Sitting amongst the crowded emergency room is Colton and Lily Hurst. Colton sitting in a seat filling out paperwork while looking as though he should be admitted himself. Lily paces the floor staring at her phone, waiting to hear from Cassie. There are patients screaming in the background, Nurses getting distraught. It was as if the pandemic had just started all over again.
Behind one curtain, Kami’s unconscious body lays upon a stretcher covered in blood. There is a suction cup placed over her mouth, pulling out the blood from her internal injuries as they have her neck in a brace, a spinal board underneath and her ribs are still heavily taped from the beginning of the evening. There are visible cuts, bruises and ripped clothing. Also visible under the clear face mask is a trail of blood smeared from Kami’s mouth up her right cheek, from Svetlana’s forceable kiss. The dried blood is a bit more discolored than normal; a vigorous color of merlot taints the already crimson color of Kami’s blood giving the effect of something alien forged within it.
A nurse is working on vitals and begins to slowly cut away parts of her clothing for treatable access for the doctor. Upon cutting into the right side of the kimono, the nurse notices a silver tattoo of a dragon, curled into a circle with its tail in its mouth. The symbol of Ouroboros. The Nakada Family Crest. The nurse wails out for help, as Colton and Lily look on wondering what the commotion is about.
The automatic doors to the emergency room fly open. They are hit so hard that they open like a book, being knocked off track. Hara rushes in, followed closely by Cassie and William. Hara, covered in blood, starts looking around the room. A nurse comes up to try and help with his injuries, but Hara pushes her to the side as he starts yelling.
"Where is she? Where the hell is Kami? Someone better fucking tell me where she is or I am going to burn this fucking place to the ground."
Colton rushes up to him, grabbing him by the arm as Hara tries to pull away. Colton’s grip gets harder.
"Dude shut the hell up. You can't talk about burning this place to the ground, they will throw you in jail."
Hara pushes him away.
"I don't care what they do to me. I failed her. She is here because of me."
Cassie, limping her way up with help from William, walks over to Hara and looks him in the eyes.
"It was not you; it was them. They did this, not you."
Hara looks at Cassie and his eyes go cold and emotionless.
"Okay, you are right Cass. I guess that means they all die!"
Cassie’s knee begins to give out from under her and she stumbles across the floor, nearly exhausted from the match. The adrenaline of the night’s events had finally caught up as she goes straight to the floor without warning. William quickly bends to her aid; the dried blood covering her face, the torn shirt and the bruised lip finally sets in his sight as his eyes go dark. He motions for a nearby nurse while Colton, Lily and Hara remain close by. William stares at Cassie; his normally calm expression is now one of anger and hatred. He looks up to Hara who shares the same emotional intent as his mind focuses back to Kami.
Cassie slowly begins to wake; she looks at William with a concerned look on her face.
"Billy, are you ok?"
She muffles out a soft whisper and starts to wave her hands in front of his face. He continues to just stare blankly at her, looking for evidence of struggle. Cassie leans up closer to him and places the palm of her hand to the side of his cheek.
"Billy? Babe, what's the matter?"
She brushes her hand across his right eye, causing him to blink and break the trance-like state he was just in. He lifts his hand to hers, pulling it to his lips as he kisses her hand.
"Everything is okay. I just hate seeing you like this."
William pulls her in for a hug. Hara just lets out a long sigh and pushes past them.
"Now that the lovebirds are happy, where the fuck is Kami? Colton, I am not kidding around here. If someone does not let me see her now, then shit is going to start getting real.”
He starts to move over to the nurse's desk, but Colton stands in his way, blocking him.
Over the intercom you can hear the chaos echo throughout the emergency room as " Kōdoarufa" (CODE ALPHA) is repeatedly announced throughout the pa system. Everyone begins to panic, security scatters amongst the halls and everyone that is able is trying to flee from the building. Cassie, Colton, Lily and William begin to look around, wondering what is going on. Hara stands at the nurse’s desk unphased by the announcement.
A young nurse at the desk is frantically looking through papers and trying to figure out what is going on. Hara stands looking at her with his bloodied fists pounding the top of the desk. An older Nurse steps in to assist the young girl as Hara is getting more aggravated by the delayed responses to his question.
"Sir, you are going to have to take a seat, we have a very serious situation happening at the moment with the emperor’s family. We need to take protocol measures."
Hara listens, he sees the security guards running through a door. He turns and without missing a beat, he runs through the door. He sees the guards standing around a bed. One of them moves just enough for Hara to get a glimpse of Kami lying there, eyes closed, hooked to machines; he runs to her. From outside in the lobby. Colton and the group hear cussing and loud crashes. They hear Hara yelling as he fights with the guards. Colton shakes his head and grabs William by the arm.
"Damn, let’s go get him before we are paying bail and rebuilding the emergency ward here.
The medical staff try and contain Hara as he shoves his way to Kami's bedside. Doctors and security try to detain him, but his adrenaline is too strong for them to handle. Colton and William come to assist as everyone else looks in shock. Cassie looks over at Lily, looking down to her side.
"Hey, you still have that needle in your purse we fixed for Kami?" Lily smiled and nodded her head.
"I got ya!!"
Lily sneaks in quietly amongst the chaos in the room, Colton tries to shoo her away from the scene as she smiles, holding up a needle and looking at Hara as everyone still struggles to pull him away from Kami's bedside. Colton smiles, he nods his head and turns to William. He turns his glare to Lily's hand and William and the Doctor's agreeing to turn Hara into position. Hara does not take notice of Lily or anyone in the room, his focus is solely upon Kami. Lily steps up behind Hara, sticking the needle into his left hip. Hara's eyes shoot up, feeling the sting of the needle. He looks over at Lily with a death stare, as he starts to fade making his way to Kami; he slides down to the floor, grabbing Kami's hand.
“I am sorry, Tenshi.”
The doctors begin to shoo everyone out of the room and begin to focus on Kami’s injuries. As everyone steps out, a nurse looks over to Hara, who remains propped up against the corner on the floor passed out from the tranquilizer.
“What do we do with this one?”
“Leave him for now, we must get the princess stable first. Has anyone called the palace?” The Doctor asked while looking towards the open door.
“I don’t believe so. I will check with the man who brought her in.”
The charge nurse steps out of the room and focuses on Colton, who is being looked over by his wife, Lily. While in the room, Kami’s head begins to violently shake; both arms tremble, and her legs begin to kick as if she was being attacked. Her body begins to convulse as one nurse looks to her face and notices a foamy white substance coming from the side of her mouth, up along the trail of dried merlot colored blood. Kami’s lips glisten with metallic from the foamy substance. The doctor looks concerned and orders a sample to be taken by a nearby nurse.
“I have never seen anything like this before.”
The doctor explained. They continue to work fashionably quick with Kami’s injuries and are finally able to sedate her and get her convulsions under control. The doctor looks over to the corner as Hara slowly begins to regain control of himself. Still unable to fully focus, he looks up as the hospital staff is placing Kami’s wrists in restraints. He slowly makes his way towards her bed; he is shaky and talks with a slurred voice.
"Stop it. What are you doing to her? I am going to kill you if you don't stop."
Colton and William quickly come into the room and grab Hara. They take him out to an empty room and sit him down in a wheelchair. Colton gets down on his knees and looks Hara right in the eyes.
"Eyes up here cuz. You must let them work on her. They know what they are doing. You have to stay calm. We all know what she means to you, but you are not helping right now. You are lucky they are not having you arrested. I have talked with the staff. They are going to let Lily and Cassie stay here with her. They have to check Cass out anyway. She took some big shots, and they need to make sure her knee is okay. You and me and Billy are going to head back to the house and start planning out the next step. I got an email and since we helped you guys, now we have to be in some kind of rumble. Let’s get through that and then we can look at those fucking Russians. Is that cool with you, cuz?"
Hara looks up and a sadistic smile stretches across his face as Colton mentioned the Russians. Hara tries to get up but slips down in the wheelchair again. Colton shakes his head, and William lets out a small chuckle. William gets behind the chair and starts to push Hara out of the room. As they leave, they pass by the room Kami is in. Hara tries to get out of the chair, but William grasps his shoulder and pushes him back down as Colton turns around.
"Don't you even think about it, cuz. We are out of here."
Cassie limps quickly towards the guys before they can escape. She taps William on the shoulder as they stand waiting for the emergency staff to open the door.
"I know you are not leaving me without some kind of kiss, asshole."
She winks and smiles the best she can with her busted lip.
William takes one look at her and shakes his head playfully.
"Not on your life, Crashie."
He smiled as he turned and lifted her up off her feet in a loose bear hug and kissed her on the forehead.
"Go get yourself checked out now, if we don't get Hara out of here, there may not be a hospital left standing."
Cassie pouted but nodded her head. "I agree with that. I will call you in a bit. Love you, asshole!"
She smiled as William shook his head and sent her a wink. Lily stood beside Colton as she followed them to the door.
"I really wished you would let the doctor look you over, Colton. You took some hard hits yourself. It's been a while since you've seen that kind of action. I don't want anything happening to you."
She looked at him with much concern in her eyes. Colton smiled and gave her a soft kiss on the lips.
"That's not the kind of action you need to worry yourself with, babe."
He winked, as her face began to blush.
The girls watch as the three of them leave the emergency room. They began to turn around and walk down the hall to the nearest elevator when a nurse at the desk was heard on the phone speaking to a member of the palace's royal staff.
"Yes, empress, your granddaughter is here at the hospital, she has sustained some major injuries, we have had to put her in restraints for her protection."
Cassie and Lily turn to each other. Cassie remembers Kami telling her how the empress despised Kami for her affection for her grandfather and not willingly accepting her as a member of the family.
"Who gave them permission to call the palace? I know Kami would not approve of that."
The two girls walk their way to the desk where the nurse that is on the phone sits.
"Hang that phone up. No one gave permission to call the palace. If anyone should be making that call, it's me."
Cassie leaned over the desk with her bloodied face inches away from the nurse's. Lily would reach for Cassie's shoulder and pull her back across the counter.
"Not here, Cass. We will get this straightened out. Just not here."
Lily backs away as Cassie gives the nurse a stern look as she whispered to the nurse.
"Hang the phone up now!"
Outside Colton calls a car service and they wait. Occasionally, Hara looks back at the door and Colton and William remind him that they are going home. About ten minutes later and black sedan pulls up and the three of them get into the car. As they travel, Hara turns to Colton.
"You know, I am not going to let this stand. There needs to be payback. They will not get away with what they did to her. Sure, she was injured, but it is like they took pleasure in what they did. I will make them pay. With or without "The Family's help. This is not going to be pretty, but it is sure going to be fun."
Colton looks at William and then back at Hara.
"Cuz, you know we always take care of ourselves. Don't even think you are in this by yourself. We will come up with something. Never forget that "The New Breed" takes care of each other. Even Billy here, he may never step in the ring like we do, but I would trust him with my life. I have seen what he would do for Cassie and for the family. Every one of us is here for you and Kami. Don't worry cuz. They will get what they have coming.”
Back inside Cassie is being checked out by one of the nursing staff. A tall, slender, dark hair male, standing about six feet tall steps up and over to Cassie. He begins to pull out a small flashlight and shines it towards both of her eyes. He begins to smile softly at Cassie while he checks the dilation of her pupils.
"You have some beautiful baby blues, little lady, but I am sorry to say that you have a slight concussion. I think it's best if I..I mean we keep you overnight for observation."
Cassie turned her attention to Lily, who was standing next to her with a smile on her face. She gives Cassie a smirk, knowing the young man was hitting on her sister-in-law. Cassie shook her head at the young man.
"As much as You..I mean Ya'll would like that, I don't think my husband would approve. You see, he just stepped outside for a moment to escort some crazy ass wrestler who threatened to blow this hospital up, to the back end of a police car. I would hate for him to have to walk back in here and find another crazy ass man who can't keep his hormones in check, flirting with his wife. There is no telling what he might do."
Cassie looks at the man and rolls her eyes. Lily stands laughing. As the nurse walks away and the two step inside Kami's room. They notice all the machines and gadgets hooked up to her and Cassie is immediately drawn back to her mother's unfortunate stay at the hospital. She stands and stares for several moments as a tear begins to form in her eyes. Lily takes notice and places her hand on Cassie's shoulder.
"Feels like yesterday, doesn't it?"
Cassie blinks and turns to Lily.
"Ya, It's like looking at mom all over again, and how close we came to losing her."
She sighed.
"Kami has been my friend since college, I...I just don't know what I would do if..."
Lily slowly cuts her off as she turns Cassie's head to face hers.
"IF nothing, Cass! Nothing is going to happen to Kami. She is a fighter, much like mom. Mom made it through, and so will Kami. We can't think about the negative things. If Hara ever caught wind of you saying this, what do you think it would do to him?"
Cassie shrugged her shoulders and sighed.
"I know you're right, Lily. It's just so hard to go through this again. Those fucking Russians are going to pay dearly for this."
The three guys go back to Kami’s kominka. They walk up to the front door. Colton grabs the handle, but it is locked. William looks at Colton.
"What now brainiac?"
They start to look around, fighting with each other. Hara reaches in his backpack and pulls out his lock picks; with little effort he opens the door and walks in, leaving Colton and William standing staring at each other. William looks at Colton.
"I think we need to improve the locks at the ranch, just in case he comes for a surprise visit."
Colton just shakes his head and laughs, walking through the door.
As they walk in, they see Hara sitting on the couch. He is staring at the TV even though it is not on. Colton gives him a glance as he walks over to the fridge and looks through it. He starts pulling out bottle after bottle of water. He goes through all the drawers in the fridge and then closes it, walking up to Hara.
"Cuz, there is no beer in the fridge. You knew we were coming and still no beer."
Hara looks at Colton and rolls his eyes.
"You know, when you showed up, I was sleeping in a tree right? Sorry, I did not stock the fridge for "The All-Mighty Colton Hurst." If you want beer that bad, I bet there is plenty in your fridge back home."
Hara reaches in his backpack and pulls out his phone, some headphones and walks out the back door to Kami's meditation area. He scrolls through his phone to find a song and puts his headphones on and just closes his eyes.
Colton looks at William.
"Damn, he is really upset. He has never been like this before. He is usually carefree and does not give two fucks about anything."
William just nods. "Think about it Colton, how would you feel if that was Lily lying there? I know what I would do if it was Cassie."
Colton snaps his head. "That is different."
William cuts Colton off before he can say anything else.
"Colton, how is it different? He loves her. I would say he loves Kami just as much as you love Lily, or I love Cassie. You have probably never seen this side of him before. Hell, I could tell it when he came up to us on the path. The way he talked; you can tell he would give anything for her."
Colton sighs and heads out to the backyard. He walks up to Hara and starts talking to him. Hara sits there with his eyes closed not hearing a word, just listening to the same song on repeat.
Inside Kami’s room, it is dark, and it is quiet, serenity at its finest. She is alone, and asleep for the most part. Her hands remain shackled to the bed rails while the intravenous is stuck high in her shoulder. Her body begins to twitch; a haunting tick; you can see the movement of her eyeballs as they begin to roll around behind her closed lids. It’s apparent she is in a state of hypnopompic hallucination. A very unpleasant dream like state that causes one to wake up believing what they just experienced was real.
Kami’s violent nature began to unravel. Her legs kicking, her arms pulling up and rattling from the bars and her head sways from left to right. Muffled sounds are heard as the oxygen mask remains covering her mouth. In a split second, Kami’s eyes spaz open as if in shock of something. She continues to look around the room as though she is unaware of her surroundings. She tries to lean up but cannot move without excruciating pain. She maneuvers her lips and tongue to move the mask from her mouth as she wails out for Hara.
Back at Kami’s, Colton returns inside to talk with William. Hara looks up. He sees that he is alone outside. He takes off his headphones and jams them back into his backpack along with his phone. He walks across the yard and climbs the back wall. He turns right and makes his way down the path he knows all too well. He sticks to the shadows trying not to be seen. After walking for some time, he makes it to the city proper. He pulls out his phone and calls for a car. He waits on the street corner, just staring down at his shoes.
The car pulls up and Hara gets in the backseat and tells the driver to take him to JR Tokyo General hospital. As he rides, he goes through his backpack, sighs, and repacks it once again. Within minutes the car stops just down the street from the hospital. Hara climbs out of the back and cuts through the grassy area of the hospital grounds. Sitting behind some bushes, he watches as people walk back and forth through the lobby doors. After about ten minutes of no one passing through the lobby, he enters and just walks across the floor making sure not to make eye contact with anyone. He makes his way back to the hall of rooms and finds the one Kami is in. He looks first and sees that Kami is the only one in there. He quietly walks in. Kami is laying there shaking, her eyes scanning the room. He makes his way to her; he places his hand on her cheek. He sees fear in her eyes.
"Shush Tenshi, I got you. You are not alone; you will never be alone as long as I am breathing."
Hara turns and pulls up a chair and sits next to Kami’s bedside. He reaches up and takes her hand softly in his. With his other hand he moves her hair out of her eyes.
Hara whispering, "Tenshi, I am sorry this happened to you. I should have been faster; I should have been stronger. Do not worry, I will make them all pay for what they did to you."
At the door Cassie and Lily are about to walk in. Lily stops Cassie before she opens the door.
"Hold up sis, look in there. Maybe we give them a minute?"
Cassie looks in the room and sees Hara talking to Kami. Kami's eyes are closed, but Hara is still talking quietly. He calmly strokes her hair as he stares at the floor.
Cassie's hand reaches for the nob but pulls away slowly. She again is brought back to the visions of her mother's hospital stay and how her father never left her side. The stillness in her chest felt like something she could not explain. Hara was being her father and sadly Kami turned into her mother. Hara's vengeful behavior earlier in the day was the same vengeful look her father had when face to face with Damon.
The same hatred, the burning glow of red that blinded his eyesight and drove him to the point where another man's life meant nothing. She saw that look and it was not pretty. Cassie took a deep breath and twisted upon the door handle. Hara's body jolted from the chair, ready to fight anyone trying to remove him from the room.
His guard was up, he did not care whether it was a nurse, a doctor, the police or even Colton or Cassie. He was not leaving Kami's side. Cassie steps in, bruised, still bloodied from the night’s events, her clothes were torn, and her left knee was now wrapped heavy in bandages. A look of despair was on her face; her eyes gazing directly over to Kami; she steps closer to Hara and takes the chair he was just sitting in. Hara just manages to look on, confused, however not letting his guard down.
"She's going to be ok, Hara. She has to be ok."
Cassie reached her hand across the bed rail and stroked Kami's fingertips.
"If it's the last thing I do on this earth, those Russians will pay dearly for this."
She turns her head and looks up to Hara who just then, began to ease his stance and took a seat on the arm of the chair Cassie sits in.
Hara looks at Kami and then at Cassie.
"Cuz, I don't know how this happened. I mean I know how she ended up here. I mean I don't know what happened to me. This was just supposed to be a job for the family. I come and I watch over her and make sure she gets her job done. Why am I so dumb?"
He gets up and walks to the other side of the bed and pulls over another chair and gestures to Lily to take a seat. Hara walks over and leans against the wall.
"Cuz, I don't know what to do anymore. She is all I care about. There is nothing I wouldn't do to make sure she is okay. I know she thinks I am an idiot most of the time, that I don't take anything seriously. But she is serious enough for both of us. I see it in her eyes, she needs to be happy. It feels like she has never ever been happy. I just want to make her see there are good things in life. Is that wrong, is that stupid of me?"
Lily sits quietly, she looks over to Cassie who sits now with her head leaning upon the bedrail. Lily stands to her feet for a moment and she steps across the tubes that are attached to Kami's machine and she places her hand upon Hara's chest.
"Hara, is what you feel in here.." she taps her fingers upon his chest. "The same thing that comes out of here..." she taps her index finger upon his lips.
"If you want Kami to feel the words you speak, then you are going to have to make a believer out of yourself."
Hara stands looking confused. Lily sighs, she lowers her head, shuts her eyes and takes in a deep breath.
"Take Kami to the place where she is happy. Do the things that make her happy. Find a joke in something serious and make her laugh. Let her loosen up in her own way and I'm willing to bet she will come around and be grateful for it. "
Hara stands looking over to Cassie as she slowly nods her head in agreement.
"Lily is right, Hara..Kami's only hard, because she was forced to be. The Kami I remember back in college wasn't this hardened shell of a person. She needs to trust again; she needs to realize that her happiness resides in you. We all feel like we've failed her, I know I have. Now more than ever, she needs to know that these people…those damn people will never again get to her like they did. We can't force happiness on her, but we can do everything in our power to make sure she understands what it feels like."
Cassie stood from the chair, she lowered her face to Kami's and kissed her forehead. She turned looking at Lily with somewhat of a sadistic smirk on her face as she steps back walking towards the door. Lily looks at Hara, who looks at them both confused.
“I’ve seen that look before…something tells me trouble is coming, and Vanity is her name.”