HOME | DD

Description
The next several days found Stein pacing outside the hospital room. He hadn't slept very well since sedating the patient, and found it difficult to remain in that room for very long now. Still, he didn't want to go very far, wanted to remain nearby in case something changed, which meant that he stayed just outside and looked in occasionally. The patient had been restrained now, with soft but sturdy leather cuffs at his wrists. The cuffs had been designed to also keep his form constant, which meant that he could neither summon his blades nor transform into a weapon; it was safer that way both for him and for the hospital staff.

Stein paused in his pacing to lean against the wall, staring listlessly at the ceiling. By rights, after the episode that first night, the patient ought to have been transferred to the psych ward, but Stein had not given that order. He wasn't quite sure why; perhaps some part of him was in denial, still hoping that the events of that night had simply been the result of severe disorientation. Of course, they hadn't been. He absently reached up to trace the new line of stitches on his lab coat. They were right above a similar line on his skin, where the man's blade had cut him in the patient's initial panic, and the white fabric was still stained with dark red where he hadn't bothered to wash the blood out. Simple disorientation, however severe, would not have led to that man attacking him.

And now in addition to worrying about the patient's state, Stein thought, he also had to deal with Maka. He'd already had to send her away twice that week with some talk about how the man was still asleep and there'd been no change. Technically, it was the truth; the man was sedated, and thus asleep, and there had been no change to his physical state. His mental one, of course, was intensely changed, but Maka didn't need to know that. Not yet. Not ever, hopefully. Stein knew his patient wouldn't want her to know; the man loved his daughter too much to potentially hurt her with that kind of knowledge.

Privately, Stein wondered if keeping the man sedated had been the right call. On the one hand, no one could deny the patient needed the rest, but on the other...sedation locked someone inside their head with no escape, and if things were as bad as Stein feared in this particular patient's case then the sedation might do more harm than good in the long run. He made a mental note to ease off the sedatives and give the patient a chance to wake up. Maybe just rest had helped and there was no need to be this worried...it was a nice thought, even if he didn't actually believe it.

He was just starting to pace again when a sudden scream came from the patient's room. The primal fear and desperation in the call sent a sudden chill down Stein's spine and the scientist quickly pulled the door open, dashing inside. "Senpai!"

The patient was tossing in the bed, the restraints keeping him from moving too much but causing the bed to shake with each struggling movement. Stein hurried to his side then hesitated. The man was still asleep, caught in the throes of a nightmare...if he woke to Stein holding him down it might make things worse. The scientist was frozen, hit by a completely unfamiliar and chilling realization; he had no idea what to do here. He wanted to help the man, to make the nightmare end, the pain go away, but he didn't know how. Every idea that came to mind carried with it the risk that Stein would just be making things worse. It wasn't a feeling he liked.

Still, he couldn't just stand by and watch as his former partner struggled against a nightmare from which waking seemed impossible. Stein reached down to put a hand on the man's shoulder, reaching out to touch his wavelength and perhaps calm him that way. The scientist was completely unprepared for the chaos he felt as he did so and jerked his hand away, staring down at the man in shock. It was even worse than he'd thought...

It had been dark to begin with. It was always dark. Occasionally the darkness would begin to lift but he would be plunged right back down in it. He didn't mind much; it was almost restful. Nothing was happening in this darkness. Nothing touched him, no pain, no cold or heat, just darkness and silence. He almost wished it would never end. But of course it did.

He'd known it couldn't last. It never did. A faint red glow began to light the darkness, defining it, giving shape to the shadows as he lay motionless where he'd been bound. His eyes flickered around the space, dully taking in the new light. Was it beginning again? Was it not over, as he'd dared to hope?

No. It wasn't. A shape moved in the red-lit dark, a shape that somehow escaped definition but that he knew. He tried to move, to sit up, but his body felt incredibly heavy, unwilling to respond to his commands. The clink of chain...he was bound down, the metal suddenly feeling cold against his skin. The shape drew nearer, something flashing in the red glow. Something long, metallic, sharp.

No. Not again. He tried to free himself from the chains, fighting against his unwilling body. He had to get up, get out, get away. It couldn't be happening again, he'd run, he'd been free...the chains held him fast, tight against something hard beneath him that he knew to be metal. "No..."

The word sounded strange to his ears, muffled and distorted. The shape paused, standing over him, the blade – for he knew it was a blade, even if he couldn't see it clearly – in its hand raising. He struggled harder against the chains that held him down, wide eyes never leaving the blade as it slowly descended. "No...no, please..."

If the figure heard him, it made no sign. The blade rested now against his chest, right at the base of his ribcage, and he hardly dared to breathe. "Please..." he repeated, something making him speak even though he knew it was useless. Words would not stop what was about to happen.

And then it came. The blade pushed down, breaking the skin and opening his body as the figure dragged it downwards. There was nothing he could do, no way to stop it. Something pushed his head up as the cut began, tilting it at an angle where he could see what was being done, how he was being laid open like...like some experiment, or a body used in an anatomy lesson.

He let out a scream, the pain increasing as he tried to tighten muscles that were in the process of being cut, and tried to close his eyes, but it did no good. He could still see the blade moving, his skin parting to reveal the muscle below. The blade raised, then lowered again, this time opening the muscle to reveal what was below that. He struggled, hampered now by the pain as well as the chains, and knew it was pointless.

But then a new sensation, a lighter note in the darkness that he didn't understand, made itself known. Even as the blade completed its second pass he stared desperately at a pale point in the darkness, trying to lift an immobilized hand to reach it. He could feel the warmth starting to pool around him, his own blood relieving the chill of the chains for the barest moment...he had to reach that point, that light. It had never been there before, it was different. It was all he had right now. He surged toward it, putting everything he had into breaking free and reaching that single, tiny point of light, but could feel himself slipping back downwards, pulled by the chains that held him to the table. Help me...!

Stein jerked back a little as the man's eyes flew open with another short scream, an expression of blind panic clouding their blue depths. His breathing was quick and shallow and his eyes darted over the room without consciously seeing it. "...Senpai...?" Stein said, not sure if the man would hear him or not. Would his voice register, somewhere behind that wild-animal stare?

It didn't look that way. The man tried to sit up, still caught in his panic, and noticed the presence of the cuffs. That caused another scream, and he jerked against them in desperation, making the bed shake so badly Stein began wondering if he'd need to sedate the man again. "Senpai! It's all right!" he said, reaching out to turn the man's head to face him.

The patient jerked his head away with a cry of "No!" and fastened a panicked, desperate stare on Stein that sent another chill down the scientist's spine. There was no recognition in those eyes, not even the barest hint of the partner Stein had known for years, ever since their childhood. All that was left was – he hated to even think it – an animal presence running purely on survival instinct.

"No!" the man cried again, words now coming so fast they were almost unintelligible. "No, let me go, please just let me go, let me go, no more..." With each repetition he tugged at the restraints holding him to the bed, eyes shading from panicked desperation to a worryingly dull resignation as Stein watched, frozen. Eventually the patient seemed to run out of energy and simply lay in the bed, eyes shifting to stare at the ceiling listlessly.

Stein tentatively reached out to rest a hand on the man's shoulder, and wasn't sure whether to be relieved or more worried when there was no response. "Senpai…?" Dull blue eyes shifted to look at him, blinking slowly, still without recognition. "Senpai, it's me..." Stein prompted, trying to ignore the sudden and intense fear that the man had forgotten him. Surely he hadn't, surely he could remember...couldn't he?

The man blinked again then frowned slightly, eyes clearing a little. "...Stein...?"

Stein sighed inwardly in relief. "Yes. It's me."

Confusion entered the patient's expression, slow and faint but definitely there. "How...?" His eyes wandered around the room, taking in the white walls, the – in Stein's opinion rather dull – art, the tiled ceiling, before looking back at the silver-haired scientist. "W-where...am I?"

"Death City General Hospital," Stein told him, hand tightening on his shoulder for a moment.

"Death City...?" The man's eyes widened, a look of hope so desperate it was almost painful rising in his face. "I made it...?" A slow, disbelieving smile began to spread across his face and he started to reach up towards Stein. "I made-" the words, and smile, died as the restraints brought him up short. His eyes widened, unfocusing, and Stein tensed slightly. Did this mean another surge of panic?

Slowly the man looked down, pulling against the restraints as if testing them. "No..." The word was half whisper and hung in the air ominously. Just as slowly he looked up at Stein and the scientist could see what little reason there had been fading from the man's eyes. "It's a lie..."

"It's true," Stein said, thinking quickly. How could he head off another panicked surge? "Just calm down, you-"

"You're lying!" the man shouted, the restraints the only things keeping him from leaping out of the bed. "It's all a lie!"

"No! Senpai, listen to me!" Stein could feel the flickering of the man's wavelength, feel it surging towards chaos again, and knew he had to stop it now. "It's not a lie!"

"It is a lie!" the man jerked against the restraints. "Can't get up...drugging me...you're with them!"

Stein stiffened but shoved the notion of brooding about just who they were into the back of his head. No time for that now. "Listen to me! We had to restrain you, for your own safety!"

"Get away from me!" The man tried to jerk away from Stein, though the restraints prevented him from moving very far, and stared up at him in scared suspicion.

Stein just stood there, his hand not moving from where the man's shoulder had left it. "...I'm not going to hurt you," he said, his voice now a deadpan. There was too much emotion here, too much hurt and worry and fear of his own that he simply could not deal with right now. He shoved it away, taking refuge in the emotionless, stoic mask that was his usual appearance, and looked down at his patient.

The man was staring up at him, caught again in an almost animalistic survival mode. He was shaking, Stein could tell...from fear? Or something else? Adrenaline, almost certainly. What was obvious was that the man didn't believe his words, currently didn't quite recognize him. Was it too soon to take him off sedation? Stein didn't know.

Wordlessly the scientist turned away and started for the door, ignoring the quiet sound of surprise behind him. He couldn't handle this, not right now. Let the nurses deal with it for a bit. They would probably just sedate the patient again, though...but wasn't that for the best?

No. Stein directed his steps towards the nurses' station to inform them that the patient had woken and was not to be sedated again. There would be no progress at all if he didn't realize that he truly was in a hospital in Death City and not...wherever he had been for the past three months.

A sudden surge of anger filled Stein at the unanswered question; where had the man been? Who had done that to him? Stein wanted...no, he needed to find out. Whoever they had been, they had taken his friend, his partner, away, had done things to him Stein didn't want to imagine, and had sent him back...

He stopped that thought before it finished, unwilling to admit it even privately, and realized he'd walked right onto the balcony that he often used as a smoking area. It was quiet there, fairly private now that the hospital staff had gotten used to him using it, and Stein sank onto the small stone bench that was the balcony's only seating. He leaned forward, resting his head in his hands, and closed his eyes. How had he let this happen?

Perhaps it was an unfair question, but Stein asked it anyway. He should have looked harder, he should have taken that walk, there had to have been something he could have done to prevent this. Except that there hadn't been. No matter how hard he tried to think of something, anything, that would have stopped his old partner's abduction nothing came to mind.

The silver-haired scientist reached up to turn his screw a few times, trying to get a grip on himself. The anger, the pain, the fear, the worry were all swirling together in a huge emotional hurricane that he was not accustomed to. Normally he would write it out, attempt to make some sense of what he was feeling, but his journals were at his lab and he didn't want to go back there yet. Not and leave his patient here alone.

But how much good was he doing here, exactly? So far Stein had been witness to four episodes of panic, and had been the apparent cause of two of them. That wasn't exactly a good average. And then there was the fact that - he tensed at the surge of pain that washed through him at the thought – the man barely seemed to recognize him. Of all people, for that one man not to know him...

His vision blurred suddenly and he reached up to rub at his eyes, then paused. There was dampness on his fingers now. Blinking, Stein looked down at his hand. Tears...? He couldn't remember the last time he'd cried. In truth, he couldn't remember ever having cried, though no doubt his old partner would. Except that, right now, his old partner didn't even seem to remember who he was, let alone their history.

It had always been his partner who had kept Stein tied to reality, called him down when the madness got too much. Now here he was, faced with an extreme reversal of the situation – even if his mind shied away from one certain word, still caught in denial – and he didn't know how to return the favor. It had been unthinkable, had never even occurred to him that a day like this would come. He put his head back in his hands, pale fingers threading into his silver hair.

"What do I do, Senpai...? How do I help you?"

The silver-haired man had left. Hadn't done anything, had merely given words about not hurting him, and then just turned and left. The patient stared at the door in mute, scared confusion. What did that mean? Was something else about to happen?

It was so hard to think, the thoughts skittering around in his head, darting away just as he tried to grab hold to them. Now alone, he looked around the room again. It was brighter than he remembered his surroundings to be; the walls weren't dark but pale, a clean white that almost shone to him. There were even things on the walls, pretty things with soft colors in frames...art, that was the word.

And he was alone. He was never left alone for long, that knowledge rang loud and clear through his mind where nothing else seemed to quite register. He wanted to leave, to get out before someone came and he was put right back into the darkness he had come from, but they had tied him down. It was softer than he thought he remembered, though, and only his hands...why? And he was lying on something else soft, rather than hard and cold, and he had something covering him that kept him warm...why?

He couldn't make sense of the differences. They were there, they were real, he was sure of it, and yet...were they? He had been tricked before, had been certain of something only to have it taken away and revealed to be nothing but a dream or a fever-vision. How could he tell what was real now? His eyes flickered around the room. There was a clear bag hanging nearby, a tube running from it downwards carrying its clear fluid to...he stared. To his arm.

They were putting things into him.

A low, animal sound escaped him, a frightened noise that was half whimper and half growl. That hadn't changed, then. Did that mean that all of this was just something else meant to hurt him? Softness to make him relax, to think it was over and he was free, and then they would take it away, plunge him back into hell and keep...

A noise at the door made his head jerk up and around. Was it beginning, then? There was a boy there, white hair untidy behind a white headband. He watched in silent suspicion as the boy looked first at him, then around at the room before speaking to someone else.

"No one's in here. C'mon." The boy stepped through the door.

"I dunno, Soul, Doctor Stein said–" that was a girl's voice. She sounded reluctant. And the name she'd used...

"He's awake," the boy said, glancing back. There was a moment of silence, and then a girl about the boy's age slowly stepped into view. She had a black coat that nearly touched the floor. A red plaid skirt. Sandy-blonde pigtails. Green eyes.

He knew her.

His eyes never left her as she slowly walked forward, the boy falling in behind her with his hands in his pockets. She held her hands behind her back, her eyes not really meeting his. He wanted to think, needed to think clearly now, but his mind wasn't working. Was this real? Was he dreaming? He could remember dreaming of her so many times.

"Well?" prompted the boy. "Say something already."

The girl shot her companion a mild glare, then looked back at him. "...Hello, Papa."

He stared up at her, still not certain she was real. What if she wasn't? If this was just another dream? But he wanted it to be real...was it? He didn't know. His mind was still full of fog, thoughts remaining just out of his reach. "Maka...?"

She blinked at him, a slight frown passing across her face for a moment. "...um...yeah, it's me." Her eyes flickered to the boy beside her once more. "Soul said we should come see you."

"I said you should go see him," the boy corrected, shoving his hands in his pockets. "He's your dad."

The girl – Maka, why was the name so difficult to keep? – snorted softly and looked back at him. There was a momentary flash of irritation in her eyes that made him tense slightly. "...how do you feel?"

He blinked at her, confused by the question. How did he feel? What did she mean? No one asked him things anymore...why was she asking him something? She frowned again, stepping closer, and he leaned away, back against the softness beneath him. What was going on? Was this real? Was the dream about to end?

"Papa...?"

She was talking to him, but he couldn't answer her. Words had never helped before...no one had spoken to him, had replied to any of his cries or questions. Not so much as a single word, unless he'd been dreaming. Did that make this a dream, then? A dream where he was somewhere soft and warm, with her, with Maka there...it had to be a dream. It was the only thing that made sense to his confused, chaotic mind. A dream.

Not real.

He turned his head away. Just a dream...but she was there...and he had been there, before, the silver-haired man whose name also seemed just on the edge of thought...Stein. That one was gone, now, but the dream still continued...he didn't want it to end. He looked back up at the girl, at Maka. It took conscious effort to keep her name in his mind, but he focused on it, held it there. Maka...she was looking at him, a strange expression on her face. A sort of...sad pain? Confusion? He could recognize that, if only barely.

The door opened again, though he didn't look away from Maka. If he looked away again, she might disappear.

"What are you two doing here?" A new voice asked. "The doctor gave orders for no visitors."

His eyes widened as the voice's owner came into view. An unfamiliar face. That was never good. They ruined his dreams, sent him back into the hell that was consciousness. He tried to sink further into the softness beneath him.

"We just wanted to see him," said the boy with Maka. She'd called him something earlier, hadn't she? Something...Soul? Soul. "He was awake when we got here."

"Awake?" the new face repeated. It was a woman, he noted distantly, but he registered nothing else about them. Her. She came closer and he stared up at her, unconsciously pulling against the restraints that held him to the bed. Was she going to end his dream now?

It didn't seem so. She turned away and started for the door. "I need to speak with the doctor. You two come with me, please."

He blinked at her, barely hearing Maka and the boy's – Soul's – protests. She was leaving him alone? But she was taking Maka with her...she was taking his dream away. He looked quickly back at Maka, suddenly desperate. She couldn't leave...but she was turning away. She was walking towards the door. He tried to reach for her, but the restraints prevented it. She was leaving.

But just before she walked out, she looked back at him. He tried again to reach for her and again was prevented, and then she was gone. He was alone again. But the dream hadn't ended the way they usually did...he was still in the pale room, still lying on softness – a bed, he suddenly realized; it was a bed – and no one was trying to hurt him. Was it a dream, then? Or could it actually, possibly, just maybe, be real?

Out on the balcony, Stein had managed to get himself back under control. Standing up, he straightened his coat and turned to walk back inside when the door opened and a nurse stepped through, followed by Maka and Soul. He paused, raising an eyebrow, and waited for the woman to speak.

"Doctor, the patient's awake," the nurse began, "did you want us to continue with-"

"No," Stein cut her off. "Let him be for now."

The nurse looked vaguely surprised – and offended? Oh well – that he'd interrupted her, but she nodded regardless.

Stein looked from her to the two students. Maka looked preoccupied, almost worried, and Soul was standing closer to her than she usually did. "I take it you stopped by for a visit?" he asked them.

Maka said nothing. "I found them in the patient's room," the nurse supplied. "You did give orders that visitors were not to be permitted."

"I did." Stein said simply, looking back at her. "Thank you. You may go." With that dismissal he turned his attention back to Maka, paying the nurse no further mind.

Soul glanced from his partner up at Stein. "...He's changed," he said, the words blunt and to the point.

"Yes, he has." Stein wasn't going to bother arguing. It was true, regardless of how much he wished it wasn't.

Maka stared at the ground, her voice distant as she finally spoke. "...he didn't know me..."

"He said your name," Soul told her.

"Like he was asking me," Maka shot back, glaring at the boy. "Like he wasn't certain."

Stein said nothing. It was oddly relieving to hear that he wasn't the only one the patient apparently had trouble recognizing; if the man barely knew his own daughter, well...

Maka looked up at him, her green eyes now showing her worry. "Doctor...what happened to him?"

"...I don't know," Stein told her, pulling out a cigarette and his lighter. A smoke sounded very good right about now.

"Why didn't he know me?"

"I don't know."

"You said he'd be okay!" Maka's voice was almost accusing.

Stein finished lighting his cigarette and blew the smoke out to dissipate in the wind. "Yes, I did. I don't recall ever saying when that would be, though." He looked down at her. "Whatever happened to him, it took a serious toll on him, and he'll need a lot of time to recover but, well..." he shrugged. "Your papa's a pretty resilient man."

"He's still alive, isn't he?" Soul pointed out, putting a hand on Maka's shoulder.

Maka said nothing. In the distance, the bell at Shibusen began to ring, chiming the start of a new school-day.

"C'mon," Soul said, gently tugging at his partner, "Let's go say goodbye to your old man and get to school."

"...Don't call him that." The words were quiet but somehow firm, even with Maka's voice just barely shaking.

Soul blinked at her. "Wha?"

"That man..." Maka jerked away from Soul's hand and glared at him. Stein could see the beginnings of tears in her eyes. "That man is not Papa!" She turned and wrenched the door open, running off down the hall.

"Hey! Maka!" Soul stood frozen for a moment then ran after her. Stein just watched them go before turning to look out over the balcony wall.

Privately he agreed with Maka. The man in the bed wasn't the one Stein remembered, the one who had always been vibrant, full of life. That man had disappeared, and in his place this one had returned: a man who seemed permanently stuck in a world of fear, who couldn't - or wouldn't – recognize his own daughter or the friend he'd known since childhood, a man who was a mere shadow of what he'd once been.

The scientist took another drag off his cigarette and sighed softly. He didn't know how to fix it, either. He didn't even know if it was possible to. But it had to be...there had to be some way to restore at least part of what that man had once been. Stein's eyes hardened slightly as he stared out towards the horizon. He would bring that man back, heal him as best he could, and he would find out who had done this to him. And then he would make them pay.

Description
The next several days found Stein pacing outside the hospital room. He hadn't slept very well since sedating the patient, and found it difficult to remain in that room for very long now. Still, he didn't want to go very far, wanted to remain nearby in case something changed, which meant that he stayed just outside and looked in occasionally. The patient had been restrained now, with soft but sturdy leather cuffs at his wrists. The cuffs had been designed to also keep his form constant, which meant that he could neither summon his blades nor transform into a weapon; it was safer that way both for him and for the hospital staff.

Stein paused in his pacing to lean against the wall, staring listlessly at the ceiling. By rights, after the episode that first night, the patient ought to have been transferred to the psych ward, but Stein had not given that order. He wasn't quite sure why; perhaps some part of him was in denial, still hoping that the events of that night had simply been the result of severe disorientation. Of course, they hadn't been. He absently reached up to trace the new line of stitches on his lab coat. They were right above a similar line on his skin, where the man's blade had cut him in the patient's initial panic, and the white fabric was still stained with dark red where he hadn't bothered to wash the blood out. Simple disorientation, however severe, would not have led to that man attacking him.

And now in addition to worrying about the patient's state, Stein thought, he also had to deal with Maka. He'd already had to send her away twice that week with some talk about how the man was still asleep and there'd been no change. Technically, it was the truth; the man was sedated, and thus asleep, and there had been no change to his physical state. His mental one, of course, was intensely changed, but Maka didn't need to know that. Not yet. Not ever, hopefully. Stein knew his patient wouldn't want her to know; the man loved his daughter too much to potentially hurt her with that kind of knowledge.

Privately, Stein wondered if keeping the man sedated had been the right call. On the one hand, no one could deny the patient needed the rest, but on the other...sedation locked someone inside their head with no escape, and if things were as bad as Stein feared in this particular patient's case then the sedation might do more harm than good in the long run. He made a mental note to ease off the sedatives and give the patient a chance to wake up. Maybe just rest had helped and there was no need to be this worried...it was a nice thought, even if he didn't actually believe it.

He was just starting to pace again when a sudden scream came from the patient's room. The primal fear and desperation in the call sent a sudden chill down Stein's spine and the scientist quickly pulled the door open, dashing inside. "Senpai!"

The patient was tossing in the bed, the restraints keeping him from moving too much but causing the bed to shake with each struggling movement. Stein hurried to his side then hesitated. The man was still asleep, caught in the throes of a nightmare...if he woke to Stein holding him down it might make things worse. The scientist was frozen, hit by a completely unfamiliar and chilling realization; he had no idea what to do here. He wanted to help the man, to make the nightmare end, the pain go away, but he didn't know how. Every idea that came to mind carried with it the risk that Stein would just be making things worse. It wasn't a feeling he liked.

Still, he couldn't just stand by and watch as his former partner struggled against a nightmare from which waking seemed impossible. Stein reached down to put a hand on the man's shoulder, reaching out to touch his wavelength and perhaps calm him that way. The scientist was completely unprepared for the chaos he felt as he did so and jerked his hand away, staring down at the man in shock. It was even worse than he'd thought...

It had been dark to begin with. It was always dark. Occasionally the darkness would begin to lift but he would be plunged right back down in it. He didn't mind much; it was almost restful. Nothing was happening in this darkness. Nothing touched him, no pain, no cold or heat, just darkness and silence. He almost wished it would never end. But of course it did.

He'd known it couldn't last. It never did. A faint red glow began to light the darkness, defining it, giving shape to the shadows as he lay motionless where he'd been bound. His eyes flickered around the space, dully taking in the new light. Was it beginning again? Was it not over, as he'd dared to hope?

No. It wasn't. A shape moved in the red-lit dark, a shape that somehow escaped definition but that he knew. He tried to move, to sit up, but his body felt incredibly heavy, unwilling to respond to his commands. The clink of chain...he was bound down, the metal suddenly feeling cold against his skin. The shape drew nearer, something flashing in the red glow. Something long, metallic, sharp.

No. Not again. He tried to free himself from the chains, fighting against his unwilling body. He had to get up, get out, get away. It couldn't be happening again, he'd run, he'd been free...the chains held him fast, tight against something hard beneath him that he knew to be metal. "No..."

The word sounded strange to his ears, muffled and distorted. The shape paused, standing over him, the blade – for he knew it was a blade, even if he couldn't see it clearly – in its hand raising. He struggled harder against the chains that held him down, wide eyes never leaving the blade as it slowly descended. "No...no, please..."

If the figure heard him, it made no sign. The blade rested now against his chest, right at the base of his ribcage, and he hardly dared to breathe. "Please..." he repeated, something making him speak even though he knew it was useless. Words would not stop what was about to happen.

And then it came. The blade pushed down, breaking the skin and opening his body as the figure dragged it downwards. There was nothing he could do, no way to stop it. Something pushed his head up as the cut began, tilting it at an angle where he could see what was being done, how he was being laid open like...like some experiment, or a body used in an anatomy lesson.

He let out a scream, the pain increasing as he tried to tighten muscles that were in the process of being cut, and tried to close his eyes, but it did no good. He could still see the blade moving, his skin parting to reveal the muscle below. The blade raised, then lowered again, this time opening the muscle to reveal what was below that. He struggled, hampered now by the pain as well as the chains, and knew it was pointless.

But then a new sensation, a lighter note in the darkness that he didn't understand, made itself known. Even as the blade completed its second pass he stared desperately at a pale point in the darkness, trying to lift an immobilized hand to reach it. He could feel the warmth starting to pool around him, his own blood relieving the chill of the chains for the barest moment...he had to reach that point, that light. It had never been there before, it was different. It was all he had right now. He surged toward it, putting everything he had into breaking free and reaching that single, tiny point of light, but could feel himself slipping back downwards, pulled by the chains that held him to the table. Help me...!

Stein jerked back a little as the man's eyes flew open with another short scream, an expression of blind panic clouding their blue depths. His breathing was quick and shallow and his eyes darted over the room without consciously seeing it. "...Senpai...?" Stein said, not sure if the man would hear him or not. Would his voice register, somewhere behind that wild-animal stare?

It didn't look that way. The man tried to sit up, still caught in his panic, and noticed the presence of the cuffs. That caused another scream, and he jerked against them in desperation, making the bed shake so badly Stein began wondering if he'd need to sedate the man again. "Senpai! It's all right!" he said, reaching out to turn the man's head to face him.

The patient jerked his head away with a cry of "No!" and fastened a panicked, desperate stare on Stein that sent another chill down the scientist's spine. There was no recognition in those eyes, not even the barest hint of the partner Stein had known for years, ever since their childhood. All that was left was – he hated to even think it – an animal presence running purely on survival instinct.

"No!" the man cried again, words now coming so fast they were almost unintelligible. "No, let me go, please just let me go, let me go, no more..." With each repetition he tugged at the restraints holding him to the bed, eyes shading from panicked desperation to a worryingly dull resignation as Stein watched, frozen. Eventually the patient seemed to run out of energy and simply lay in the bed, eyes shifting to stare at the ceiling listlessly.

Stein tentatively reached out to rest a hand on the man's shoulder, and wasn't sure whether to be relieved or more worried when there was no response. "Senpai…?" Dull blue eyes shifted to look at him, blinking slowly, still without recognition. "Senpai, it's me..." Stein prompted, trying to ignore the sudden and intense fear that the man had forgotten him. Surely he hadn't, surely he could remember...couldn't he?

The man blinked again then frowned slightly, eyes clearing a little. "...Stein...?"

Stein sighed inwardly in relief. "Yes. It's me."

Confusion entered the patient's expression, slow and faint but definitely there. "How...?" His eyes wandered around the room, taking in the white walls, the – in Stein's opinion rather dull – art, the tiled ceiling, before looking back at the silver-haired scientist. "W-where...am I?"

"Death City General Hospital," Stein told him, hand tightening on his shoulder for a moment.

"Death City...?" The man's eyes widened, a look of hope so desperate it was almost painful rising in his face. "I made it...?" A slow, disbelieving smile began to spread across his face and he started to reach up towards Stein. "I made-" the words, and smile, died as the restraints brought him up short. His eyes widened, unfocusing, and Stein tensed slightly. Did this mean another surge of panic?

Slowly the man looked down, pulling against the restraints as if testing them. "No..." The word was half whisper and hung in the air ominously. Just as slowly he looked up at Stein and the scientist could see what little reason there had been fading from the man's eyes. "It's a lie..."

"It's true," Stein said, thinking quickly. How could he head off another panicked surge? "Just calm down, you-"

"You're lying!" the man shouted, the restraints the only things keeping him from leaping out of the bed. "It's all a lie!"

"No! Senpai, listen to me!" Stein could feel the flickering of the man's wavelength, feel it surging towards chaos again, and knew he had to stop it now. "It's not a lie!"

"It is a lie!" the man jerked against the restraints. "Can't get up...drugging me...you're with them!"

Stein stiffened but shoved the notion of brooding about just who they were into the back of his head. No time for that now. "Listen to me! We had to restrain you, for your own safety!"

"Get away from me!" The man tried to jerk away from Stein, though the restraints prevented him from moving very far, and stared up at him in scared suspicion.

Stein just stood there, his hand not moving from where the man's shoulder had left it. "...I'm not going to hurt you," he said, his voice now a deadpan. There was too much emotion here, too much hurt and worry and fear of his own that he simply could not deal with right now. He shoved it away, taking refuge in the emotionless, stoic mask that was his usual appearance, and looked down at his patient.

The man was staring up at him, caught again in an almost animalistic survival mode. He was shaking, Stein could tell...from fear? Or something else? Adrenaline, almost certainly. What was obvious was that the man didn't believe his words, currently didn't quite recognize him. Was it too soon to take him off sedation? Stein didn't know.

Wordlessly the scientist turned away and started for the door, ignoring the quiet sound of surprise behind him. He couldn't handle this, not right now. Let the nurses deal with it for a bit. They would probably just sedate the patient again, though...but wasn't that for the best?

No. Stein directed his steps towards the nurses' station to inform them that the patient had woken and was not to be sedated again. There would be no progress at all if he didn't realize that he truly was in a hospital in Death City and not...wherever he had been for the past three months.

A sudden surge of anger filled Stein at the unanswered question; where had the man been? Who had done that to him? Stein wanted...no, he needed to find out. Whoever they had been, they had taken his friend, his partner, away, had done things to him Stein didn't want to imagine, and had sent him back...

He stopped that thought before it finished, unwilling to admit it even privately, and realized he'd walked right onto the balcony that he often used as a smoking area. It was quiet there, fairly private now that the hospital staff had gotten used to him using it, and Stein sank onto the small stone bench that was the balcony's only seating. He leaned forward, resting his head in his hands, and closed his eyes. How had he let this happen?

Perhaps it was an unfair question, but Stein asked it anyway. He should have looked harder, he should have taken that walk, there had to have been something he could have done to prevent this. Except that there hadn't been. No matter how hard he tried to think of something, anything, that would have stopped his old partner's abduction nothing came to mind.

The silver-haired scientist reached up to turn his screw a few times, trying to get a grip on himself. The anger, the pain, the fear, the worry were all swirling together in a huge emotional hurricane that he was not accustomed to. Normally he would write it out, attempt to make some sense of what he was feeling, but his journals were at his lab and he didn't want to go back there yet. Not and leave his patient here alone.

But how much good was he doing here, exactly? So far Stein had been witness to four episodes of panic, and had been the apparent cause of two of them. That wasn't exactly a good average. And then there was the fact that - he tensed at the surge of pain that washed through him at the thought – the man barely seemed to recognize him. Of all people, for that one man not to know him...

His vision blurred suddenly and he reached up to rub at his eyes, then paused. There was dampness on his fingers now. Blinking, Stein looked down at his hand. Tears...? He couldn't remember the last time he'd cried. In truth, he couldn't remember ever having cried, though no doubt his old partner would. Except that, right now, his old partner didn't even seem to remember who he was, let alone their history.

It had always been his partner who had kept Stein tied to reality, called him down when the madness got too much. Now here he was, faced with an extreme reversal of the situation – even if his mind shied away from one certain word, still caught in denial – and he didn't know how to return the favor. It had been unthinkable, had never even occurred to him that a day like this would come. He put his head back in his hands, pale fingers threading into his silver hair.

"What do I do, Senpai...? How do I help you?"

The silver-haired man had left. Hadn't done anything, had merely given words about not hurting him, and then just turned and left. The patient stared at the door in mute, scared confusion. What did that mean? Was something else about to happen?

It was so hard to think, the thoughts skittering around in his head, darting away just as he tried to grab hold to them. Now alone, he looked around the room again. It was brighter than he remembered his surroundings to be; the walls weren't dark but pale, a clean white that almost shone to him. There were even things on the walls, pretty things with soft colors in frames...art, that was the word.

And he was alone. He was never left alone for long, that knowledge rang loud and clear through his mind where nothing else seemed to quite register. He wanted to leave, to get out before someone came and he was put right back into the darkness he had come from, but they had tied him down. It was softer than he thought he remembered, though, and only his hands...why? And he was lying on something else soft, rather than hard and cold, and he had something covering him that kept him warm...why?

He couldn't make sense of the differences. They were there, they were real, he was sure of it, and yet...were they? He had been tricked before, had been certain of something only to have it taken away and revealed to be nothing but a dream or a fever-vision. How could he tell what was real now? His eyes flickered around the room. There was a clear bag hanging nearby, a tube running from it downwards carrying its clear fluid to...he stared. To his arm.

They were putting things into him.

A low, animal sound escaped him, a frightened noise that was half whimper and half growl. That hadn't changed, then. Did that mean that all of this was just something else meant to hurt him? Softness to make him relax, to think it was over and he was free, and then they would take it away, plunge him back into hell and keep...

A noise at the door made his head jerk up and around. Was it beginning, then? There was a boy there, white hair untidy behind a white headband. He watched in silent suspicion as the boy looked first at him, then around at the room before speaking to someone else.

"No one's in here. C'mon." The boy stepped through the door.

"I dunno, Soul, Doctor Stein said–" that was a girl's voice. She sounded reluctant. And the name she'd used...

"He's awake," the boy said, glancing back. There was a moment of silence, and then a girl about the boy's age slowly stepped into view. She had a black coat that nearly touched the floor. A red plaid skirt. Sandy-blonde pigtails. Green eyes.

He knew her.

His eyes never left her as she slowly walked forward, the boy falling in behind her with his hands in his pockets. She held her hands behind her back, her eyes not really meeting his. He wanted to think, needed to think clearly now, but his mind wasn't working. Was this real? Was he dreaming? He could remember dreaming of her so many times.

"Well?" prompted the boy. "Say something already."

The girl shot her companion a mild glare, then looked back at him. "...Hello, Papa."

He stared up at her, still not certain she was real. What if she wasn't? If this was just another dream? But he wanted it to be real...was it? He didn't know. His mind was still full of fog, thoughts remaining just out of his reach. "Maka...?"

She blinked at him, a slight frown passing across her face for a moment. "...um...yeah, it's me." Her eyes flickered to the boy beside her once more. "Soul said we should come see you."

"I said you should go see him," the boy corrected, shoving his hands in his pockets. "He's your dad."

The girl – Maka, why was the name so difficult to keep? – snorted softly and looked back at him. There was a momentary flash of irritation in her eyes that made him tense slightly. "...how do you feel?"

He blinked at her, confused by the question. How did he feel? What did she mean? No one asked him things anymore...why was she asking him something? She frowned again, stepping closer, and he leaned away, back against the softness beneath him. What was going on? Was this real? Was the dream about to end?

"Papa...?"

She was talking to him, but he couldn't answer her. Words had never helped before...no one had spoken to him, had replied to any of his cries or questions. Not so much as a single word, unless he'd been dreaming. Did that make this a dream, then? A dream where he was somewhere soft and warm, with her, with Maka there...it had to be a dream. It was the only thing that made sense to his confused, chaotic mind. A dream.

Not real.

He turned his head away. Just a dream...but she was there...and he had been there, before, the silver-haired man whose name also seemed just on the edge of thought...Stein. That one was gone, now, but the dream still continued...he didn't want it to end. He looked back up at the girl, at Maka. It took conscious effort to keep her name in his mind, but he focused on it, held it there. Maka...she was looking at him, a strange expression on her face. A sort of...sad pain? Confusion? He could recognize that, if only barely.

The door opened again, though he didn't look away from Maka. If he looked away again, she might disappear.

"What are you two doing here?" A new voice asked. "The doctor gave orders for no visitors."

His eyes widened as the voice's owner came into view. An unfamiliar face. That was never good. They ruined his dreams, sent him back into the hell that was consciousness. He tried to sink further into the softness beneath him.

"We just wanted to see him," said the boy with Maka. She'd called him something earlier, hadn't she? Something...Soul? Soul. "He was awake when we got here."

"Awake?" the new face repeated. It was a woman, he noted distantly, but he registered nothing else about them. Her. She came closer and he stared up at her, unconsciously pulling against the restraints that held him to the bed. Was she going to end his dream now?

It didn't seem so. She turned away and started for the door. "I need to speak with the doctor. You two come with me, please."

He blinked at her, barely hearing Maka and the boy's – Soul's – protests. She was leaving him alone? But she was taking Maka with her...she was taking his dream away. He looked quickly back at Maka, suddenly desperate. She couldn't leave...but she was turning away. She was walking towards the door. He tried to reach for her, but the restraints prevented it. She was leaving.

But just before she walked out, she looked back at him. He tried again to reach for her and again was prevented, and then she was gone. He was alone again. But the dream hadn't ended the way they usually did...he was still in the pale room, still lying on softness – a bed, he suddenly realized; it was a bed – and no one was trying to hurt him. Was it a dream, then? Or could it actually, possibly, just maybe, be real?

Out on the balcony, Stein had managed to get himself back under control. Standing up, he straightened his coat and turned to walk back inside when the door opened and a nurse stepped through, followed by Maka and Soul. He paused, raising an eyebrow, and waited for the woman to speak.

"Doctor, the patient's awake," the nurse began, "did you want us to continue with-"

"No," Stein cut her off. "Let him be for now."

The nurse looked vaguely surprised – and offended? Oh well – that he'd interrupted her, but she nodded regardless.

Stein looked from her to the two students. Maka looked preoccupied, almost worried, and Soul was standing closer to her than she usually did. "I take it you stopped by for a visit?" he asked them.

Maka said nothing. "I found them in the patient's room," the nurse supplied. "You did give orders that visitors were not to be permitted."

"I did." Stein said simply, looking back at her. "Thank you. You may go." With that dismissal he turned his attention back to Maka, paying the nurse no further mind.

Soul glanced from his partner up at Stein. "...He's changed," he said, the words blunt and to the point.

"Yes, he has." Stein wasn't going to bother arguing. It was true, regardless of how much he wished it wasn't.

Maka stared at the ground, her voice distant as she finally spoke. "...he didn't know me..."

"He said your name," Soul told her.

"Like he was asking me," Maka shot back, glaring at the boy. "Like he wasn't certain."

Stein said nothing. It was oddly relieving to hear that he wasn't the only one the patient apparently had trouble recognizing; if the man barely knew his own daughter, well...

Maka looked up at him, her green eyes now showing her worry. "Doctor...what happened to him?"

"...I don't know," Stein told her, pulling out a cigarette and his lighter. A smoke sounded very good right about now.

"Why didn't he know me?"

"I don't know."

"You said he'd be okay!" Maka's voice was almost accusing.

Stein finished lighting his cigarette and blew the smoke out to dissipate in the wind. "Yes, I did. I don't recall ever saying when that would be, though." He looked down at her. "Whatever happened to him, it took a serious toll on him, and he'll need a lot of time to recover but, well..." he shrugged. "Your papa's a pretty resilient man."

"He's still alive, isn't he?" Soul pointed out, putting a hand on Maka's shoulder.

Maka said nothing. In the distance, the bell at Shibusen began to ring, chiming the start of a new school-day.

"C'mon," Soul said, gently tugging at his partner, "Let's go say goodbye to your old man and get to school."

"...Don't call him that." The words were quiet but somehow firm, even with Maka's voice just barely shaking.

Soul blinked at her. "Wha?"

"That man..." Maka jerked away from Soul's hand and glared at him. Stein could see the beginnings of tears in her eyes. "That man is not Papa!" She turned and wrenched the door open, running off down the hall.

"Hey! Maka!" Soul stood frozen for a moment then ran after her. Stein just watched them go before turning to look out over the balcony wall.

Privately he agreed with Maka. The man in the bed wasn't the one Stein remembered, the one who had always been vibrant, full of life. That man had disappeared, and in his place this one had returned: a man who seemed permanently stuck in a world of fear, who couldn't - or wouldn't – recognize his own daughter or the friend he'd known since childhood, a man who was a mere shadow of what he'd once been.

The scientist took another drag off his cigarette and sighed softly. He didn't know how to fix it, either. He didn't even know if it was possible to. But it had to be...there had to be some way to restore at least part of what that man had once been. Stein's eyes hardened slightly as he stared out towards the horizon. He would bring that man back, heal him as best he could, and he would find out who had done this to him. And then he would make them pay.