F shook his head as the doors closed and reached for his phone.

Far was acting paranoid... that was never a good sign.

--Scene Change--

Near's eyes slowly blinked open and K leaned over him.

"Near... can you hear me?" She called. "Blink twice if you can."

Slowly, he blinked twice.

"Your heart gave out again," She explained. "But you've stabilized. You're going to be okay. Mello is here."

"Is he talking?" Mello came up and leaned over Near- his eyes still a bit cloudy from the drugs. "Near, can you hear me?"

"M... Mello..." Near groaned.

He didn't... feel like he always did when they had to shock his heart back into beating. He didn't feel like his heart had given out... there was no pain, no ache...

He was just tired... it was like he had woken up from a night of restless tossing and turning.

"It's me Near...are you okay?" Mello pet Near's hair and took the smaller boy's hand. "You're heart's okay right now, just relax."

Slowly, Near reached up and touched Mello's face, his eyes filling with tears that he refused to let leak. "I... I love Mello. I'm sorry... I... I'm not mad about... about Naveen..."

Mello seemed to pale to a complexion almost as chalk-white as Near. He closed his eyes and leaned down- pressing their lips together.

Near either missed it or didn't care as he returned the kiss gently, closing his eyes.

"...I love you Near." Mello whispered when he broke the kiss to take a breath.

"I love you too, Mello," Near replied, wrapping his arms around the blonde and pulling him into a gentle hug.

Mello winced a little as more weight was put down on his bad leg before he crawled onto the bed beside Near and held the boy close. He leaned in face into Near's hair and breathed in his scent deeply.

Near leaned his head against Mello's chest and listened to the blonde's heartbeat, closing his eyes and letting the sound soothe him.

--Scene Change--

"He'll be alright," K assured the group in the hallway. "Mello is in with him. He... recovered quickly. Much quicker then I..." She frowned and shook her head. "Well... I am surprised that anything shocks me anymore..."

"Amen," Linda muttered, before heading back toward Zero's room with tense shoulders.

Next looked over at Naveen, before he glanced at Matt. After a moment he said, "...Why don't we get something to eat?"

"That sounds good," Naveen whispered. "I feel like I haven't eaten in a year..."

"...I wonder why," Next muttered, sarcastically.

"I don't know if I can eat." Matt admitted numbly as he was led off by Next. "I can't...I can't even wrap my head around...Next I heard something happened to you."

Next stopped and turned to frown at Matt. He spared a glance at Naveen before sighing and tugging his love into a spare, empty room.

Motioning for Naveen to enter as well, Next closed the door, before turning to Matt.

"Naveen, help me with my shirt?" He asked and the dark-haired boy slowly nodded. It was only as Near's twin was lifting up the back of Next's shirt that Matt realized the albino was wearing something different from his usual maroon top.

To his surprise, Next had a pair of white wings tattooed onto his back... the ink almost seemed to glow against his pale skin. Matt couldn't remember him ever having that tattoo before and it didn't look as if it had just been done within the last twenty four hours.

Matt stared at the little wing tattoos- almost a glowing white against Next's porcelain skin. He reached out slowly and put his hands on the smaller boy- feeling the tattoos warm against his palms- pulsing slowly- warming and cooling.

Next watched him for a moment before he stepped away and motioned for Naveen to move. Naveen slipped forward a little bit and grabbed Matt to pull him back a few feet.

As Matt was about to ask what was going on, Next shifted and the redhead watched in awe as the inked wings began to move.

The ink actually crawled out of Next's back and began to form long feathers. They suddenly shot out with a flash of bright light.

"Ah!" Matt covered his goggles with his arms and stumbled back.