13 Embracing Thorns

Ethan relaxed his tense muscles, letting the burning feeling circulate throughout him. It felt like he was getting boiled alive but he couldn't fight it either. His vision cleared and he saw the truth.

"I wish... I wish I could have lived..."

Hot tears rolled out his eyes and down his cheeks. They mixed with the blood on his clothes, blurring them slightly.

L opened the door, clearing the blocking to the horrific sobs that contained themselves inside. L rushed over, "Ethan! What happened?!?"

A warm hand took Ethan's tears away all the while looking into the man's eyes. The noises stopped when the hand touched the mans face. Dispite the emotional filled noise that escaped his mouth, his eyes were filled with no emotions. As if he gave up.

"Ethan, what's wrong?! You were just ok a moment ago!"

'I was ok?' Ethan's dazed eye's looked at the room behind the doctor. He looked through L as if looking through glass.

"Ethan!" L snapped his hand infront of the mans eyes. It scared him, his expression. It reminded him so much of his own younger sister who had committed suicide.

"Hey, look at me." L patted the mans cheek gently, bringing his attention to him. His yellow eyes stared into L's grey ones. He suppressed the shiver that was threatening to run up his spine. "What's wrong? Are you in pain?"

The pained voice asking him if he was ok in such a genuine tone hit Ethan in the heart and he began to tear up once more. Ethan was still in so much pain but he realized that L did care for him even if his attention was split most of the time.

L was just one person after all, it wasn't his fault. "Ethan."

His voice rang through Ethan's thoughts.

Ethan nodded, regaining the bit of light left inside of him. Ethan's voice whispered clearly this time, no breaks or scratches, "I'm here."

L ruffled the mans hair, noticing the emotion set back into Ethan's eyes. "I know."

"Painful."

"I..." L honestly didn't know how to help Ethan on this, he heavily doubted pain medication would work on the man. "I'm sorry."

Ethan flinched hard as the pain lurched in him. His breathing got ragged and he gripped hard onto the chair that was already bound to him. His grip was hard enough to split the wood in two. L's eye's grew wide.

"Ethan?"

"St-... step back." Ethan had a foreboding feeling rummaging through his brain. L was not stupid and listen to Ethan, stepping away from the man. He watched with horrified agony as the man's back arched.

Loud cracking noises sounded in the room as long black bone like structures grew from the mans back. Like a sped up creepy version of a seed growing into a stem, yet no flower bud grew. Neither was there a flower.

Ethan sighed in relief, melting into his chair in the process. The after affects of the pain lingered on him but it was only a pinch compared to the pain he'd only just felt.

"A-are you done now? Can I come closer?" L hesitatingly asked. As much as he wanted it to be over, he didn't know when it would stop and didn't want to make rash decisions.

Ethan's body grew numb and he could feel a hot feeling coming up his throat. It smelt and tasted metalically. Like blood. He held his head down and let the yellow blood pour out. It completely tainted the left over white of the labcoat he was wearing that was on his lap.

L waited patiently a safe distance away. He didn't want to keep asking the man the same questions over, he tried that with Wen once and the man got so annoyed he tried to choke him. He'd been tramatized of getting on peoples nerves ever since, plus it wasn't like Ethan could answer anyway.

He watched Ethan pant before completely going unconcious and thats when he took his chance. He started out slowly inching towards the man until he reached him. The tip of his shoes almost touching the others.

L crouched down and lifted Ethan's hair out his face. The man looked desperately sleep deprived. The doctor let a sigh escaped his lips before turning his attention to the structure sticking out of Ethan's back. It was similar to spider legs. Graceful yet ominously creepy.

It looked painful and most likely was based off the way Ethan wailed. His fingers curled into the fabric of his labcoat, He wanted to understand. He wanted to share the mans pain.

He had known him for so long, they shared everything together but now things were different. It looked the same on the outside but inside it was like this turbulence between them, distancing L from him. He wanted to communicate but it was just to weird for him.

What if Ethan didn't want him to bug him with questions.

His hand subconciously reached out to touch the beautifully painful spider structure but he pulled back just before contact. He didn't know what it was and it was better not to touch something unknown. What if it hurt him? What if it hurt Ethan?

This over cautious thinking running through his mind was the only thing keeping him back from acting on impulse.

"Im sorry, Ethan."