OH GOD I AM SO SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN FOR-FUCKING-EVER! I'll try to post another chapter this weekend to make up for it!

...

Something moves within the night that is not good and is not right. Hurry!

"No…"

The broken glass crackled underfoot and rain was once again pouring in, splattering on the tile and spreading the pool of pink-tinged water. Wind howled through the shattered glass frame and the curtains lashed like something alive, momentarily obscuring the hulking shape in the doorway. A low growl radiated from the shadow as it ducked in the broken door.

Topaz staggered from her chair, leg dragging behind her. She managed enough sense to grab the gun she had left out on the table and clutch it to her body.

"Hello Topaz." Bellamy's voice was full of red-hot hatred and he was a dark silhouette stepping up behind the monster lurking in the threshold. "I guess you didn't take my warning fast enough," he snarled. "If you had left as soon as the bitch handed you the note, you could be long gone by now."

Topaz's back hit the wall and, with shaking hands, she leveled her gun at his face. "Get back!" She whispered and then shouted, "Get away from me!"

Bellamy laughed low in his throat and then spat. "Now, now if you keep up that attitude, I'll just… take it out on your Law…" he snarled.

Her throat ran dry and the gun quivered wildly in her hands. "Law-kun is… alive?"

"Surprisingly, but he might not be for very long if you don't get that gun out of my face," Bellamy said.

Topaz bit her lip and lowered the gun a fraction of an inch. Her hands were steady again, but her eyes were rimmed with tears. "Please…don't hurt him…"

"Drop it," Bellamy snapped.

Her fingers turned limp and the gun clattered, spinning across the floor.

Bellamy stopped it with his foot and laughed again. "Were you really going to shoot me, Topaz?"

Jerkily, in a state of panicked joy at finding that Law was alive, she nodded.

Bellamy quirked an eyebrow. "Well, then, by all means," and he unhooked a long chain from the collar of the hulking beast, "start shooting."

The chain hit the floor with a loud jingle and then the dark shape launched itself at Topaz. Screaming, she didn't have the sense of mind to do more than hunker against the wall with her hands protectively over her face. The scream was still in her throat when she realized that the thing hadn't slammed into her.

She cracked open her jade-green eyes.

…

Kaito and Kuronue decided to stop by the hospital to check in on Marina and Ryou after seeing Topaz back into her house. Kaito didn't want to leave her alone, but she had been drifting around in such a state of depression that Kuronue half-dragged Kaito out of the house, saying that it would be best to just leave Topaz alone to think about what had happened. She'd come around or she'd die and there was nothing anyone could do about it. The only one who could save her now was Law and he was…

They pulled into the hospital lot, Kaito in his woody Station Wagon behind Kuronue's big black Ford pick-up. They stood together in front of the hospital for a moment, looking at the storm-darkened sky.

"Think she'll make it?" Kaito whispered.

Kuronue grunted, noncommittal.

"If Law-kun turns out to be dead, Topaz-chan will be crushed."

Kuronue grunted again.

"Kuro?"

Said man grunted.

"Is it possible for her to make it again? After the first time, with Bellamy, I didn't think she'd ever open her heart again. Then, she got Law and, God, she was becoming friends with him and he was kind of like a healing for her. They were living for each other and I hoped they might fall in love," Kaito whispered.

Kuronue turned to look at Kaito from the corner of his crimson eyes. "Love? Even if they had, they could never have been together."

Kaito shivered.

"The kid is a slave and the girl is not. If they had been together, fallen in love, everyone around them would ridicule them." Kuronue pointed out sadly. "Besides, I think that a platonic love is what they really need. Both of them."

Kaito protested, "We would be there for them. Marina-chan and Ryou-kun would stick with them. No one else matters."

Kuronue shook his head and gripped Kaito's shoulder tightly in his big hand. "What if they did fall in love? Got married, had kids? They would all suffer. The kids would suffer every single day because their parents were a scorned union."

Tears gathered in Kaito's blue eyes and he shuddered. "But–"

Kuronue shook his head. "No, Kai, no." Then, he turned his face to the dark sky. "They can't ever be…"

It started to rain.

…

Ryou was bent over Marina's hand, holding it tightly in both of his. He hadn't eaten or slept since the accident. He just sat there, holding her as if that would keep her anchored to him. God, if she died, he would be sold again, back into the world of blood and pain and back-breaking labor. He was property, to be sold upon his owner's passing.

The doctors didn't know if she would ever wake up.

Tears squeezed behind his green eyes and swelled beneath his lids.

And if she didn't…

His back wracked with sobs.

If she died…

Ryou wouldn't be in as bad a spot as Law would be. Ryou was a field slave, a work slave, a body slave. Law was a sex slave, a skin slave, the worst kind of slave. If Topaz died and Law went back to a cruel woman's, or man's, bed to be filled by them, he would be destroyed. The body was the soul's last sanctuary and, as a sex slave, the body was demolished like an unwanted building. Topaz' friendship and kindness had applied a fresh coat of paint to Law and he was beginning to think himself at least a hut. Being sold again would return him to a heap of rotted broken boards.

But Law was dead and it didn't really matter.

Marina was still alive… for now…

There was a quiet knock at the door.

Ryou quickly sniffled and dried his face. "Yeah, come on in," he called.

The door eased open and Kaito's blond head and deeply saddened red-rimmed sapphire eyes poked around the threshold. Kuronue growled and shoved the slender man through the doorway with a huff before entering behind him. He closed the door quietly.

"Hey, kid," Kuronue said. "How's it going?"

"How's Marina-chan?" Kaito asked and took a seat at the young woman's bedside. He gripped her hand and then rubbed it vigorously. "She's cold."

Ryou shivered and pulled the blankets up tighter under her chin. "Where's Topaz-chan?"

"We brought her home," Kuronue said.

"Is she there alone?" Ryou asked.

Kaito nodded.

Ryou laid Marina's hand down on the covers and pushed back from the bed. He stood and paced to the bathroom, then back to the bed. "Someone should be with her," he murmured. "Something is going to happen."

"Something bad?" Kaito whispered.

"I have a...feeling..." Ryou nodded and then turned to Kuronue. "Will you drive me there?"

"Now?" The big man asked incredulously.

Ryou nodded.

"Alright, sure."

"Kaito-san, will you stay here with Marina-chan?" Ryou asked. His voice broke.

"Of course, Ryou-kun," Kaito said and rubbed Marina's cold pale hand.

Outside, the storm whipped itself into a greater fury.

…

Bellamy was holding back the creature with one hand and leering at Topaz around it. "Afraid?"

She scrambled to her feet and ripped the other gun from her shoulder holster. She fired off three shots with her eyes squeezed tightly shut. There was an insane howl of rage and pain and the thunk of one bullet tearing into the drywall.

"Get her!" Bellamy screamed.

The creature launched itself at Topaz and she ducked. It slammed into the wall, denting and cracking it. Then, it landed hard on top of Topaz's lower body, crushing her crippled leg and wrenching her good one. Screaming, she fought against the creature.

Then, she realized what it was…

X X X

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