There's nothing but silence and darkness around Kenny for a long while. Till a faint call breaks it. It's muffled and far away. Then there's more of them, all muffled and distant. There's the faint feeling of movement around him he thinks, but everything is still dark. Then it's silent again, before a sudden light fills his eyes for a split second from the darkness.
"He's lost too much blood!" a voice says, distant. "We need a transfusion!"
"Take mine!" another says.
"He could die though!"
"He could die either way if we don't! Besides, I'm the only match for his blood type here!"
"...Alright."
Kenny's mind fades out again as something he's vaguely aware of pinches him.
"Hang in there Kenny."
And it's the last thing he hears before falling back under darkness.
Then there's nothing for a long time. Just the darkness. But a faint pull starts to tug at him from somewhere, his chest he thinks. Then there's a strange thin white line, like that of a string, a glowing one. He reaches a hand up towards it and grabs it. He starts to follow it forward for a while, until he spots the end of it leading to a bright light, growing as he goes along. It's brightness grows more and more to the point of which any remaining darkness is gone and he is consumed by nothing but the light of it. The light is blinding at first until it slowly fades and ceiling tiles of some sort come into view.
Kenny's eyes take a moment to focus, before he glances around and finds himself now lying in a room. He glances down and sees he's on a bed, propped up at an angle.
"Kenny?" a voice asks and he glances over to its source sitting next to a window.
"St...an?" he asks, voice dry and very hoarse.
"You're awake," Stan says in disbelief.
"Where… am I? What happened?" Kenny asks and moves to sit up, but stops when there's a sharp pain in his side.
"Whoa hold up, don't move. You still got to heal," Stan says, walking over to him.
"What happened?" Kenny asks again.
"You don't remember?" Stan asks back, concerned.
"I…" it takes a moment for him to think about it, but when he does and starts to wake more, it all starts flooding back. "Damien was there and—"
"Damien?" Stan asks.
"Yeah, he showed up then—" Kenny's expression shifts, "Craig! Where's Craig?!"
"About that…" Stan trails off
"Stan, what happened? Tell me!"
"Well," Stan starts, "when I got back to you, Craig was gone and I only saw you there on the ground bleeding. And started to panic and look for a way to stop the bleeding. Which I managed to do. Then the others showed up and also were pretty panicked by the sight at first, before we moved you to another location and were able to stitch you up. Bebe did the best she could, with Kyle's help, but says it would still be a good idea to bring you to a hospital once you woke up… which started to seem a bit unlikely after a while to us."
"What do you mean?" Kenny asks, "How long was I out for?"
"Two weeks," Stan replies.
"What…?"
"You went into a comatose state and wouldn't wake up until, well... today," Stan adds.
A dread of some sort fills Kenny at that as it sets in just how long it had been.
"Hang on a sec, I'll go get the others to help fill you in more," Stan says walking to the door, "plus I'm sure they'd want to see you now too, since you're awake," and he exits the room leaving Kenny to his thoughts.
"Two whole weeks," Kenny mumbles, "Craig…" he grips the sheets tight in his hands.
His thoughts wondering what had happened to Craig since then. Not knowing if he was okay or not. A short while passes before Stan returns with Kyle, Bebe and a few others.
"Kenny," Kyle says and draws his attention to him, "glad to see you're awake," he smiles.
"Yeah," Bebe nods.
"Stan said he filled you in on some of what happened?" Kyle asks.
"A bit," Kenny replies, "just of what happened when I was found and then brought here."
"I see, then," Kyle says.
"Where are we anyways?" Kenny asks.
"The Beta District. In one of our bases we managed to bring you back once your bleeding had stopped. And Bebe patched you up with some of my help."
"Yeah, although, you did lose a lot of blood and we were worried that you may not make it," Bebe says, "so we had to give you a transfusion, which seemed to have helped in the end. Thankfully."
"I see…" Kenny murmurs, "do you know what happened to Craig at all? Any of you?"
"We're not really sure," Kyle replies, "Stan said something about Damien? That you mentioned before? Was he there?"
"He was the one who gave me this wound," Kenny replies and everyone gives a worried look, "he was also the one who took Craig away."
"Well if that's that's the case, and he is with Damien… then chances are he would probably be in the Alpha District now," Kyle tells him.
"Yeah it would make the most sense since Damien has gone back there himself, since his business negotiations are done now," Stan says.
"But how can we know that he's actually with him or where he would be?" Kyle asks, "I mean the most likely place would be Thorn Tower, but we can't be sure…"
"I can ask Wendy!" Bebe says and everyone looks at her.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Stan asks.
"Yeah, she won't mind, plus she's a great detective and our informative after all," she replies.
"Yeah but—"
"Please," Kenny interrupts, "ask her if she can find anything out."
Everyone falls silent and Bebe gives a small nod.
"Of course," she replies and heads for the door, "I'll just make a quick call."
"Kenny," Kyle says as she leaves, "even if he ends up turning out to be there, it may be too far out of our hands to help him anymore. Especially with where the location is. So it might be best to let him go."
Kenny doesn't reply and instead looks away, out the window.
"Kenny seriously—"
"Take me to the hospital," Kenny says, cutting Stan off.
"Huh?" Stan says.
"You said I needed to go to the hospital once I woke up, right? Then take me to one," he replies.
"But you can't even get up yet," Stan tells him.
Kenny looks back, then down, then moves the blankets away and turns in the bed, moving his legs over the sides and tries to stand.
"Whoa—hey, Kenny—wait—stop!" Stan exclaims and goes over to him.
Kenny grabs his arms as he tries to stand and looks up at him.
"Take me to one. Now." Kenny orders.
Stan glances back to Kyle, who nods, then looks back.
"Okay," Stan says and tries to help him up.
As he's guided and helped out of the room, his mind wanders and he thinks to Craig.
Hang on. I'll find you Craig.
…
Elsewhere, in a bleak looking industrial city filled with many tall buildings, stands a figure overlooking it all from inside atop a high skyscraper with all thick glass windows. There's a tight pull in their chest as they place their hand onto the cool window surface and let out a small sigh.
"Kenny…" a hand moves to their chest and they grip it. Bunching up the shirt fabric under it. Their eyes close and a tear rolls and falls from their face. "You're alive," they sigh with a shaky breath and smile to themself in relief, "thank god…"
Before more tears can be shed, a door to the room they're in opens and they quickly wipe the tears away and turn around.
"Admiring the view again, are we Craig?" Craig glares as Damien walks in and shuts the door, "Oh come now, you're not still tense around me are you? I haven't done anything to you have I? I even gave you this nice big bedroom with a bathroom and fireplace attached to it. So why the untrust?"
Craig keeps his glare though. Even though it was true, he hadn't done much to him since the day he was brought here, which was surprising, he still didn't trust him at all. And couldn't understand why he hadn't yet.
"If I remember correctly, I was stripped of my coat and forcibly had a pregnancy test shoved inside of me, against my will," Craig says.
"I needed to make sure if you were with child or not," Damien shrugs, "which reminds me, the results came in for that a few days ago. And they were negative, so you could imagine how ecstatic I was to hear that," he smirks. Something in Craig makes him tense at that and also gives a small feel of disappointment in the back of his mind. "Oh and that coat was burned by the way," he adds on.
"What?!" Craig exclaims in shock.
"Oh really, don't be so shocked. I couldn't have you walking around in it, with that other man's scent all over you, now could I?" Damien says, as if matter of fact. "Come now, I'm here to tell you we're going for a little walk today, hmm? You must be bored of being occupied everyday in here, right?"
"I wouldn't be, if you didn't lock the door," Craig tells him.
"True, but I can't have you running away now, can I?" Damien says and as he walks closer he reveals a black collar and leash in his hands. "Now be a good boy." Craig doesn't even try to fight it, because he knows he can't win, all he can do is stare at Damien with a glare, as the black leather collar is strapped onto his neck. "Now, let's go." he tells him and gives a light tug on the leash.
Craig reluctantly follows, not wanting to face the consequences of resisting as he's led out of the big fancy room. He's led down several halls and turns before coming to an elevator and exiting it into a huge glass windowed space, brimming with flowers and other plant life. He's guided down a pathway until they come to a stop by a large fountain.
"Well, what do you think?" Damien asks, "I told you I had a garden before, didn't I? Hopefully it makes you feel more at home here."
"Why don't you just let me go home?" Craig asks back.
"Oh no, I can't do that. We've been over this. You agreed to come with me and so you shall stay here with me and keep your word," Damien tells him and Craig glares at him.
"That was before you tried to kill Kenny," he growls.
"Don't speak back," Damien tells him and Craig looks away, turning his head.
"I'm not yours," he mutters.
It seems to set something off in Damien as he grabs Craig's face and turns it to him.
"Oh, but you will be," he says, his tone low, "soon I will make you mine."
A trickle of fear runs down Craig's spine at that. He tries to turn his head away and free it, but Damien keeps it in place and leans forward, forcing a kiss onto Craig's lips. Craig tries to pull away, but Damien wraps an arm around his waist and deepens the kiss more. Craig struggles to push him off but to no avail as Damien just forces himself onto Craig more, by tightening his hold on him. When a hand slides down over his ass and gropes him, he begins to panic and bites Damien's lip hard. Hard enough to draw blood and enough to cause it all to stop. Damien pulls away with a small curse, before wiping the drawn blood away and smirking.
"So feisty. I hope you keep that up for later on," he says and pulls the leash forward, drawing Craig close to his face again, "I can't wait for then. We'll have so much fun together. You and I."
The look in Damien's eyes sends a chill through Craig. He had wondered why Damien hadn't done much to him yet. But now it made sense. And knowing it, filled Craig with dread.