Chapter 6: Awake ("Please...tell me that was just a nightmare...")

Eric Pov

"What do you think, Eric?"

"H-huh?" I stammered, snapping out of my thoughts.

"He's you're twin. You must have some idea as to where he could've gone," Platinum replied. Sam had been missing since yesterday afternoon. After he left to get makeup for Platinum's bruise, we never heard from him again.

"Well, actually, I-" I began, but stopped and jumped out of my skin when the doorbell rang. Because of how old it was, it seemed to echo through the whole house. The doorbell rang again... and again... and again... again, and again, and again, and again.

"Kid," we all said at once. Sebastian, whom was making new coffee, finally answered the door when he noticed none of us were going to.

"Good day, Master Kid," Sebastian greeted. More like good dawn, I thought to myself. It's only 5:00 after all.

"Not very good at all, I'm afraid," Kid sighed. "There was a murder late last night, we just got the call." My eyes widened as I heard this. I turned to meet his gaze, and he looked confused. "What?"

"Who was it?"

"...Donner," he replied. "He was last seen yesterday morning."

"No, we saw him yesterday afternoo- agh!" Platinum began, but was cut off by a sharp elbow to the ribs by Roger.

"He came by to use our shower yesterday afternoon. We had nothing to do with it," Roger grumbled.

"I never accused you of anything," Kid said.

"My brother's missing."

"He is? When did this happen?"

"Yesterday. He's been gone since around 2 p.m yesterday," I whispered, my voice trembling. "We called the police, but they said we had to wait at least 48 hours, then it would actually become a case."

"That's total bull shit!" Kid yelled, catching us all by surprise. "Total asymmetrical bull shit! 4 is one of the most asymmetrical numbers of them all!"

"Kid, that's not really the-"

"Yes I know," Kid said quickly. "But anyway, I have come to inform you that you can't leave your house."

"Why?" Simon asked. "Sam is out there! We need to find him!" Kid pinched the bridge of his nose slightly.

"L-look guys, I know that you do. But this is the first murder that Death City has seen in a long time. We need to find the source."

"My twin brother is locked out of our building, and there's a murderer out there!"

"He could be the murderer…" Roger muttered softly. I whipped around, nostrils flaring.

"How dare you say that!" I cried. "Sam wouldn't do that!"

"Don't get any ideas into his head Roger," Simon scolded. "The only concern is finding him. We can ask him what happened later."

"The city's under lockdown, and we're currently worried about Donner and his killer," Kid said. "But… I will look for your brother. I'll call you when I find him." And with that, the shimigami was gone.

/

"Sam? Sam, where are you?" Kid called. He had been searching for hours, and there was still no sign of Sam. Homes had been visited, towns' people had been called, but no one had seen the boy anywhere. "Saaaam!"

"…Hello? Who's there?" Kid ran towards the voice and found Sam just outside the entrance to Death City.

"Sam, thank god I-"he stopped, as his eyes widened. Sam was propped up on his shoulders, his clothes and hands soaked with blood that dripped into the red pool that he laid in. A baseball bat was on the ground a few feet away. "Sam, what… what did you do?!"

"I don't know! I mean, I didn't do anything! I mean, I…" he boy stopped. His body quaking, he whispered, "I have no idea…"

/

Simon Pov

I stared at the pavement as we walked towards the DWMA. I couldn't feel anything, my body was completely numb. My eyes wandered up to Eric, who no longer attempted to hide his tears.

"He didn't do it Eric," I murmured, giving his hand a soft squeeze. He smiled weakly and sniffed. We had gotten a call from Kid, explaining what he saw. From what he described, it sounded a lot like Sam had murdered Donner. But it wasn't true… it couldn't be. I braced myself as we arrived at the DWMA. Kid led us to the hospital wing and knocked on the door.

"I brought them like you asked," Kid said, when Stein answered the door.

"Simon, I need you to talk to him," he instructed. Eric looked ready to protest, but Roger stopped him. "He's still asleep, but he'll be awake soon. I just need you to get whatever information you can from him." I nodded, and walked into the hospital wing. When I realized that professor Stein wasn't coming in with me, I felt a nervousness that I couldn't identify. My eyes wandered over to where Sam slept.

"Sam?" I murmured, touching his arm slightly. His eyes flickered and he stared at me, fear and confusion swimming in his eyes.

"What's going on?" Sam whimpered his breathing uneasy. I sat down on the bed and he sat up a bit. "Please…tell me that was a nightmare…"

"What happened?" I asked, looking him over. I noticed a gold coloration in his hair, and lifted my hand to investigate it. "What's up with your hair?" Sam groaned and buried his head in his hands.

"Shit… I knew it was real…" Noticing my confused expression, Sam explained. When he finished, I felt completely brain dead.

"So… you were knocked out, went to another dimension that was the opposite of Death City-"

"Life City."

"-Right. You went to Life City, and some guy who was the opposite of Kid made you powerful? And then you woke up?"

"Y-yeah…" Sam trailed off. "But he did say something about eggs… rotten eggs. It sounded awfully familiar."

"Are you sure that you were knocked out?" I asked.

"Yeah, why?" I put my hands over my mouth a quick second. How was I going to tell him? This was going to be terrible news that he probably won't be able to handle.

"Sam… umm…" I began, choosing my words carefully. "Sam, you've been accused of murder…" shit. I suppose I could've been a bit more considerate with my word choice…

"Wha… I-I….I…how?" he whispered, desperately trying not to freak out.

"The town went under lockdown. You were the only person outside. They found you with only one injury, blood all over you, and a baseball bat next to you. And when they found Donner, his face was smashed in…"

"…Donner?"

"Yeah." Sam choked and let out a painful sob. I wrapped my arms around him without a second thought, and pulled him in close. A few feet away, I saw his shirt and pants on the table. They were completely drenched in blood.

"S-imon, I had nothing to do with this… I swear…" he cried. I rubbed his bare back and tried to calm him down.

"I know," I murmured. I felt his tears leak through my shirt as he buried his face in my chest. I began to panic slightly. I wasn't an expert of comforting people, so I tried to think back to when I first came to Death City. During my first year here, we had all gotten food poisoning from pre-cooked chicken. Steve hadn't eaten it, so he was in charge of taking care of us. Puking always used to scare me, but Steve would rub my back and sing to me. I wasn't necessarily a good singer, but it was worth a try. "See, here's the bloody, bloody truth… you will hurt and you will lose. I've got scars you won't believe…- bless you" I chuckled, as Sam let out a high pitched sneeze.

"Thanks," he whispered, and let his head rest against my neck. After a moment's hesitation, Sam intertwined his fingers with mine. I only had four fingers on that hand from when I first met him, but it was still comfortable.

"Wear them proudly on my sleeve… I hope you'll have the sense to know, that sadness comes and sadness goes… Love so hard and play life loud, it's the only thing to give a damn about…" I stopped slowly when Sam sighed with content. I rested my chin on his shoulder and smiled to myself. Given the situation, this was the most comfortable I had felt in a long while. Sam leaned back and looked at me, his hands grasping my shoulders. He looked down for a second, and then back up at me, a smile forming on his face. His light brown eyes looked so warm and happy, and I had no idea how he could be this calm so suddenly.

"If they don't lock me up, I promise I'll become stronger…" his gaze was soft. "Really, I'll train extra hard, I'll even quit my job if that's what is takes." I chuckled and pulled him into a hug.

"You don't need to quit your job, I know how much you like working," I assured him. "I won't let them lock you up. We'll fix this."

/

We all waited nervously for the results. Ralph had asked Professor Stein about the blood on Sam's clothes, and that's when he realized that he hadn't done DNA tests. Sam may not have been injured, but that didn't mean that Donner's blood was on him. The baseball bat was being tested as well. The smoke from Stein's cigarette floated mysteriously around the room, and I heard him mumble to himself as he pondered over his papers.

"Hmm… the blood on the bat is his. That explains his head injury. As for the blood on his clothes, that's undefinable. But Donner's blood is A positive and the blood on his clothes is B. So, you're off the case Sam!" Stein said with a smile. "I'll investigate the blood on your clothes; in the meantime, you guys go home."

"I knew you didn't do it, brother!" Eric cried happily, throwing his arms around Sam.

"Thank god that's over!" Roger exclaimed.

"You said it!" Piggy agreed. I looked over at Sam. For a split second, panic flashed in his eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it came. He was concerned about something, I just didn't know what…