At a certain moment during the night, Shiro found herself awake in bed, her room illuminated only by the ray of moonlight passing through the window on the left wall. It must have been a truly late hour, for no sound could be heard around, safe for the breathing of the young girl trying to regain sleep, or the sound of the machine hooked to her left arm. Lying on her left side, Shiro was currently looking at said machine. During her time spent with Ganta, she had grown more comfortable about the device, at least knowing it wasn't pumping some horrific virus in her body.

With the final thought that Ganta was going to come see her again tomorrow, Shiro was once again going to fall into Morpheus' arms.

Until...

"Hello, my love. Did you miss me?"

A sudden, completely unexpected voice came out of the darkness. When it reached her, Shiro's whole body went as stiff as a board, her eyes shooting wide open in pure panic. But it weren't the words themselves that caused such a reaction, nor the rapidly increasing trembling in Shiro's body.

It was the voice.

A voice that only brought her pain and misery. A voice she wished to never hear again. A voice that belonged to someone who simply could not be here. And yet...

The tremors going through the young girl doubled as an even more nightmarish realisation suddenly hit her.

The voice had come from behind her.

Nearly unable to breathe and hoping beyond hope that it was only her imagination, Shiro finally willed herself to look over her right shoulder.

And what she saw could've made her skin turn even paler than it already was.

Seated in the chair that Ganta occupied hours ago and bathing in the moon's glow was a man wearing a lab coat. His hair, whished was tied behind his head, was of a jet black colour, like the goatee on his chin. He wore half-moon shaped glasses over sunken eyes and, most striking, a necklace composed of scalpels of scissors.

This "man" was Rinichiro Hagire.

A cold, hellish terror was all a now sat upright Shiro could feel. It literally swallowed her whole. The poor child couldn't even scream. Her gaze was frozen on him, unable to look away due to the sheer terror that gripped her being. Her breath was coming out in short, rapid gasps and she was holding the covers of the bed tightly to her chest, as if a shield. All the while, the "man" kept looking at her with a smile, as if absolutely nothing was wrong.

"N-no... no..." was all Shiro managed to say, unconsciously shaking her head from left to right repeatedly.

"Aww, you didn't miss me?" the "man" replied, as if Shiro had answered his previous question. "I'm hurt. I really missed you, my dear, sweet little Shiro." Hagire pursued with a silky voice and smile. It only made Shiro want to burst in tears even more.

The man who had performed the nightmarish experiments on her as a child. The same she had unknowingly called "Grandpa" for the past five years. That same man who had, somehow, been impersonating Toto all this time and who Ganta swore was dead, was right here in her hospital room, free to do only the Devil knew what to her.

And then, he stood from his seat and took a step towards Shiro.

"Stay away... STAY AWAY!" Shiro shouted out in pure panic, to which the "doctor" actually stopped to look at her, his smile never leaving his face.

"Y-you're not... you're not real. You can't be real. G-Ganta... Ganta told me that... that you're dead, so you can't-"

Shiro's rant of denial was cut off by the sound of chuckling, a sound that sent a bone chilling shiver down her spine. The chuckling rapidly morphed into a full blown laughter, Hagire's neck arched backwards. But that laugh was not the joyous, contagious type. This was the laugh of a sick, twisted, demented monstrosity that claimed to be human.

The terrified girl had her hands covering her ears once more, her eyes shut tightly as tears were now running down her cheeks. It was that laugh, that same laugh that came from him every time another "grand discovery" was made during the experiments that stole most of her young life. Shiro was pressing her hands over her ears as hard as she could, but it was useless. She could hear his laugh just as clearly.

Finally, the terrible noise died down to nothingness and the two persons inside the room were once more staring at each other. Hagire now held a carnivorous grin coupled with an animalistic look in his eyes, which served to terrify Shiro even more. It looked like he was about to jump on her and bite her throat off.

"So, he told you that I was dead, didn't he?" he asked with a dark chuckle as he moved to stand in front of the bed. Shiro could only nod weakly. "Well, that's a lie, obviously. Just like everything he told you."

His last sentence left Shiro stunned for a brief moment before her eyes narrowed angrily. Did he just call Ganta... a liar?! Ganta was not a liar! Building up as much courage as she could to stand up to him, she countered: "N-no, you're the liar! Ganta told me that he loves me, that he doesn't hate me! He drew his mark-" Shiro was cut off by another dark chuckle, but willed herself to not flinch.

"Really? Well, why don't you look at your hand to see if it's true?" the mad man said, doing a hand gesture towards Shiro's own.

Shiro grew worried at that. How did he know the mark was on her hand? And what did he mean by "to see if it's true"? She quickly shook it off; she knew Ganta had drawn his mark on her hand. But still, she looked down at her right hand to obviously see... nothing. It took Shiro's brain a moment to process the fact that her hand was bare of any drawing.

"Where is it? Where's Ganta's mark?" Shiro thought, starting to panic. She repeated with her left hand, looking at both sides of it, only to gain the same result. She was now really panicking.

"It's as I have told you, my dear." The words made Shiro's gaze spring back to Hagire, the animalistic gleam in his eyes never leaving. "Ganta hates you. Despises you. Only I can show you love, that's what I always did. After all, how could he possibly love you after you killed all his friends and ruined his life?"

Shiro's eyes were wide open at his last statement, the previously forgotten fear coming back with full force. It was a lie, it had to be a lie! Ganta told her that he didn't hate her, that she was the reason he was able to go through Deadman Wonderland! That he loved her! Then why was his mark-

No... It couldn't be...

Had everything been a dream? Had Ganta's visit, him placing his mark on her hand and everything that happened today been nothing more than a cruel dream? Was she, at this very moment, still prisoner of Deadman Wonderland?

"N-no... It's not real, it's not... YUKKI-SAN! KAZUMA-SAN! HELP, SOMEBODY HELP!" Shiro suddenly screamed. Maybe it wasn't a dream. If Yukki-san or Kazuma-san heard her and came into the room, then that would mean-

"It's too late, Shiro. They're dead." said Hagire with an uncaring tone. His last words left Shiro feeling her insides turning into pure ice.

"W-what?" Shiro said with a small, quivering voice, her body trembling just as much.

"See for yourself." was his reply, dismissively pointing something behind him on the floor. Still trembling violently, Shiro willed herself to turn her gaze in the direction the mad man had pointed. And promptly let out a scream of horror at what she saw.

Lying on the floor in a pool of blood were two horribly mangled corpses, an expression of pure agony carved on what remained of their faces. They belonged to the nurse Yukki and doctor Eiichiro Kazuma.

"I told you I would kill anyone who would try to stand between us." Hagire said. "Of course, this is what you were born for, what I helped you become. Everywhere you go, you bring death and chaos. You are the angel of death, Shiro. You are the Wretched Egg." he concluded in an almost praising tone.

Shiro hadn't paid attention to a single word he said. All of her focus had been on the two bodies lying on the floor. The two adults who had been looking after her during her coma. And now they were dead, all because of her.

"No... NOOOOOOOOOO!" Shiro screamed before diving back on the bed and covering herself with the bed sheets.

"Why? Why them? I didn't want that, I didn't want them to die! This is... this is a nightmare! I wanna wake up, please let me wake up! Please, please, please, plea-"

The blankets were suddenly yanked off and Shiro found herself pinned down against the bed. Mere inches above her stood Hagire, a manic Cheshire grin on his face and wide opened eyes bearing a sick gleam.

"This is no dream. This is reality."

"NO! GET OFF ME!" screamed Shiro, trying to push the man off her, but for some reason, her arms wouldn't bulge. Looking at them, She found them held at her sides by strong leather straps. Shiro then looked down at herself and what she saw made her eyes go wide. She wasn't lying on a bed at all, but on a table. Leather straps going over her arms, chest and ankles bound her to a steel table, completely immobilising her.

"No... Please not that..." Shiro said in terror, horrific memories rushing back.

"And now, we are going to enjoy this reality, together. Forever and ever and ever." Hagire said, before pulling out a scalpel the size of a butcher knife. He then started to advance towards Shiro, a devilish smirk on his face.

"He-he's going to torture me, just like back then! No, no please, not that! Not again! Aceman... Ganta... Ganta, please, save me!" Shiro begged in her head as tears streamed down her face once more, but it was in vain. This time, nobody was coming to her rescue. She could only watch helplessly as Hagire made it to her and raised the oversized scalpel above her chest, blade downward.

"And now, LET'S BEGIN!" he screamed, the scalpel plunging down.

Shiro could only scream in pure agony as the horrifying pain exploded in her chest like a raging fire. It was horrible, horrible! It made her feel sick! She wanted it to stop, she wanted it all to go away, but it wouldn't! And she couldn't run away from the never ending pain, her legs and the straps wouldn't let her. She could even feel arms holding her down now!

"Shiro... Shiro..."

"NOOOOOO! IT HURTS, IT HUUUURTS! NO MORE, PLEASE, NO MORE! GANTA, SAVE ME! GANTA, PLEASE, SAVE ME!" Shiro screamed in despair, her eyes screwed shut and tears streaming from them. A loud, rapid beeping was now assaulting her ears.

"Shiro... Shiro! Wake up, sweetie, it's okay. It's just a bad dream. It's me, Yukki."

Hearing the name made Shiro abruptly stop and her eyes snap open. She could make out an humanoid figure above her through her blurry sight. Slowly but surely, her sight became clear and she was finally able to see what it was. It was the nurse Yukki, with a worried expression on her face.

"Yu... Yukki-san?" said Shiro in a small voice.

The nurse smiled warmly. "It's okay Shiro, I'm here now. It was just-" Yukki was cut off when a white cannon ball rammed into her chest, nearly knocking the air out of her lungs. Muffled wails rapidly made themselves known.

"Yukki-san! Yukki-san! Yukki-san!" the crying girl repeated like a mantra. Yukki-san was alive. Alive! She didn't how or why and she didn't care. She was way too happy from seeing she was fine.

"There, there. It's okay now." was all Yukki could say, trying to comfort the distressed girl in her arms. She had been passing by the door during her night watch when she heard loud whimpers, quickly followed by a bone chilling scream. She had immediately bolted into the room to see her charge tossing violently on her bed and screaming out Ganta's name for help. It had been quite frightening, to say the least.

After a time, Shiro's cries disolved into sniffles, but she refused to let go of the nurse's uniform. Slightly turning her head to her left, she realized that the loud beeping had come from the machine hooked to her arm.

As she softly rubbed the back of her head, Yukki saw that the teen was soaked to the bone with sweat, even leaving an imprint on the mattress. But that didn't make her lessen her hold on the young girl at all.

"Poor thing, that's two nightmares in the same day, and that one seems to have been worst than the first one." the nurse thought sadly.

"Yukki, is everything alright?" a female voice suddenly said from the doorway. It belonged to a woman with long red hair dressed as a nurse.

"W-who's that?" thought a frightened Shiro at the unknown voice.

"Oh, Yui." Yukki said, realizing who it was, before turning her gaze back to the trembling girl who's head was still buried in her chest. "It's alright, Shiro. She's a friend of mine who also works here as a nurse."

"I was just passing by the hallway when I heard screaming and saw you rush inside the room, so I came to see if you needed help." said the newcomer as she made her way to stand next to the bed. She crouched down to be at eye level with the teen who was now looking at her nervously.

"Hello there. You must be Shiro." asked the redhead. The young girl briefly gained a look of surprise before nodding. "Did you have a nightmare?"

"Y... yes." replied the albino softly, earning a compassionate smile from the nurse.

"Yui, could you please go get a clean gown, sheets and bed cover, please? I'm going to stay with her, the poor dear is terrified."

"Yes, of course, Yukki. No problem." replied the second nurse, before giving Shiro another reassuring smile and leaving the room.

Despite the lingering terror of what she just experienced, Shiro was perplexed. They were... concerned about her. All because of a nightmare. It had been a very, very long time since someone had shown genuine concern for her. The only people who did were Sorae and-

"Ganta!" Shiro suddenly exclaimed, rapidly bringing her right arm back from around Yukki to frantically look at her palm.

And there it was; Ganta's mark. Untainted and looking just as pristine as the day it was drawn on her hand.

Words wouldn't give justice to the pure, raw sense of relief that passed through Shiro when she saw it. As she clutched her right hand tightly to her chest with fresh tears in her eyes, any remaining fear that what happened today was a dream evaporated into nothingness.

She was no longer in Deadman Wonderland, she was safe and Ganta would always be with her now.

A few more minutes went by, with Shiro relaxing further into Yukki's hold, before Yui came back from her errand. Her whole focus having been on the nurse's rhythmic heartbeat, Shiro almost jumped out of her skin when she was suddenly picked up from the bed before being sat down on something solid. Looking down, she saw that Yuuki had placed her in the chair that had previously been on the other side of her bed.

Seeing the questioning look Shiro gave her, Yukki rapidly answered:

"It's just to give my co-worker the space to work." This earned her a nod from the albino.

While Yui got started on the bed, Yukki took the opportunity to ask a calmer, but still shaken Shiro a question.

"Shiro, do you want to talk about your nightmare? You're in no obligation to do so, but sharing it with someone can help a bit."

Shiro visibly stiffened at the request and Yukki realized that she had asked the wrong thing. As she ran a hand up and down the girl's back to reassure her, the nurse came to the conclusion that, whatever transpired during the dream, it had something to do with Shiro's past abuse. Like her reaction about being tested.

"She seems like such a sweet girl. How could anyone want to hurt someone like that?" Yukki thought in a mixture of disbelief and pain.

"N-no. I don't want to…" softly replied the albino after a moment of silence, with fear clear in her voice.

"It's alright, I understand." replied Yukki, which earned a surprised look from Shiro, before giving the nurse a small, thankful smile.

"I'm all done here." suddenly said a voice. The two females turned around to see that Yui had finished changing the bed.

"Oh, thanks, Yui." said Yukki.

"T-thank you, Yui-san." added Shiro.

"You're welcome, you two. Well, I'll head back now. Call me if you need me, Yukki."

After an exchange of "Good night" between the three, the nurse made her exit.

"She was nice, wasn't she?" Yukki asked Shiro. The teen's simple reply was a affirmative nod. If Yukki-san and Yui-san -even Kazuma-san- were nice, then maybe the other people here were nice too.

"Shiro, before you can go back to bed, I will have to wash you." suddenly said Yukki in a tone that sought to avoid Shiro from panicking.

Unfortunately, it had the exact opposite result. Shiro instantly held the gown tighter to her form as realization hit her like a cold bucket of water.

"I don't want… my scars…" pitifully said the abused albino. Shiro hated her scars. They were gross! Ugly! Freaky! Since she was little, she covered them. With the bandages Sorae used and after that, with the "clothes" that… he gave her. This way, no one could see how freaky and ugly she looked. Especially Ganta.

"Shiro, look at me." she then heard Yukki say with nothing but care. Still holding the gown tightly, Shiro slowly looked up and saw Yukki was now crouched in front of her with a sad smile on her face.

"I can only imagine how you must be feeling right now, but I promise you this. I will never, ever think lowly of you based on how you look. To me, you are a lovely young girl who has gone through something despicable. Nothing more, nothing less."

A flash that could've been hope passed through Shiro's eyes at these words.

"You... you really won't think that I look gross if you see my scars?" As an answer, the nurse took out her handkerchief and gently passed it over Shiro's tear stained eyes and cheeks.

"I promise." said Yukki with a warm smile. which was reflected beautifully upon Shiro's face. "And I'm sure Ganta thinks so too."

Those last words caused Shiro to look down with a bashful smile, as red coloured her cheeks. The warmth also came back as she remembered Ganta's words to her.

"He... he said I was the most beautiful girl ever." shyly said Shiro, earning a giggle from Yukki which served to make the young teen blush further.

"Alright, just let me grab a couple of things first. Are you comfortable with getting undressed, at least?" asked Yukki professionally.

"Yes, I'll be fine now." replied Shiro. Yukki being disgusted by her scars had been the only thing worrying Shiro. They were both girls, after all.

But Yukki had barely reached the middle of the room that she heard a loud gasp coming from behind her.

"What's wrong, Shiro?" worriedly asked Yukki, before she quickly caught sight of what exactly was wrong.

"M-my chest…" stuttered out Shiro with wide eyes.

Shiro had just unhooked the first three buttons of her blouse before she came to a shocking discovery. Just above her breasts was a semi-large, circular burn mark that spread out in multiple directions, similar to a star. It seemed as if someone had thrown a small hand grenade on her.

Shiro tentatively brought a hand to the new scar and had barely touched it before yanking her hand back. The scarred skin felt rough.

"I'm uglier now." was Shiro's depressive thought as her eyes grew darker and insides turned cold. As much as she loved Ganta's opinion on her appearance, it wasn't enough to change how she felt about it.

"Shiro." Yukki calling out her name drew the teen from her dark thoughts to look back up at the nurse. She reached out to take hold of Shiro's left hand as her eyes conveyed support.

"The scars that we bare, either physically or mentally, they are a symbol of our struggle. They serve to show everything we've gone through and that we kept on going forward." wisely said the nurse.

This statement really got Shiro to pause. A symbol of our struggle? Then, did it mean that her scars- all her scars -were actually… useful? Deciding to keep this new information to talk to Ganta about tomorrow, Shiro nodded in understanding. It was then another realization hit her.

"But if you wash me, Ganta's mark-"

"Don't worry, I've got just the thing." replied Yukki with a smile, before going back to the other end of the room.

After a few minutes, Yukki came back with a bowl filled with warm water, two cloths and a bundle of wrapped-up tape. After placing the first three items on a retractable nightstand on the left side of the bed, Yukki took hold of Shiro right hand and proceeded to cover the drawing on her palm with the tape.

"There. This way, it won't get damaged by the water." This simple action earned the nurse a look of utter gratitude from Shiro.

"Thank you so much, Yukki-san."

"No problem." was Yukki's simple reply.

After that, Yukki finally got to clean up Shiro. With one cloth dipped into the bowl, she started with Shiro's face, before going for her chest and back, and finally her arms and legs. All the while, Shiro observed Yukki to try and spot any hint of distain upon her features, but thankfully saw none. The nurse concluded with drying her young patient with the second cloth and then dressing her up with the fresh new gown.

"All done. Now, off to bed you go." cheerfully said Yukki, but to her surprise Shiro looked… scared.

"You're worried about having another bad dream?" softly asked Yukki, earning a small nod from the girl.

Shiro knew a good stretch of time had passed since then, but… it felt so real. What if she had another nightmare like it?

What if… what if he came back again?

"Shiro, those nightmares can't hurt you. That's all they are: nightmares." said Yukki, seeing the young albino start to tremble.

"Can... can you stay with me until I go back to sleep? Please?" The near child-like way she asked simply pulled at Yukki's heart strings.

"Of course." said the nurse as she raised Shiro from the chair to place her on the bed and tuck her in.

And stay she did, up until Shiro finally managed the fall asleep once more.

Yukki smiled warmly at the sleeping girl. Barely a full day together and she already felt close to her patient. Some professionals might say that she was breaking her work ethic, but she couldn't help it. This young girl was absolutely endearing.

After a last look, Yukki got up and exited the room.

No other nightmare came to torment Shiro that night.