special handcuffs out of her back pocket and handcuffed him to the leg of her bed. Mark struggled and spat at her angrily while banging against the bed. Saph stood back and looked his bandages over.

"…Mark…what on Earth did they do to you?"

(Hospital room)

Adam rushed as he pushed through door after door. Saph had texted him that she had found Mark and he was put into the nurses office. But when he asked what happened to him she never responded. She must want to tell all of us at once in person. God I hope Mark's ok. Adam finally reached the door that Saph had texted to him. Slightly out of breath he opened the door and stepped in.

It seemed as though he was the last one to arrive. Saph, Felix, Marzia, Cry, Ken, Mitch, Jerome, Ty, Yami, and Minx were all standing around the hospital bed. Mark was under the sheets and had an IV in his arm. What startled Adam was that thick ropes were tied around Mark as if to keep him restrained.

"W-What happened to him?" Adam spoke the question that was surely on everyone's mind. Felix turned sadly to answer him.

"They experimented on him. They injected the substance into Mark and now… I don't know what's going to happen."

"Is he going to be ok?" Yami rasped, his voice dripping with worry. Everyone was silent, confirming that no one knew Mark's fate. Without warning, the door to the room flung open and the nurse stepped into the room. Her face was grim and they waited for the bad news to arrive.

"What's the diagnosis?" Cry asked. The nurse took a deep breath before continuing.

"I've never seen anything like the solution that was injected into Mark in my entire life! I've done some tests on it and I found that it's attacking him in two places. The first part of the solution is attacking his brain. His amygdala, the area of the brain that controls emotion, is going haywire and so that he has no control over his emotions. Also, his brain isn't producing any acetylcholine, which is a chemical that prevents the more serious effects of adrenaline from hurting the body. As a result, his heart is becoming weaker and weaker by the minute."

"Oh my God…" Jerome gasped in disbelieve.

"The second part of the solution is attacking his body. The acids are slowly eating away at his vital organs…" The nurse continued.

"You can do something to help right?! You have to be able to do something!" said Saph. The nurse shook her head.

"I'm so sorry. The acids are all over his body so we can't remove it all and there's no medicine in my arsenal that I know of that can combat this awful stuff. My healing powers can't heal chemical wounds. I'm afraid that if he doesn't get this concoction out of him then…he'll die…in a matter of days."

"NO! YOU'RE JUST NOT TRYING HARD ENOUGH! THERE'S ALWAYS A WAY!" Saph cried out in protest. "PLEASE YOU HAVE TO HELP HIM!"

"I'm sorry, I can't do anything to save your friend…" the nurse then exited the room.

"What are we going to do?! Mark can't die! We have to do something!" Adam yelled.

"We can and we will do something." Felix spoke up and all eyes turned to him.

"What can we do?" asked Minx.

"I've heard something about an antidote while eavesdropping on Sebastian. He mentioned it being somewhere in a safe in their laboratory. If we could sneak in there and get the antidote Mark still has a fighting chance!" Felix explained.

"Well who's gonna go on the mission?" Mitch wondered out loud.

"I'll go since I can morph into things that can be helpful. Cry should also come because of his power of invisibility. Felix, you have to come too since you know the area the best." Saph pointed to Felix and Cry.

"That's it? I want to help too!" Ty complained. He wanted to prove that he is just as powerful as everyone else in the room. Saph placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry Ty. We can't bring a lot of people for stealth's sake and your power doesn't exactly fit in this situation. You understand right?" Ty nodded his head.

"So when are we gonna leave?" Jerome stepped up.

"The sooner the better, for Mark's sake. We'll all meet up at my room at 9:00 tonight. Then Felix, Cry, and I will leave. Everyone got it?" Saph concluded and everyone agreed. Before leaving, everyone said their goodbyes to Mark. Eventually, Saph was the only one left with Mark. She walked over and held his limp hand tightly; it's good that the heavy anesthesia was working. The last thing Saph wanted was for Mark to be in pain, physically or mentally. The door to the room opened and Cry's head popped out from behind it. He stepped closer to her and put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"I think we should let him get some rest." Cry whispered into her ear and they walked out of the hospital, leaving Mark to fight the battle in his own head.

Sorry this chapter was a little shorter than the rest. The next one should be longer and very action packed…YAY! Remember, don't forget to review and comment on what you like, don't like, or any suggestions you have for the story! I plan to wrap up this story in about 3 or 4 more chapters… all good things must come to an end I guess. Thanks so much for 3,000 views guys! Have a nice day! Bye!