Slender fingertips trailed forlornly over cold stone, a melancholy smile gracing Kina's lips as she traced the names carved into ageing marble headstones. She loved and hated this time of year... so beautiful and yet so bittersweet. As the new year dawned, she took time - in the old way - to honour those who would not live to see its blessings. This year, in particular, more than any other. 

So much of her life had changed... a life she wouldn't have if not for the names before her. So, the small cemetery was decorated in rare form; draped in steamers and red lanterns. She spared no expense. Spending weeks designing a new sitting area in dedication to those whose memories now stood enshrined beneath her feet, overlooked by a carefully transplanted and tenderly hand-raised wisteria that painted the green lawn in bright, delicate blossoms... an eternal testament to her gratitude.  

In support of her dedication, her new 'family' saw to it that she had everything she could possibly need or want to make this happen, including the rental and delivery of a baby grand piano. It was starkly out of place, given the setting, and yet ironically perfect all the same. 

Stooping, she brushed her lips softly against the smoothe marble before moving away to settle onto the piano bench. It took her several moments to collect herself before she laid into the ivory keys. Four dark, slender figures framed the small plot as she began to play, the sky... like each of them... weeping frigid tears as her fingers danced across the keys in a lilting waltz of charged melodic emotion. 

Song after song drifted out over the glistening headstones as she poured herself into the macabre concert, giving all that she could to the precious souls who had given her a second chance at living; aching with every cell of her being aching the impossible longing that... in another world or some other life... they might likewise have a second chance in some other life for a happier ending to their tragic love. 

Soaked to the bone and shivering cold, she finally stood only when she could play no longer. With fingers as numb as her aching heart, she retreated to the safety of a black umbrella that led her with mournful silence through the cemetery gates... never to return. Leaving the piano behind as an eidolic testament to their sorrow, she left the past to rest in peace as the pale lilac Wisteria blossoms wilted and withered in the silence.

Slowly throughout the day, the Wisteria blossoms giving way to the tree itself, continued to wither until it became a husk of itself. Limbs fell to the ground as even the grass around the newly planted tree started to turn shades of brown and die. Eventually, a rotting tree stood where the Wisteria had been, threatening to tumble and fall beneath the wind's push.

For years his body had laid at rest peaceful and content, his soul happily and successfully crossed over into the realm of spirits. For years, he'd remained able to watch over his family without having to live as they did... Without a curse. Their ceremony had been beyond touching, and he knew it was as good a time as any to finally say goodbye. His fingers danced along the notes as Tsukina played them... He lost himself in the sound of music and drifted along...

Then as everything slowly faded, as his family walked away, as their lingering presence slipped deeper into the abyss and they moved away from their mourning, he felt it. A terrifying grip on his soul... Falling... Falling and never stopping... He screamed, but sound wouldn't produce from his throat... He kicked and clawed as the world around him faded to black... As everything slipped further and further away from him...

Turning over his shoulder, he looked down into the black, silent, nothingness that threatened to swallow him whole... Again he screamed, and again nothing came out...

Panic stricken, his spirit lashed out striking into the blackness, until he felt himself suddenly stop. Immediate. Like someone smashing into the solid ground from a thirty or forty story leap. Oddly, he felt it smash the air from his lungs as he gasped out, no longer able to see even himself in the surrounding darkness. Screaming in agony and unable to even see himself, he felt his body lunge forward as he gasped... His head slammed into something hard and he felt it, wetness, pooling and dripping across his face.

He continued to scream and thrash about wildly in the confined space, unsure of what was happening. Eventually, his body's pain ceased, and he took slow, measured breaths. His eyes darted about in the darkness as things slowly adjusted. Cushions... Pillow... Satin lining... Of all people, he'd know a casket when he saw one. Panic again struck him, as did misery and mourning... His body convulsed uncontrollably as he wept until his eyes were void of tears. The unsettling fear that loomed over him drew on his worst nightmares and continued to haunt his every thought... Until one.

He was starting to run out of oxygen. In his frantic state, he'd slowly began to realize that he was indeed, somehow, alive... Again... But he wasn't sure how, or if it was permanent, but -NOT- getting out of the coffin and dying of suffocation because he didn't do anything, would surely count as suicide... Which, if he hadn't been reborn through their family blood, that was certain to set of the curse. If he wanted to ever be sane and free again, he had to get out of the ground... Now...

Struggling, while fighting his best to conserve oxygen, he slowly but surely was able to break away at the coffin's structure... Bloody and ripped fingertips led way through the dirt, passing it down to his feet and making a hole for himself. It would take hours upon hours to dig through the six feet of packed dirt that lay atop him, but as the moon hit high in the sky his bloody, muddy, hand burst through the top layer of wet soil, grasping for anything...

Struggling more, still, he eventually broke the dirt away and opened up to his weakened and straining lungs, gasping for air, sputtering and coughing as he hoisted himself up from beneath the ground...

He was both free from his earthly prison, and subsequently trapped in it yet again...

Thunder rolled ragefully through the city streets, straining arms of violent lightening bleaching the paling morning sky an even brighter shade of dusky blue as it ripped across the horizon. Gasping against the onslaught of the encroaching dawn, Salena lurched awake; a moan to rival the restless spirits of the dead wresting itself from her lips as her hands clutched her chest. 

Pale and clammy, she climbed from her bed and clawed her way to the bathroom, a flash of lightning illuminating her sickly pallor with acrimonious candour. Shaking hands pried the lid from a prescription bottle, pills scattering into the sink as she lost her grip. Whimpering softy, she frantically collected all that she could and carefully poured them back into the cracked container. With a bitter chuckle, she gripped the edge of the sink with white knuckles. It had been years since she'd last needed her meds. And the sudden regression brought indignant tears stinging to her eyes. 

With a heaving sigh, she eyed her reflection in the mirror, her fingers traced the long, wine-coloured scar that ran the length of her chest from collar bone to navel. Most days she did her best to overlook it, hiding its claret secrets beneath collared blouses and heavy fabrics. But moments like this made the throbbing truth impossible to ignore. Returning to the parade of pill bottles that lined her bathroom counter, Salena resigned herself once more to the hand-me-down existence of her life, tossing her head back with a loud gulp as she placed a tertiary tablet beneath her tongue. 

As her heterochromatic gaze floated to the clock beside the bed, she shook her head with a deferential sigh. It was too late to crawl back into bed. No matter how she longed to hide herself away from the world, she was obligated to press on... and there was a busy day ahead of her at any rate. Dragging herself through the cavernous drudgery of hygiene, Sali tugged herself into a powder blue dress that complimented the colours of her eyes... as well as her cloudy mood before slipping into a pair of neutral flats. It was a beige kind of day, she chuckled sardonically to herself. All of her days were beige, really... but when your life wasn't your own, it was impossible to do anything but abdicate to obligatory acquiesence. 

Pinning her hair into a modest updo, she tugged her sleeves down around her wrists buttoned her collar high around her neck. One last glance in the mirror to ensure everything was covered and concealed, and she slipped out the door with a warm smile to the rain. She carried a simple black umbrella simply because arriving to work soaking wet was generally frowned upon. But, if she had her way, she'd have walked through the cold rain with a gleeful guilty gratitude. It was one of the few things she really enjoyed in life. Rain felt comfortable... safe... like she didn't have to pretend. Its frigid fingers snaking over her skin felt like the kind of death she should have died long ago. It was a friendly kind of melancholy that she had to push from her mind as she carefully unlocked the door of her small flower shop. 

She didn't even flip the lights on in the early morning dusk. Gathering the day's deliveries with tired familiarity, she was out again within minutes. Arms laden with tissue-wrapped bouquets, she twisted the shop's little sign to 'closed' as she pulled the door closed behind her and set off down the street. With any luck, this part of the day would go quickly. It was her least-favourite part, after all... too people-y. As soon as she placed these precious bundles into the right hands, she could return to the petal-soft paradise of her secluded botanical haven. 

Two birthdays, an anniversary, and a baby shower latter, and Sali was on her way to her final delivery. It was the same every day. The funeral parlour. Usually, there was no shortage of deaths to beautify with blossoms, the gentle petals somehow softening the blow of grief. It was, interestingly, one of her favourite parts of her job. Surprisingly, today left her with only one such delivery... a well-crafted bouquet of victorian echos destined for Elysium. Sali smiled as she eyed the tag. She LOVED that one. She found the name beautifully fitting. And the owners were always kind. Pausing at the corner, Sali dug into her small clutch purse. Elysium was quite a walk, and her delivery route had serendipitously deposited her at one of the many bus stops around town. With any luck at all, she might be able to rummage up juuuust enough change to make the next stop. Praying her sore feet might find some relief, she buried herself in the pursuit of that hope with reckless abandon... oblivious to almost everything else... almost.  

Sullivan Carlisle Black...

That's what the tombstone read. His eyes trembled and his cheeks stained with a mixture of blood and mud as he reached up to wipe at his eyes. There were no tears left, and yet he could feel the whole in his stomach that dropped like an eternal pit. Everything felt wrong. Worse? He turned his head to see the other headstone.

Mattea Valencia Peraldo...

The real M.V.P.

He tried to cry more, his face contorting into painful positions as he finally fell forward to his knees. Dragging himself forward, inch after agonizing inch.

"I'm so sorry, Matty... This is my fault. I got you into this, and now you're dead." His body lurched and fell face down in the mud, heaving as if he was crying, but unable to produce any sound left aside from the occasional grasping of air as he struggled to calm himself.

"Get a grip, Sully... First, why are you back?" he tried to distract himself with questions.

"What about Elysium, is it still here? How long have I been gone. Things look really, really different." Sighing, and dry sobbing, he wiped away more of the blood and mud caking his face. Pushing himself up, he smiled at the tombstone oddly. "I remember you were beautiful, and played guitar amazingly, and had an abundance for life... I'm not sure why I'm back, but I'm here." He stared, slowly pushing himself up.

"This isn't right. I'll come home soon Matty... This time, be there please?" He reached out and touched the tombstone with a soft huff and sniffle. His body ached from both the pain of crawling out of the casket and for reliving every bit of every death and tragedy, including his own, at once. It took him some time to reach his feet steadily. Having thought about Elysium Fields, he figured he'd drop in and pay a visit. Perhaps Harvey was still alive and he could have a few explanations.

Making his way to the bus stop outside of the cemetery, the muddy-bloody Sullivan stopped on the curb of the road. The bus was coming, and he could easily throw himself in front of it... End it all again. But then, there was the worry about their curse. What if he wasn't back due for that reason and this was a legitimate second chance. Could he really throw it all away with one step?

As he teetered on the edge, he finally looked up.

So familiar...

He stared into her eyes from across the road. A gaze he swore he knew. Someone he'd met, perhaps many times over. Then, to his surprise, as he blinked she was gone. Vanished into thin air like a ghost of a memory.

As he moved to step into the street to chase this familiar mystery woman down, horns blared loudly. The other bus whipped by him quickly as he stumbled back a few steps in surprise. He had been inches away from taking his life by using the bus and returning to the spirit realm before seeing her, and her appearance almost caused him to do it anyway. He sat on the ground and contemplated both options for a while before finally settling on living, even if it was just for now while he figured out what had happened and caused his painful reemergence.

Crossing the street once it was safe, he stood where he'd sworn to have seen the woman. Turning about and wondering where she'd gone, he noticed a flower on the bench of the bus stop. Picking it up brought a smile to his face, and somehow he knew she'd left it. She'd left it specifically for him. With overwhelming feelings washing over him Sully pocketed the flower. He couldn't help but believe it was a sign... Unfortunately, it meant he still -REALLY- needed answers.

Waving a Taxi down, Sullivan removed his pocket watch and nodded. "I know it's not much, but I can offer this. It's worth more than any fare you'll charge. I promise. I need to visit Elysium Fields."

"No offense pal, you look like you just came from Elysium Fields... A week ago!" the cabbie coughed out before nodding and waving Sullivan in. "Well, let's get going. Lots'a fares to make tonight."

Sullivan climbed in and set the watch in the front seat, leaning back.

They drove for what seemed like ten minutes before the vehicle pulled up near the old funeral home. With a heavy hearted sigh, Sullivan opened the door and stepped out, closing it behind him. He waved as the Cabbie pulled away, then stood there, staring up at the old building as memories rushed over him. Taking a deep breath, he stepped toward the first door and slowly pushed it open.

"Hello?" he called out lightly, awaiting an answer.

There was no change. Of course, there was no change. She'd probably left it all on the bedside table or something equally inconvenient. With a frustrated sigh, Salena gave up her futile search and turned to cart her floral wares away on foot. But a glance from across the street froze her mid-step. 

She didn't notice the blood, mud, or tears. Even in his state, what was remarkable to her was his grief. The weight of it slammed into her fragile heart like the passing bus, wrenching the air from her lungs as his eyes stared into her and through her. Blue eyes the colour of forget-me-nots... blue eyes like she'd never forget, not as long as she lived. And they were so sad that it physically hurt. ... which was odd enough in and of itself. But the longing that washed over her with that realization shook her to the core. 

In that moment, she wanted nothing more than to take his pain away. To hold him and caress the anguish from his face, to cradle the misery from his bones and kiss the sorrow from his soul. For a split second, it was all she could think of, but as the bus passed and broke their gaze, the impropriety and oddness of it all settled over her like a heavy cloud. People just didn't FEEL that for strangers. It wasn't normal. 

Shaking her head, she turned to once more start the journey to her last delivery. But something tugged again at her straining heart strings. So, with a final glance over her shoulder, she pulled a single pink camellia from the bouquet and placed it tenderly on the bus bench beside her before melting into a sea of simple black umbrellas and disappearing into the misty, mournful weather. 

Troubled with the events of the day, Sali was in no mood for a long walk. And, in her predisposition for social anarchy, the hopped several fences, cut through a few yards and skirted the main gate to cut down the time she was being forced to spend in the public. What should have been a boring 20 minute walk turned into a fun little game of 'how much trouble can I avoid' and delivered her to the front door in 7... albeit a bit stained and smudged. But Harvey was always understanding of her misadventures. He'd known her almost as long as she'd lived... for reasons no one ever talked about. And, to be honest, he was one of the few people who actually embraced and ENCOURAGED her oddities. It was one of the many reasons that she made a point to do her funeral deliveries last. That way... at least on the days that Elysium was on the schedule... she'd have some small modicum of time to chat and indulge her melancholia. And today, of all days, she definitely needed to chat.  

Her delicate knuckles wrapped lightly on the door... an old habit, even though she knew it was unnecessary. Slipping inside without waiting, she called out cheerfully, "Oh, Haaarveeey... Deliveeeryyyy!"  

A young, chipper man-child glided out of the office, all tattoos and smiles. "Sali!" he beamed, scooping her into a hug with a kiss on each cheek. "Dad's down in the morgue. You wanna wait?" 

Sali's eyes sparkled with an odd glint that she knew would only ever be understood here. "Wait? Jimmy Sullivan, you should know better," Pressing the bouquet into his hands, she spun toward the long hallway that led downstairs, "These belong to Mrs. Jones in the second showroom. Come down when you're finished. I need to talk to your dad." 

Veritably skipping into the frigid, tiled room, Sali smiled; memories of younger days tickling her as she reminisced about gliding over the slick floors in socked feet... back when Harvey's daughter was still around. She missed Evie something awful, but the memories gave her some reprieve from the worries of her day. 

Harvey was hard at work... as usual; elbows deep in the chest cavity of whatever poor sod he was piecing back together today. Leaning over his shoulder, Sali marvelled as he worked. "Is that how you did mine?" she mused softly, fingers tracing the scar beneath her blouse. Harvey chuckled remaining focused on his work, "Not exactly." 

Gliding around the table, Sali quietly watched... always fixated by the body, be it dead or alive. "Your sutures were always so much better than Dads. You could have been a great surgeon, you know." Catching herself mid-sentence, she corrected, "You ARE a great surgeon. You SHOULD have been a great doctor." Smiling she wrinkled her nose at a particularly unpleasant squelching sound, "I'm glad you found somewhere you could explore both." 

The older man shot her a silent, chastizing look, and with a roll of her eyes, Sali slipped a medical mask and goggles over her face before resting her elbows on the edge of the table. "I need to talk to you," she finally dropped the playful banter and got down to business, her tone causing Harvey to pause mid-stitch. "I never like the sound of that," he sighed, "What's the scale? I can put this on hold... he obviously won't mind." 

Sali chuckled and shook her head, "No, no. You finish I can wait." Slipping into a pair of long latex gloves, she inched down to the man's lower half, expertly fishing a bullet from his left hip with a pair of forceps. ".45," she mused softly as the shell clanked softly into a waiting bowl. Grunting as she pulled a second bullet from his lower abdomen, ".38... ballistic marks look like a special, I'd wager," she squinted at it the markings on the casing before dropping it unceremoniously next to the other. Harvey smiled and shook his head. "You know... it's days like this that I understand your dissatisfaction with society," he chuckled. 

"Drive-by. Two shooters." Harvey confirmed with an approving nod, "Thompson .45 caliber submachine, and an unreported pistol, size .38 based on some other round sI retrieved." Finished with whatever he'd been doing, he passed her a suture needle, pointing to the wounds. "Make my life easy and purse-string those." With a nod, Sali set quietly to work, sealing the wounds with nearly expert hands... Harvey grinning all the while. "Does your father know you can do that?" he mused, "...the bullets, not the sewing." Sali, with a smirk, simply shot him a sarcastic glance before rolling her eyes. Of course, her father didn't know. Even as a doctor, he didn't want her within 50 feet of an operating room... much less a morgue. It was 'improper' for a lady. At best, she might be allowed to nurse... but who wants to do that?

Sliding the gloves and mask off, Sali gripped the edge of the table with pale fingers as she huffed breathlessly. That was now twice today. Shooting Harvey a shy shake of her head, she fished a small bottle out of her purse... which was folded neatly in a chair by the door... and downed yet another mouthful of pills. 

Harvey, finishing his current suture with a whirlwind whipstitch, ditched his coat, gloves, and mask in record time; kneeling beside her with a look of fatherly concern. Sali, tired of being babied and frustrated with her body, chuckled sardonically, "I'd say an 8 for breathlessness and.... a.... 6.5? for pain." The look on Harvey's face made her purse her lips, "Don't do that. I'll be fine. You've kept me alive this long," she playfully slugged him in the arm, trying her best to lighten the mood. "And the current cocktail has worked really well up until now. I' haven't needed the PRN in MONTHS. So... we just have to figure out what changed and fix it. No biggie. It's either stress or it's tolerance. It's not the end of the world." 

Harvey smiled, always endearingly entertained by her would-be grasp of medicine. But the look faded into confusion and stark FEAR as a soft voice echoed down from upstairs. "Hello...." 

Harvey froze; eyes calculating and narrow. Something was wrong. Sali knew he worked with 'unsavoury' types, and she'd been in their presence on more than one occasion, but she'd never seen him react this way. Every hair on her body stood on end as her heart lurched painfully again. Lurching forward, she gripped her chest with a gasping groan that drew Harvey out of whatever mental plot he'd been hatching. 

"Shit..... SHIT!"

In all her years, Sali had never seen Harvey at a loss for action. It scared her down to her bones. 

"Okay..." Harvey coaxed gently, tugging her to her feet. "I want you to stay right. Here," he instructed with a no-arguing kind of glare as he opened the one door that was NEVER supposed to be opened and shoved her into a small back room filled with coils and switches that made her mind spin. "Don't come out until Jimmy or I come to get you. Be as quiet as you can. And whatever you do... don't touch anything." 

With that, he shut the door behind him... a soft 'click' sounding as the lock turned... leaving her locked in the dark and pain as a hollow sense of panic slowly crept into her aching chest.

"Helloooooo?" Sullivan called again, shutting the door behind him and turning forward to face off with a young, tattooed man who rounded the corner and froze...

"Ahe, yes, hello. I don't believe I know you." Sullivan chuckled, "Are you the owner? Or is..."

Harvey came up from the lower floor at that point and paused in the doorway, looking across the room at Sullivan, he also paused as he saw the old man.

"Harvey?" he inquired as his head cocked to the side as it usually did.

Silence. The old man didn't speak a word or dare to move, and the young tattooed man looked between Sullivan and Harvey. Eventually, Sully took a few steps forward and looked around the room.

"Harvey, if that really is you, you've aged tremendously... Which means it's been quite some time since I was last here. I like what you've done with the place..."

Slowly looking at James, he added. "And this must be James... Glad to see he finally made it out to you. I assume you're James, anyway?"

James nodded, his eyes slowly squinting as he backed up from Sullivan slightly.

"How?" Harvey finally croaked out as he looked at Sully.

"If I knew, I'd probably have called before making this my first destination. I don't know how, Harvey."

"When?"

"I woke in the coffin probably... Ten hours ago? It took me, from what I can assume, six hours to claw my way out of the coffin and dig my way up. Glad to know I was at least buried in my choice." He offered a sarcastic chuckle.

"Why?"

Sullivan sighed. "If I knew why, I'd probably know 'how', now wouldn't I? I don't know why, Harvey. All I know is I'm here, and it hurts, but I'm still afraid that it may not be what I think... If I'm not... one... Then if I try and kill myself I will become one... If I am one, then I won't die anyway... I wish I understood." Making it to a chair, Sullivan crumbled into the soft plush of the seat and clutched his head.

"And then..." he may as well have been sobbing as his body heaved so.

"And then I swear I saw her, Harvey. But if you look as you do, then there's no way. She'd be ten years your senior. But I swear, I felt it like Matty was right beside me, Harvey. I know she died! She died in my arms! So THAT is the 'HOW?' I want to know!"

He looked up, his eyes a dry red around the striking contrast of blue... There was a lack of tears still now, though the streaks could still be seen where they'd run down his face and washed the mud away.

"It hurts so much, Harvey... I no longer have tears for how hard I've wept... I'm so lost. It's cold and alone. You'd think I'd be used to the hollow feeling after Jackie, but Matty took that away. She made me feel again... And now I wake and she's FUCKING GONE!"

His rage and sorrow mixed, almost literally making the earth move around them as James stumbled backward at the immediate shift in Sullivan's temperament. But as quickly as the growling roar of anger crept around their senses, it faded as Sullivan lowered his head back into his hands and wailed... Harvey had seen this before. He'd seen it when Sullivan fell to the sway of Heroin that numbed the pain of losing his first wife. But this? It was certainly worse. Not only had he lost his second love, he'd lost his peace of knowing that when he died, he'd stay dead.

"How, Harvey?" his voice was weak once he finally calmed. "How could I feel Matty when I know she's gone?" He dug in his pocket and pulled out the pink camellia, looking at it softly. "She left this for me. I know it was Matty's spirit. Somehow. She misses me, that's what this flower means... Matty misses me, her spirit longs to be together again. But I'm here... And I don't know -how- to be with her. I felt her here too, though. In a young womans eyes, I saw her..." He sighed, not noticing the look of worry on Harvey's face as he'd produced the flower. Harvey knew those camellia anywhere, and the young woman safely stowed away and locked in Sullivan's old experimentation room would know them all too well.

Jimmy slowly slid between Sully and the viewing room... a fresh bouquet of those very camelia and fragile forget-me-nots framed in the doorway atop a fresh coffin. With any luck, he hoped he could block their view without notice. In the basement, Salena collapsed, clutching her chest and gasping for breath as Sully raged above her. At this rate, her heart would give out entirely before Harvey could concoct a new cocktail of drugs to regulate its frantic pace.  

"Ha...harvey?" she coughed out in a barely audible whisper. She tried to scream, but no sound would issue from her constricted chest. Flailing in the darkness, she was crushed beneath the hopeless realization that she could, in fact, die here. 

'What ever you do, don't touch anything.' Harvey had said it as if THAT would somehow be worse than arousing suspicion from whoever had arrived. But... breathless, locked in the dark, with a heart that seemed to be skipping every other beat... what else could she do? Blindly, she grasped at the odd implements that decorated the room... coils of cold metal, wires, pipes. Finally, her palms fell across a line of heavy switches along one wall. Lights, maybe... hopefully. If not... what was the worst that could happen, all things considered. With a heaving whimper, Sali thrust each one up in succession, until at long last the room illuminated with dancing, thrumming lightning. 

Shocked... literally and metaphorically... Sali crumpled to the floor with a shriek as the lights in all the building surged and flickered. 

The brightness and the noise shocked her to her core... her heart skipping several beats as she gasped for breath against the nearly musical onslaught of electrical buzzing. Faintly, she heard Harvey screaming curses upstairs as a thunder of footsteps rained down the stairs... just as the tunnel of light around her vision began to slowly fade. 

Sullivan heard James move, but didn't bother to look up. Wrapped in his own mind, he continued to relax himself as he sought answers through his own memories... Perhaps something locked away in adolescence could help him. With his eyes closed, he slowly rocked. It wasn't until he heard the loud *THRUM* of electricity kick on, and the lights flickered; a few even blowing.

Looking up as Harvey started cursing, Sullivan stopped all of his inward thought and focused on the noises around him. He was up and to the door faster than James even had a chance to move. Down the stairs as Harvey continued to curse and groan, Sullivan lead the way for all three of them. Quickly he reached the door and Harvey called for him to stop.

"WAIT! It's locked, and we need to kill the..."

As Harvey spoke, Sullivan instinctively reached up and flipped a large breaker switch near the door; almost like he'd done it thousands of times...

"Get the door open, Quinn."

It wasn't the weeping willow from up stairs, that was his long time teacher and the old Sullivan speaking. As Harvey fiddled with the keys they could hear Salena gasping and seizing behind the door.

"Sully, I need to prepare you for what's behin~"

"GET THE DOOR OPEN, QUINN! You can explain later, right now, someone is dying, and I won't let that happen here, not right now. Not when they fooled with MY belongings."

Blinking, Harvey looked at him. That truly sounded like his old Sullivan. However, frustrated with the old man's hesitation, Sullivan grabbed the keys and unlocked the door, thrusting it open.

There was a pause, a split second pause as Sullivan understood why Harvey tried to prepare him. Attempted to warn him. Regardless, Sullivan swallowed his emotions as he'd always done and gripped the woman's arms. "YOUNG JAMES! GRAB HER LEGS! TO THE TABLE, NOW!"

The two hoisted her up and carried her, laying her on her side on the clean table... Unfortunately, she was staring at the cadaver across from her, not that she'd know...

"Hold her..." he commanded James and turned his back, donning and apron and mask, then grabbing his utensils.

"Harvey, connect the wires to the coils... We may need to jolt her back if we loose her."

Placing a stethoscope to her heart, he yelled back again. "Never mind, we need it now to reset her heart beat! Palpitations are skipping every other beat, thump, thump... thump... thump, thump, thump... thump... thump, thump... thump... HURRY! WE NEED TO SET IT STRAIGHT BEFORE IT STOPS!"

Harvey, deciding not to argue with this version of Sullivan, did as he was told. James continued to hold Salena carefully as he looked over to the man he'd never met but knew so much about.

"It's a strange honor to finally get to meet you, Sulliv~"

"Quiet, focus on keeping her still and from hurting herself. We can talk once she's safe."

Harvey rushed back with the connected coils and Sullivan unceremoniously ripped the front, top half of her dress open. James blushed and turned away, but Harvey taped the wire on either side of her chest without question. Quickly, he rushed back to the coil room and flipped the switches down, then flipped the large breaker back on.

Sullivan placed the stethoscope back on her chest and listened...

Thump, thump... Thump... Thump, thump, thump... Thump... Thump... Thump, Thump... Thump, Thump, Thump...Thump...Thump........Thump..............Thump......

"Waaaaait for it...." he called.

Thump............................................... Thump................................

There it was, the flat line. Sully nodded at Harvey and slammed his fist on the table... Harvey, in conjunction, flipped the switches up and counted for one second, then killed them.

Sullivan rolled her on her back and checked her breathing and heartbeat... Nothing.

"AGAIN!" he yelled and hit the table.

A second time, Harvey flipped the switches and waited... Then killed them again. Her body lurching up as the electricity coursed through her.

And a third time as Sullivan called it... Holding up his hand and pulsing it at Harvey. Quickly, the "younger" protege starting pulsing the electricity through her. A few times they did this, then Sully nodded and checked her pulse. It was weak, but there. Checking her heart beat, it had settled and beat normally. Her breath? Sweet, like Matty's was when she slept... Sullivan, throwing his mask to the side, pressed his ear to her chest and listened carefully...

When he stood back up, he could see her eyes fluttering softly, before finally opening. Dashing blues framed in raven black hair falling around a pale face was the first thing she'd see when she opened them...

Sali groaned as the familiar feeling of 'coming back' washed over her. This wasn't the first time Harvey had been called on to shock her back to life... but definitely the first time here, and so violently. Gasping softly, Sali's glazed and mismatched eyes focused cloudily on the room around her as she lolled limply to one side... grateful for the hands that held her steady. 

"You...?" she mumbled softly as her gaze focused on his periwinkle eyes... a goofy smile colouring her lips in confused intrigue. Gripping his shoulders, she coughed roughly, gasping again. "Fo... f... foxglove. Bri... bring... me the... foxglove. And willow. ...I mean, aspirin," she gestured to Jimmy with a look that told Sullivan their little group was more familiar than he should be comfortable with. 

Weak and still only half-in, she crumpled into Sully's arms and settled there... fixated on her own breathing until the world settled back to life. It took her a long moment to realize the dampness on her skin was from his muddied suit and not her sweat. Glancing down, she finally realized she was nearly bare from the waist up... her diaphanous slip translucent from the moisture. Yet, when her hands flew to cover her chest, it was the egregious scar and not her peeking breasts that she instinctually guarded. 

Clasping her now-buttonless blouse tightly, she drew her knees to her chest and huddled tightly, shooting Harvey a remorseful glance. "I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice hoarse and gravelly from her ordeal, "I know you said not to touch anything... but... I... um... I couldn't see... and I couldn't scream... and I needed help." 

With familiar care, Jimmy delivered three small pastilles and a glass of water into her waiting hands with a half-smile of weary concern. The soft glances shared between the two eased any thoughts of impropriety that might have entered Sully's mind.  Whoever this woman was, Harvey knew her... and it seemed, in all likelihood that her presence in HIS room was an act of protection rather than any wrongdoing. But... as he looked down at her small frame huddled on the cold morgue table, that thought began to almost make things worse as his mind worked to fit the pieces together. Harvey knew her... 

Sullivan stepped back a bit as he watched things play out...

"Foxglove, and aspirin... Wait a minute..." Looking at the woman, he called out, "DON'T TAKE THAT TOGETHER!"

He eyed Harvey, James, and the woman as James paused, his hand still on hers.

"It's okay, it's her prescription," James announced as the girl smiled and nodded before both pointing at Harvey... The poor older man's eyes got wide as he looked over at Sullivan.

"Now before you go and say anything, Sullivan Black, I'll have you know this was the best we could d~"

"Are you TRYING to send the girl to an early grave? Fuck's sake, Harvey, you can't TAKE those together! WHAT ELSE is she on?!"

Swallowing the pills then frowning and looking at Sullivan, the woman spoke up.

"We know," her voice came out soft and gentle, "And in most instances you would be right, but this combination is the ONLY thing that has worked, long-term for my condition. Digoxin, Aspirin, and Quinine... all in rotating micro-dosages, with nutritional support and occasional supplementation to adjust for tolerance, contraindication, and general hiccups. It's not perfect. Nothing ABOUT ME is perfected. But it works. It  has its hiccups, but it works. And Harvey has kept me ALIVE. So... while you may have SAVED it... I owe him my life. Quite literally!"

Harvey chuckled a bit nervously and spoke up...

"Well, dear... You might owe that to him as well. He taught me everything I know. Not to mention, well no... I'll have to explain that to him before I outright say that." Sighing as he turned to Sullivan, Harvey smiled.

"What the girl speaks is true. I put a heart in her that wasn't hers. Never been done before, I know. But, because of everything we studied and I learned from you, I was able to pull off saving this young girls life... The day you died..."

Sullivan's brow perked. "Well, I'm sure there were plenty of hearts available on that day." He grumpily huffed and turned his back, leaning against a wall. "So why would she owe me aside from what I've taught you?"

"Let me start this by apologizing, Sullivan. I didn't know at the time, I just saw a young girl needing my help. I never knew who's heart it was..."

Sullivan looked up at Harvey, his eyes staring holes through the older man. James reached up and gripped Salena's hand, helping her off the table and away from the two "old" friends.

"Had I known, at the time, I probably wouldn't have done it, Sullivan. I know your feelings for allowing people to rest in peace... But Sullivan, I couldn't not help her, you understand right? Her father handed her to me with a heart and said to save her. They wanted you to do it, but you were already dead... And so was Matty... And I didn't even KNOW you were dead yet! I didn't know anyone was dead!"

Sullivan pushed away from the wall, his gaze turning toward Salena but still not speaking as Harvey continued.

"She was caught in crossfire, Sully. The heart they gave me, was from another woman who'd been killed that day. It was too big... Both physically, and metaphorically. I didn't know, you have to know I didn't know!"

Sullivan looked over to Harvey who was crying at that point, literally falling to his knees. In a flash Sullivan was beside him, holding him up from his fall. James had blinked and missed the move, as had Salena. Harvey tried to look up as his friend, but crumbled into Sullivan's chest, ugly crying... He'd missed his chance to say goodbye so many years ago and had felt such guilt since...

"It's Matty, isn't it?" The voice was soft, almost inaudible. "It would explain the sense I got earlier when I laid eyes on her at the bus..."

"Died?" Sali's voice echoed softly, searching for answers in James' eyes. Of course, there were none to be found. 

Her head spun as he moved. Half of her saw him and the other didn't. It made her dizzy as her heart naturally skipped a beat. 

Salena felt the vibration of Sully's question shiver through her body... the pieces clicking into place with a speed and compassion that surprised both the men. 

Squeezing Jimmy's hand, she reassured him it was okay with a soft smile before timidly crossing the tile floor. She was silent for a moment... her unsettling gaze prying into his very soul as she peered into his eyes. Silently, she took his hand; blushing lightly as she opened her blouse to place his palm against her bare chest. One hand held him there, allowing him to feel the beat beneath her skin, while the other reached to lightly caress his face. 

They were still for a minute... as if no one else existed in the world... before she chuckled and lowered her mismatched gaze shyly to the floor. "I'm sorry," she whispered softly. "I know what it feels like to die," she snerked, "Done it a few times myself. Coming back... always hurts. Like a breathless, misbelonging ache that settles into your bones... almost burns... but so cold... like ice in your soul." Without warning, she slipped past his hand and hugged him tightly.

"You poor soul," she nuzzled his chest with her cheek, fitting in an achingly familiar way, "I can't even imagine what agony and anguish you've endured." Without moving away, she raised her face to meet his gaze, "I'd give it back if I could. Truly." 

"I wanted to," she confessed softly. Unbuttoning her cuffs, she offered him her thin wrists displaying identical vertical scars that matched her chest, "It just never took." A single tear slipped down her cheek, tracing the faint line of scarring beneath her one seafoam coloured eye as she stared up at him... a little patchwork doll of his past and future. 

Sullivan chuckled softly as she hugged him, and his lanky, long arms wrapped around her. However, as she showed him her scars, he softened even more and lowered himself to look directly into her miscolored, mismatched eyes. Pressing his forehead to hers, he shook his head.

"Silly girl, don't take Matty's gifts for granted. If it's life her heart has given you, don't throw that away so selfishly and carelessly. Don't let her sight slip away..."

Placing his hand under her chin, he raised her head as he stood tall. "What's you're name, girl?"

Smiling at her, his blue eyes were even more so as he stared down into hers as a tear snaked its way down his cheek. Harvey, slightly dumbfounded by the scene playing out in front of him, spoke of slowly.

"I'm sorry, Sully..."

"Nonsense, Harvey. You saved the girl's life. You'd have done what I did... Now, about what you've got the poor girl on to keep my Matty's heart beating and that beautiful eye open, let's discuss dosage. I'm certain we can even it out -without- damaging the organ any more than it has already been."

Sullivan hugged her tightly, holding back a sniffle as he felt the heart beat against the middle of his stomach. She was short in comparison to him... Just like Matty had been. Finally grabbing her shoulders and pushing her back from him, he looked her in the eyes one more time.

"Mi amor, te he extrañado." Leaning in, he kissed Salena's forehead, then pulled from her grasp and removed his apron.

"I suppose I should get in contact with my family. Perhaps they can help me understand what has happened, and why I've returned now. If anyone will know anything, it will be Christian, or that new girl Tsukina... Something tells me she's special."

"Su..Sully? How do you know about Tsukina?" James pondered aloud.

"Call it a fever dream I guess? I've heard her name, and seen her face multiple times, even if I can't place it..."

Harvey nodded. "Makes sense, you're still a Black after all. I'm surprised Christian or Sal hasn't called already... Then again, they are underground right now."

Sullivan paused his accent up the stairs and turned back, "What the hell happened while I was away?"

"Intenta extrañar a alguien que nunca has conocido," Salena quipped back with a chuckle. "And kindly stop calling me 'girl'. I'm likely older than you, Cariño Mio. ...at least in the normal sense." Sali chuckled with an air of teasing wit, clueless of how her playful condescension would hit home. "My name is Salena. But you may call me Sali... if you want." 

Sali heard the names that glided through air unheeded by everyone but her. And ever so slowly the gears in her head spun and spun until she slipped to the floor with a silent look of sheer horror. 

"Black....." from her knees she rounded on Harvey with an accusatory glare, "BLACK Black?!?" There was a silent conversation of expressions between the two of them as Sali gestured helplessly. Harvey, looking like a wet cat, simply nodded with an apologetic look of shame. 

"How could you not tell me? Tell us? ... All those years??" Her voice pitched up with a familiar lilt that made Sully's hair stand on end. "... All the nights I rocked her to sleep?! You told me infants need skin to skin contact! You told me the hormones would help my chest heal!! And the whole time my... this... I was..." The poor dear looked downright indignant as she shrieked at him... this singular realization somehow worse than all the others in a way no one else seemed to grasp just yet. Running out of words to express her disbelief, Salena simply glaaaared at him. 

"HARVEY?!?!"

In the silence that followed Salena's expression of betrayal, Sullivan looked at Harvey. "Infant? So my daughter lived?"

Harvey nodded, still slightly ashamed of his youthful decision.

Sullivan began to softly chuckle.

"Wait, so..." He smirked.

"So you put..." he giggled a bit.

"You put my daughter next to her..." he laughed.

"Her mother...pffffff," he fell back against the wall of the stairwell and lowered himself to the nearest stair, laughing almost uncontrollably.

"YOU PUT HER NEXT TO HER MOTHER'S HEART, AND NEVER TOLD THE GIRL SHE WAS HOLDING THE DAUGHTER!" he burst out in a single breath, loud, as he completely lost all ability to speak from laughter.

He laughed, and laughed, and laughed, gripping his side and wheezing in pain as he tried to catch his breath...

Eventually...

He calmed, but not before the infectious giggle fit overtook Harvey and James, then worked its way up Salena's spine...

Catching his breath, he slowly exhaled. "Ohhhh, Harvey, that's fucked up. Even for ME!" He snickered.

"You need rest, Salena... But if it isn't too much, would you mind me coming and visiting? At least you don't have to miss someone you've never met any longer... hmm? Maybe you'd like to travel with me once I get your medications situated? Or maybe that heart won't even give you trouble now that I'm here?" He stuck his tongue out at Harvey.

In a flash almost as fast as his own, Salena rushed him from her place on the floor. Before either of the other men could blink, she was at Sully's side, tangled around him once again. "Please?" the word came out breathless, like a half-believed promise. 

"I've never been able to venture farther than a few blocks from here. Please... if you can't take me with you... please come back?" 

Blinking and blushing at her own nearly uncontrolled reaction, she extricated herself from his jacket with a bashful smirk, "I'd very much like to hear how Evie is doing. We were..." she shot Harvey a backward glance like daggers before smiling, "We were close." 

Biting her bottom lip in a painfully familiar way, she glanced up at him, "And perhaps I... we... could take flowers? I have a perfect arrangement in mind." Suddenly it seemed like a million memories all came spilling out at once, "Evie mentioned once that you played... er... play. I... um... I have a piece I've been composing. I haven't shown anyone yet. But maybe you'd like to..." 

She stopped suddenly, realizing she was perhaps a little too pleased by their situation. "I'm sorry. How rude of me. I mean... you... you don't have to. I... um... I don't know what's wrong with me." Blushing, she backed away a little, suddenly mirroring Harvey's ashamed expression. 

"If it wouldn't be too much... perhaps you could just walk me home?" 

Sullivan chuckled softly and hugged her until she pulled away.

"Let's start there. I'll walk you home, certainly, and we can see where it goes from there. I want you to know, though, before anything. Travelling with me will not be easy. My family is... Different." He chuckled. "And we deal with some rather unsavory people... The kind that caught you up in earlier life, the kind that removed me and my wife from this world so that she could become a part of you..."

He watched her to wait for her reaction...

"But if you can accept this, then I would be remiss to not have you by my side. Once we fix your medications of course."

Salena laughed out loud without so much as blinking... an odd kind of chuckle that in all the world only Sullivan could really appreciate. "They've already killed me once... TWICE, in a way, I suppose. What's there to be afraid of anymore?" She smiled up at him, "I'm used to looking death in the face. Yours doesn't frighten me any. Give me something to live for while I can." She grinned as she said it... a plea and a challenge. 

Grabbing her purse she started up the narrow staircase, pausing to shoot Harvey a playfully antagonistic look, "I'll deal with you later," she assured him with a playful wink before hoisting herself into the main lobby. Leaving Harvey and Sullivan to wrap up any loose ends before joining her. 

With a smile, she took Sully's arm as he held the door. It was still drizzling outside, and she paused a moment to watch the grey sky. She desperately WANTED to just walk home in the rain... but, given the shock her body had experienced she knew it would be better to stay dry. With a resigned sigh, she grabbed her umbrella and slid it open for the two of them. 

"Do you like the rain," she asked, making small talk as they walked. Chuckling softly, she shook her head. "Normally I hate small talk... and here I am asking about the weather..." she blushed. "I have so many questions... and things," smiling, she shot him a sidelong glance... he was on the brown side at the moment. "May I call you Sully? Or do you prefer Sullivan? ... and... is there anything I can do... or share... y'know... to help? For you, I'll be an open book. Cross my heart." 

As the implication of her words settled in, she missed a step... croaking in shy shock as she tried to stammer out an apology. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean... FUCK!" Running a hand over her face she laughed out loud. "Okay... well... if you haven't noticed I'M A LITTLE AWKWARD... so why don't you take over?" she laughed and allowed him to steer the conversation for the remainder of their walk, remaining quiet when he seemed to need it. 

After a few blocks, the streets began to feel hauntingly familiar as they drew closer to her home. An unbelievable suspicion creeping up Sully's spine.... 

Surely life wasn't that cruel... 

It couldn't be... 

And yet... 

Sullivan wasn't long behind her. Harvey and he were quick to tidy up... And he'd changed. Apparently his suits had been kept for reference when someone needed to purchase one to bury a loved one. Black on black, on a Black... Seemed fitting, if not for it being so cliche. The tattoos that covered his body were happily hidden away, and his hair was swept back and tamed finally, some tucked behind his ear. He looked like a proper funeral director and/or connected man... Then again, it was Sullivan Black, notorious chemist and engineer, occasional assassin, and renowned peterman for the old Messina family of New York, Vegas, and Seattle... Of course he looked like a connected man. He was. An ex-button man and the ex-right hand of the fallen Messina family of Seattle. And he cleaned up PRETTY.

Taking her arm, he led her outside... Smiling up at the rain, he was quiet.

"I love the rain... It used to be the only thing that made me feel anything before Matty saved me from myself." He looked at her as he answered her question, then stepped off the stoop and onto the sidewalk, allowing her to lead the way while they walked. As she hugged near she could feel what one would assume to be a holstered weapon at his side. She didn't ask... Instead, she cheerily continued conversation.

"May I call you Sully? Or do you prefer Sullivan?"

"Sully is fine," he chuckled out. "That, or Sal. It's always been what those close to me called me."

He smiled as she continued and choked on her own words. Chuckling, he shook his head. "Yes, I've noted you're perfectly awkward and I love it. Secondly, just walking and talking is nice." He nodded.

They walked for a bit before he steered the conversation into a happy medium.

"So, you're composing a piece? Do you have a piano at home that you are using to write the melodies and the counters? Or do you use another instrument?"

He smiled, oblivious of the direction they were headed as of yet... But only so because the world had changed so much for him in the years he'd been underground.

Sali smiled at his comment about the rain, "I know that feeling intimately. Were it not for our little scare earlier, I would much prefer to continue without the umbrella."  Chuckling, she shook her head, "I'll stick with Sully, if that's okay. Only because Sal and Sally are WAY to close together. Just... clichè much?" 

Hugging close, she did notice the feel of cold metal beneath his coat. But it truly didn't phase her any. It was neither here nor there in her unique mind. It just felt nice to have company that didn't make her want to claw her skin off. "I do, in fact, have a piano. But I don't actually play. It came with the house and I've never had the heart to sell it. I play cello." 

Wrinkling her nose, she grinned wickedly, "Which means I could play your vocal chords if you ever piss me off." She stuck her tongue out playfully, revelling for the briefest of moments in the ability to unleash her dark humour (and anatomical knowledge) without fear or restraint. "I take it you're a melodic percussionist then? Classically trained, I'd wager. But divergent in personal style and experimentation?" Her eyes watched him carefully as she evaluated him. She could be wrong... but she doubted it. 

Sullivan, not one to shy away from dark and twisted humor, smiled. "Aye, now that would be a sight to see and a sound to here, now wouldn't it? Do you think it would carry my bass range well enough?" he chortled before shaking his head.

"I was never trained classically, not one lesson. I can just hear it... And the rest is math. Beautiful algorithms that make even more beautiful noise. The song of the soul is a great abacus, and the science of playing those algorithms is the greatest masterpiece." He closed his eyes. "Listen to the world around you. Listen to the Science's Song."

He chuckled at the lame attempt at a joke, but was serious about the direction regardless. He swayed with the sounds of the wind, the birds in the park, dogs barking in the alley, and the cars that honked their loud horns... The percussive pitter-patter of the rain as it fell on the sidewalk. His free hand danced around invisible keys before he stopped and opened his eyes to look at her.

"Can you hear it?" He smiled before growing quiet and sad for a moment. He knew Matty -AND- Jackie could both hear it. How would he handle it if this new attraction could not? Shaking the thought from his head he looked around and slowly, what was left of his smile faded.

"This isn't where we're going, is it? This is my old neighborhood..."

He stopped in front of the large house he remembered so vividly, the wrought iron gating around it, with the Victorian-goth aesthetic that he so enjoyed...

"And this is my home..." He slowly turned and looked to see the minor freak out happening on Salena's face...