A/N: I have really got to stop with the angst. Next new fic I write will be less angsty, I promise. But I'll wait till I finish this one first. Anyway, this chapter switches POV in the middle, but I'm sure you'll understand it, you're all intelligent people. You have to excuse the fact that everything is so down-in-the-dumps with this. I use my writing to vent my feelings, and I've had a crappy summer so far. People bitching about my best friends, for example, then turning on me. Yet another reason why Howard punched Finley in the face. Enough about me. Read on, my friend...

Disclaimer: I own none of this. Nothing. Not even this full stop.

Howard's POV

I knew there was something wrong as soon as I woke up. Vince was sitting in the middle of the floor, his knees tucked up beneath his chin, eyes wide open as he stared at nothing.

"Vince?" I whispered. No answer. I said it a little louder. "Vince." His head jerked up and he looked me in the eye. "What happened, Vince? Did you go back?" He shook his head.

"No, Howard. S'worse than that." He stood up on shaking legs and I saw the bloodstains on his jumper.

"Oh, my god. Vince, what happened? Who did that?" I sat up and looked him up and down in terror.

"It was me." He ducked his head and wouldn't look me in the eye. I stood up and went over to him, but he kept his face turned away. I lifted his chin so he was looking me in the eye.

"Vince. Show me." He reluctantly took off his jumper, discarding it on the dusty floor. He pulled up his t-shirt sleeve to show an angry gash at the top of his arm.

"I'm sorry, Howard. It just happened." He looked at me, his eyes devoid of emotion, like he couldn't feel anything now.

"Don't apologise to me. It isn't me who's suffering. Why did you do it?"

"I just… I felt like… I'm not sure. It was like it was programmed into my brain, and someone let it out, and it was automatic."

"It's gonna be alright, little man. We're gonna fix this, you know that." I hugged him, trying to comfort him somehow. But I couldn't. I knew that, and so did he. He didn't move in my arms, just stood with his hands down by his sides. He whispered:

"This isn't right, Howard."

"What?" He pulled away from me and looked up into my eyes.

"That you should have to comfort me all the time. You promised to protect me, and you've done it way too much lately. You keep trying to make it better, but you can't. No one can. No one except me. I have to sort this out on my own, Howard."

"No, you don't. I told you I'm always here, and I am. I won't abandon you for this."

"Howard. Please." He knitted his fingers together and gestured towards me like he was praying. "There's something going on with Finley, and I don't want you involved."

"I think it's too late for that."

"You know what I mean. I need to go and stay with him now. I need to stay away from you."

"Why?" I demanded. He sighed and closed his eyes.

"Howard, when you promised to protect me, I promised to protect you. I've not needed to yet. But Finley will kill you for what you did to him. If I go to him, he'll lose interest in you. He can have much more fun with me. But, Howard, I won't be able to come back, or he'll start on you."

"Never?"

"No. Unless we get rid of him somehow, and I don't know how we could do that." I sighed deeply, feeling tears form in my eyes. So this was it. The end of what we'd preserved for so long was going to come because I punched a madman in the face. But I knew Vince was right. I didn't deserve to be protected, but I did think Vince would be safer away from me. Finley would get fed up with him after a while, and then he would still have Alena. Better that he be safe with her than still facing a threat with me. So I nodded slowly.

"Alright. Are you taking your stuff?"

"Some of it. I'll come back for the rest soon."

"And you're going now? This morning?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry."

"No, I understand. Gather up what you're taking." He nodded and began to collect up his art materials and a few clothes, packing them haphazardly in his suitcase. Then he turned to me.

"I have to say goodbye too much nowadays." He said.

"Then don't say it. This isn't the end, Vince. You know it isn't." I replied.

"It's the end for now. So I guess I should say it. Goodbye Howard. I'll miss you more than anything."

"I'll miss you as well." I hugged him tightly. "And remember: You're the sunshine kid. You can never forget that."

"No. I won't." He picked up his case and walked out of the room, not turning back. I noticed his jumper still on the floor where he had left it. I wanted to run and give it to him. But I didn't think he would want it. It was covered in his blood, where he'd tried to stop the bleeding, I assumed. I picked it up and looked at it. Then I screwed it up and threw it onto the camp bed, trying to ignore the hurt.

Vince's POV

When I walked into the studio, almost everyone turned to look. Of course, they would. They all knew who I was now. And they knew Finley would have it in for me. I put my suitcase down just inside the door and walked over to Alena. I tried not to let the terror show. She put an arm around me and rubbed my shoulder.

"I guess it didn't work?" She said quietly.

"It worked fine." I replied. "I had to leave him behind. He's safer without me."

"What do you mean?"

"With me here, Finley'll leave Howard alone." She was quiet for a minute.

"I hate to say it, but I think you're right."

"Where is he, anyway?"

"He's gone out to get something." We didn't need to say what that something was. We both knew that he'd gone to get drugs, which he would sell to us.

"Come outside with me?" I asked. She nodded, and we went downstairs and out of the back door. She picked up a jacket on the way to stay warm. We went and sat down on the bench beside the now-dead fire. I shivered in the cool morning air, realising I had left my jumper back in our room. Alena looked at me with wide eyes and said:

"Vince, what happened to your arm?" I tugged my t-shirt sleeve down a little further.

"Nothing."

"That isn't nothing. You've not been injecting or something, have you?"

"No, don't be stupid."

"Good. That stuff is way more serious than what we're doing."

"Is it, though? It's probably no more addictive than what we're on. And anyway, how do we know we're just smoking weed? Finley could be dosing us up on anything. How would we know?"

"I… What do you mean anything?"

"He could be putting crack in there. We'd be too out of it to know any different. We're in trouble, Alena. I don't know what to do."

"Me neither, Vince. If I did, I'd have been out of here long ago." I nodded and shivered again. "Don't you have a jumper?" She asked.

"I left it in our room. I don't dare go back up there."

"Do you want mine?"

"No. Keep it. Should be the other way around, anyway."

"What, you should be offering your jacket to me?"

"Yeah. Like a gentleman."

"Vince, you're a lot of things. Gentleman has never been one of them. No offence."

"None taken. I know I'm not always as polite as I should be. I don't think about it."

"It's alright. You should be what you are, not what people want you to be."

"My friend said that to me before we left."

"Who's that?"

"His name's Naboo. He always looked after me and Howard, always got us out of trouble. It's a shame he isn't here. He'd have known what to do."

"Would he?"

"Yeah. He's really, really clever. He knows almost everything. And he's always got a remedy for your problems, although sometimes it's just a fake one. He uses trickery to make you believe in it."

"Like a placebo?"

"Yeah, I guess. And then there was Bollo. He was always there with a big gorilla hug for me."

"You mean a bear hug?"

"No, a gorilla hug. He looked after me as well. They were the best."

"What about Howard? He looked after you too."

"Yeah. And now I'm looking after him by keeping Finley away from him. We made a promise to each other that first night. Neither of us are going to break it."

"Okay. As long as you know what you're doing."

"I do. At least, I hope I do."

Reviews would be the loveliest thing ever.

PS. Anyone else watch Russell Brand's show about drug addiction? I found it very moving and very honest; it helped me see the world from another point of view. Also, it was nice to see someone who shared my opinion on drug addiction and how it should be dealt with; as an illness instead of a crime.

PPS. I'm thinking about changing my pen name, since it doesn't really go with the themes of my story. My name on nearly every other site is WearerOfCapes, so I may change it to that. What d'you think?

I really am going now. Much Love x