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The ambulance had taken the unconscious boy away in a matter of moments after his uncle's arrival - his speed in taking care of the manner ensured a private room for the college male. However, as Destiny City's hospital filled up at an exponential amount, there was less and less room. Seth's room was strictly a one-person ward. The room housed a small night table, the bed, the machinery and equipment, along with two waiting chairs.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid there is nothing more then I can do for him. He seems to have fallen into the same coma that had plagued Destiny City." The doctor had told them, weary and exhausted after examining so many of the patients with the same symptoms. Seth hadn't responded to any of their treatments, exhibiting the deep sleep that so many people had succumbed to.

Now he laid there in bed, a ventilator system set over his mouth to faciliate breathing, while an IV system had been set up to provide him the sustenance that he needed.

"You wouldn't be stupid enough to land yourself in the hospital after a fight. But all of a sudden, you decide to land yourself in a hospital because of some supposed epidemic? Don't joke with me." Seth's uncle entered the doorway, dropping a single flower onto Seth's chest. Despite all of his actions, he did care for his nephew.

His phone rung. Riing! Riiing!

He looked at the caller ID, a wry smile on his lips as he picked it up, "Alexis?" He was referring to Seth's mother. Her worried voice spilled over the phone, as the man wandered over to the window. "Is Seth all right? I-I heard-"

"He's all right. In fact, he's peachy. He's in the bed."

"He's in a coma, isn't he?" Alexis had seen the news about Destiny City, the imposed martial law on the occupants of the city, and the "Destiny City Plague" as coined by the mass media covering the footage.

"That? C'mon Alex. You know better then to listen to the press." The woman in question sighed, before getting to the point, "But he is, isn't he?"

"Yes." He was forced to answer, staring over at Seth lying in the bed. "Granted, he can't hear me but I've been serenading him with bedtime stories. Yeah, the one with all the princesses." Princesses. Who were they again? He had to recall them - There was the one with the teapot, the one with the tiger and a flying carpet - what on earth were these princesses doing? If he was those girls.. well, they wouldn't have a story, would they?

"I was also telling him about how I met this girl, she was this hot babe who knew how to really -"

"I understand." Alexis released the first chuckle in hours that she had recieved the news. "He's in good hands then."

When she had first heard of it, Alexis and her husband had been out in Washington at the time, she had wanted to visit her son. But her husband pointed out that the city was under martial law, and all of her efforts would be useless. But thankfully, her brother had been in Destiny City at the time. He frequently traveled to Italy often, so having him there had been a gamble, really.

"Do you have any other questions? You have the official doctor report, right?"

"Yes, I do." Alexis's hand tightened over the phone, while her husband came up behind her to place a hand on her shoulder. "He'll be fine." He spoke softly to his wife, "Trust your brother." Alexis couldn''t help but be worried for her son despite the two male's reassurances, wiping away tears.

Almost as if he had sensed his sister's tears, the older male spoke once more, "Remember our promise, Alex? Have I ever failed a promise?"

"No, you haven't." She spoke fondly over the phone. If there was ever one thing that she had to say about her older brother, it was the fact that he always carried out his word.

"Then trust me. And my gut." He stared over to the bed once more, but with a reluctant grin. "He'll wake up from this. He's too stubborn not to."

"Now, get some sleep. Knowing you, you probably rushed straight home to call without any rest or sleep."

"All right." Even as she spoke, she could feel her fatigue, her body wavering in her seat. Immediately, her husband made a move to catch her, cradling her exhausted, sleeping form in his arm.

"She's fallen asleep." He picked up the phone to finish the conversation.

"She must've been really worried. By the way.." There was a momentarily lull in the conversation, "..?" It left Seth's father with a questioning silence, never knowing what to expect from his brother in law.

"If you do anything to my baby sister, I'll ensure that your body is never found."

"You forget.. that I am married to her right?"

"That, my man, is exactly why you aren't dead yet."

The dreams were restless, allowing the boy no rest even in his coma. His eyebrows were furrowed in the midst of his drawn face, turning over restlessly in the hospital bed. His fingers twitched, his eyes clenched as if he was being plagued by nightmares. And then .. His dreams faded into the black darkness, the pain easing from his face to allow the college student a moment to relax. For the first time in weeks, his sleep betrayed something other then the dead stillness of the weeks before.

The sounds of the hospital monitor reached the hazy sleep-induced mind first, the moniter resounding with persistent and annoying beeeeep! beeeeep! And then, his eyes opened to a strange sight. The unfamiliar white ceiling came into view first, and then the sounds of his steady breath clouding the oxygen mask. His disoriented mind was trying to register his surroundings.

‘What the hell is this..? His hand reached for the oxygen mask on his face, detaching the machine. He sat up, the ordeal taking a bit of time. What happened..? He asked himself, surprised by the lack of strength. The action also pulled on the iv drip attached to his arm. With a frown, Seth pulled out the needle, letting it drop to the ground. He looked around once more, intending to sort things out. From the looks of it, he had fallen into a coma. Outside of the halls bustled with activity, doctors and nurses calling out to one another. Carts were quickly driven. But he remembered.. He remembered the desert, the senshi, the worm, the cavern, the useless statue, and the charred deaths of the people who had burned to death.

Why..? He asked himself once more, his gray eyes staring down at his hand. He knew it hadn’t been Destiny City. Why had they been suddenly dropped? Had it all been a game? Or was it really all a dream? His head dropped, Seth’s hand supporting it, wondering about it. He keenly felt the loss of incompletion, as well as the annoyance of a man who didn't known what was going on. It was then, that he noticed two things out of the corner of his eye. The vase of flowers next to him, that oddly enough contained no water. Secondly - the large pink monstrosity of an alien next to it.

“….” His face twitched, and that was certainly not in happiness.

“I-s it true that the coma patients have woken up?!” A man, who was out of breath having obviously ran, appeared in the doorway breathlessly. He had been informed over the phone, having given instructions to tell him or even the slightest change. His clothes had been hastily tossed on, his tie having shown signs of being tied incorrectly, his jacket was falling off his shoulders. More then eight weeks had passed without development, hence his rush at the influx of good news.

He was greeted to the sight of Seth changing into his clothes, slipping into his usual white dress shirt of his school uniform. He was fastening the second button when his uncle slid into the room. Seth straightened the tie, not bothering to reply since the answer was obvious. “You got my change of clothes, I see.” He had left Seth’s school uniform behind for his eventual awakening, knowing that his nephew would hate the flimsy hospital gown that was provided for them.

He was treated to a dark glance that Seth threw over his shoulder.

“Oh, that’s a really strong murderous aura. ♥” Dark waves were rolling off the male ominously. Shinra looked away with an avoiding gaze, wondering if he knew about the time with the water, Eve, and Rikhter. He wasn’t awake, was he?

“I’ve never felt so much like killing you before.” His tone was icy cold. Seth turned around, letting the two halves of the dismembered pink unicorn’s head fall from his hand. Now that Shinra looked closer, there was pink cloth as well as stuffing lying everywhere on the floor. It was nearly unrecognizable, save for the color. Had that been the fate of the stuffed unicorn that Shinra had seen left behind in the student’s room?

“H-hey! I didn’t have anything to do with that!” Shinra held up a staying hand, “I mean, had I thought of it .. That would’ve been a pretty good idea. But I have no desire to take credit for somebody else’s work.”

“So what exactly did you do?”

“.. Well,” Shinra scratched the side of his face, having made a slip-up.

“Never mind that.” Shinra caught the object that Seth had thrown to him. It was his phone. The screen was on the date setting, and read 'August 20th, Friday.'

His uncle easily read the expression on his face, and nodded. “Right. I’ll drive you to your apartment since we didn’t bring your motorbike, and tell you everything.”

"D-Doctor! I'm so sorry..!" The nurse exclaimed at the empty bed, bowing down repeatedly in flustered embarrassment. "The doctor was certainly ticked off, crossing his arms, one finger tapping in annoyance. "Nurse.. tell me.. did our patient Seth Enteitta turn into a shredded carcass of a pink bunny?" The doctor's name was Dr. Shinoda.

This doctor had been assigned to Seth Enteitta, partially at the request of Shinra, but also because of his relastionship with the Enteitta family. In fact, he had a private practice to where he attended the Eintetta family as their family physician. He also worked at one of Destiny's City hospitals on the side, although he had agreed to work full time when the comas had started. That was one of the main reasons that Seth had been treated at this particular hospital, and how Shinra had accomplished in getting a single room. "That idiot couldn't even go through proper procedures." Which idiot he was referring to - Seth or Shinra?

He was a serious, hardworking man. Whereas doctors worked for various reasons, ranging from money to reputation to chairty, Dr. Shinoda truly did care for people's lives. He did care for all of his patients, he genuinely cared for them. Hence his particular annoyance when one disappeared from right under his nose.

"I need to make a phone call." He excused himself, striding away from the room, with his hands shoved in his coat pockets

Once he was in the privacy of his office, he made a phone call to Seth's parents. "You should be glad to hear that your son has woken up."

"That's great." Seth's father said in relief. Seth's mother would be happy to hear that. But the doctor wasn't done. "And he disappeared from the hospital bed not an hour later." He was obviously a little more then pissed, ruffling his head in an agitated manner.

--

"Close that door on me, and die." He had made a special trip just for Seth, holding onto the door to keep it open. He didn't bother with a smile, an annoyed expression crossing his face. His fingers threatened to splinter it, which was just another sign of his emotions.

Seth left the door open, having just woken up from a nap in the living room. Shinoda walked in, with a briefcase in hand. "I've come here at the request of your mother."

"Now?" But Seth sat down on the couch as Shinda dictated to him, and Shinoda knelled down to meet eye-level with his sitting patient. He opened his briefcase and began to pull on white gloves.

Seth was unbuttoning his own shirt, since he had learned a long time ago the hard way, he would rather do it himself then to let Dr. Shinoda do it. "Don't complain to me. If a certain person hadn't left the hospital, we could have finished this by the end of the day." His words were meant to stab the boy's conscience. He was speaking as if the boy was incompetent. And he was, if he was idiotic enough to leave in the middle of his treatment. “And you know that saying ‘I’m just fine’ doesn’t cut it. Not to mention the paperwork at the hospital.”

Shinoda's phone begun to ring. Seth glanced over at the phone, seeing the caller identified as Shinra. ".. Picking that up?"

"No need. It's a waste of battery." Shinda denied flatly with a brusque carelessness. He grasped Seth's chin, tilting it towards him to examine Seth's face and color. Like Seth, he didn’t seem to care about Shinra either.

"So, tell me, how did you get out?"

"Shinra." Seth answered. "I would have expected the window." Apparently Seth was guilty of escaping through the window several times in his time with Dr. Shinoda. And that certainly wouldn't be his last time.

He examined Seth's muscles, his joints, and his breathing. He took out his flashlight, pointing it into Seth’s eyes to watch the pupils contract properly. To put it simply, it was a physical. Normally, Seth objected to others touching him, but Dr. Shinoda was different. He was somebody Seth trusted, even if he never spoke of it. Dr. Shinoda scribbled a few things down onto a notepad while verbally making notes. “A bit weak in the muscle, lacking your usual strength. Your appetite doesn’t seem to be fully restored, but I would expect that from going on an IV drip.”

“Overall, get some light exercise to steadily build your muscles again. But no fighting. That may be a bit too much on your body right now.” And with that, his overall examination was finished. He took off his gloves, and walked over to Seth’s trashcan to throw them away.

“How bothersome.” Seth muttered, clearly not enjoying the restrictions set upon him. Although it was doubtful if he even followed it or not.

“Don’t like it?” Shinoda flicked Seth’s forehead. “Then listen to my directions, and heal up.” That was an order.

He was getting ready to leave, putting all of his tools back into the briefcase. He stood up, and then looked at Seth. He ilted his chin once more, not letting Seth get away, ensuring that he was completely listen. “By the way. Leave again without my permission, and I will personally sell all of your organs on the black market after turning your body into a little test tube subject. Do you understand?" The last sentence was said with a dark expression, in complete seriousness. And he was completely capable of doing that. You could never underestimate an acquaintance of Shinra's.