Sheer cries wailed out from his mouth as he tossed and turned on a crude table. Bits of blood pooled on the floor from his hand that hovered above the stone. Gerard wrestled with his convulsions struggling to keep Damien from falling off.

"Be still Damien, please," begged Gerard, wrestling with the convulsions that moved through his friend. "The bleeding won't settle until you calm down."

Damien gritted his teeth though his eyes fluttered, threatening to roll back into his head. His unfused hand gripped his opposite shoulder as harsh inhales sucked into his lungs like a steam valve releasing.

"Yes, that's it, my boy," soothed Gerard. "Keep breathing."

Slowly, the convulsions settled. Gerard synched a makeshift tourniquet from his belt onto the shard riddled arm. The arm wasn't gone, but it was the best he could think of never having dealt with an injury like this before.

"Jesus, it hurts," heaved Damien. "It's settling. Lord, it's settling."

A small shiver thrummed across his body, finally allowing his movements to settle. The blood slowed, strangely drying within a matter of moments. Gerard puzzled, stroking his chin, released the cinched belt from Damien's arm. No blood continued to be let.

"Damien, you are a conundrum," he damned himself and the world. "One moment I think you're on the verge of death, the next you're fine. By God, you will worry me to death."

"Nothing to fear," sighed Damien. "Good as new."

He sat up, flexing the fingers of the splinter- riddled arm. Each shard gave off a small flicker of static light until he relaxed it fully. The room they were in was small with only a small window up high allowing moonlight to pour through. Damien went to flick his pocket watch open, an act engrained in him since the beginnings of his training. No clock was there in his pocket to meet him. Gerard cleared his throat.

"Exhausted?" he asked like a parent full of concern, but angered all the same. "You've been up for almost a week straight. Exhausted is an understatement. Completely shot would be more adequate."

Damien prodded his brow in hopes to relieve a trembling pain that verged on the sensation akin to a split skull. Various patterns danced about his vision, threatening to make the pain more severe the more they swayed.

"Something's not right with me," winced Damien, doing his best to fight the tickling vomit at his throat.

"You're jumping without a bloody buffer between you and raw electricity, Damien," exclaimed Gerard. "Of course you'll feel shite. You're taking all of the energy into your body when you jump. I'm surprised you haven't had a seizure yet. This is bad, Dame."

"I'm fine," retorted Damien. "You don't have to worry about me."

"I bloody well am worried sick," fought Gerard. "You're the closest thing I have to a son. I can't lose you like..."

A deafening silence came between them, seething with a filming rage.

"Say it," Damien barked. "Go ahead. Say her name. It isn't going to bring her back."

"That's not what I meant," Gerard begged, caught in the words that had so carelessly slipped from his tongue.

"No, say it, please," Damien continued, near histerical. "It's not like I need to be reminded every moment of what happened to her. You should know, you practically used her as an experiment."

"Dame, you know that's not fair," responded Gerard, not wishing to push it further. "She wanted to go through with it."

"It is fair," screamed Damien. "You were her father, you were responsible for her as much as I was. She was my love."

The two stayed there in resolute and blunt silence. Tears formed in both their eyes, yet Damien's teeth gritted feverishly. Gerard was distant in loss, memories swirling madly about his mind. A whisper of a voice he had once recalled so sweetly echoed in his ears.

"Talia," Gerard whispered.

"You had to say it," bit Damien. "You had to say her name."

Damien took a moment to calm himself. Harsh breaths dragged from his lips until a sort of seal had been placed upon him. His deep eyes caught Gerard's aged features, the way that time had not been kind to him. Damien noticed him in a way he hadn't before.

"I'm leaving," said Damien. "I don't want your help and I don't want to see you again."