The blood was all over his sleeve. Iceous could not figure out how he could have lost that much blood in what couldn't have been ten minutes.

"Sparrow...... what is going on?"

He rolled up the sleeve. Blood was starting to spill from his ear. He reached into his pocket and gave Sparrow his handkerchief, who took it and wiped up the ear-blood.

Doc Theta Sigma:

OOC

Ah, you may.

"I'm fine. Stop worrying. I've got years left yet."

Sarah started crying, as Iceous handed him his hankerchief. Sparrow quickly mopped up the blood around his ear.

"It's not as bad as it looks."

Doc Theta Sigma:

OOC

"Bah. If it were any worse, we'd be coffin shopping. That is a lot of blood. You'd better be getting help, Bud."

He took one last look with Sparrow, locked eyes for a few seconds, then shook his head. He walked to the elevator and went to the room. The others had their own key, and he was in no mood to bother with a stubborn jackass.

Sarah began to speak as Iceous made his way to the room.

"You're lying Sparrow. Samuel told me that you might only have a couple of months at best."

Doc took another sip of Jack Daniel's as he reclined in the chair watching the evening news. The past week had been tedious. He'd been scouring news reports for any sign of the other Prototypes but nothing had come up. Nothing so much as a hint. He'd also realised that families weren't suited to him... And he wasn't to them. He had been ignoring most of the other people in the house. They were a distraction. However, Ted had managed to get him a prosthetic hand to replace his missing one. It was a transradial myoelectric hand, in which electrodes sensed when muscles in his upper arm moved, opening and closing the hand. It'd taken him a few days to get used to but it was good. Even better was his powers seemed to transform it into shadow too.

However, as he took another sip of Jack Daniel's a news report came onto the screen. One of some very familiar magicians. Reaching for the remote, he turned the volume up as the news anchor on screen spoke:

'These are street magicians known as Sparrow and His Circus of Birds. They've taken the country by storm with their spectacular tricks and performances. Aren't they amazing Tom?'

'Indeed they are Diane. I wouldn't mind having them at my sons birthday'

Doc wasn't listening however, he was staring at the performers. It was them. It was the Prototypes. They were close. So very close... He could finally have his revenge. Standing up, he immediately headed for the front door. He needed to find them. Find them before it was too late and they moved on again.

"Months? That's just Samuel. He's always been a pessimist. He once told me that the glass looked "a little be less than half full". I've got atleast a year left in me Sarah, and I plan to spend that with every one in the group."

They all made their way to the hotel room, but Iceous was nowhere to be seen. Sparrow checked a few of the rooms, but saw nothing.

"Let's all just get some rest, okay?"

Iceous swiped his keycard. Nothing. He scowled, and swiped it again. It clicked open and he stormed inside. He dropped his things on one of the beds and stood around for a few minutes, thinking. He looked for a pen and some paper. He scribbled down a note and taped it onto the television.

He went outside and took a long detour to the ground floor in the back. He waited on a bench.

Emily awoke to Iceous entering the room, she rustled a bit then sat up.

"Frosty, are you-"

He slammed the door shut as Emily emerged from her room,

"Hmm... I guess he is busy, where is Patrick?"

"Right here Emily. He's a bit out of it."

Sparrow patted Patrick on the back, who seemed to snap out of some deep thought.

"Whatever you two did must have been crazy. Seriously, have you two got brain damage or something?"

"Wha- I... I don't know, we didn't get drunk and... oh god. We didn't you know... did we?"

Emily sat down beside Sparrow with a blank look on her face,

"Hold on... what year is it again?"

"2009."

Emily seemed shocked.

"Why, what year did you think it was?"

"2004... I... so, we didn't just escape from the facility and defeat Doc?"

Sparrow shook his head with a confused look on his face,

"Does that mean I am-" Emily did the math, "32!? I don't feel any older, what happened? Did I miss anything in the past 5 years, what happened to my life?"

Sparrow seemed to understand now. Patrick had wiped Emily's mind of the past five years.

"We defeated Doc. You were a great help. You recieved a bit of a bump to the head a few months ago. Seems you lost your memory of the past five years."

Emily seemed confused.

"You didn't miss out on anything Emily. Don't worry. We've taken good care of you. You've taken good care of us too."

Emily was confused, a few months?

"A few months ago?! Why am I just remembering now?" Emily knew there was something else, "I don't believe you Sparrow what happened?"

"Emily, don't worry. The last few months have been stressful on everyone. You've got worse things to worry about, believe me."

Sarah seemed to be looking at a piece of paper on the TV. Sparrow couldn't read it from where he was.

"We'll fill you in on the rest later Emily. Right now, we all need some sleep."

Sarah read the note that Iceous had left for her on the television. She noticed that Sparrow was eying the note so she quickly put it in her pocket.

"I'll be right back.. I erm.. I'll be right back." Sarah left the room, still somewhat angered, and saddened, by how Sparrow tried to cover his condition.

Sarah made her way to the ground floor. She looked around for several minutes until she finally found Iceous. He was sitting on a bench, alone, and was staring into a tree. Sarah slowly walked up to him. "You wanted to talk?"

"Yes Sarah. I've been thinking for a long time. Ever since I had my incident with you, Samuel, and Sparrow.... I've been thinking that I'm not being told something. Could you please tell me what happened from the point I showed up to the point I collapsed? Without hiding anything?"

Sparrow slumped down in the nearest bed. Every bone in his body ached, and every muscle felt like torn rubber. He needed sleep, but yet there was so much to left to do. Would Doc find them? Would he know about the new Prototype? And what were the group going to do about Emily?

Sparrow rolled over on his back, and stared into the light in his room. For now, it didn't matter. All he needed to do was sleep.

He rolled over in his bed again. Even though he wanted to sleep, and he needed to sleep, he couldn't. His mind was too pre-occupied. He couldn't get his thoughts off of Sarah. He managed to clear his mind, then roll over once more.

For some reason, now he couldn't stop thinking about Samuel. This worried him slightly, as he wasn't exactly the best thing to think about whilst lying in a bed. Sparrow whipped off his bed cover, and rolled over again. This time, he slowly managed to drop off to sleep.

Samuel threw the door open. He saw Sparrow on the double bed, and said his name loudly. Sparrow jerked up and looked around him wildly.

"You really need to stop lying to Sarah." Samuel said.

Sparrow fell off of the bed, and landed in somewhat off an awkward and painful position.

"Do you know how long it took me to sleep?", Sparrow mumbled, somewhat muffled due to his face being piled into the carpet, "Seriously, not funny."

Sparrow rolled slightly in his position, then propped himself up against the side of the bed. He sat down and looked at Samuel.

"What did you say again?"

"I'm not sorry, you should be lying awake with guilt. That girl has you and only you, and you're lying to her. That should stop." Samuel said.

He folded his arms and leaned against the wall left to him.

Sparrow sighed, deeply, for what felt like a good ten seconds.

"When I die, she'll have nobody. If I tell her I'm dying, between now and the time I have left she'll only be sad and worry about me. If I tell her I've atleast got a few years left, she'll be able to spend what little time I've got with me, and not worry."

Samuel cocked an eyebrow.

"Don't call me a girl."

"And the blow will be that much worse when you die earlier." Samuel said. He saw where Sparrow was coming from, but he was convinced that truth, however tough it may be, would be better for her.

"Would it be too much for me to ask you to shift in another material? I think I could confirm a theory of mine." Samuel said while concentrating on the strings. He saw Sparrows vibrate and loosen, a bad sign.

Sparrow seemed confused.

"Alright then. You do realise this'll kill me even quicker, right?"

Samuel nodded.

"Cheers bud."

Sparrow shifted his hand into iron, as not to stretch his powers too far. He then instantly shifted it back.

"So?"

"Yeah, that confirms it." Samuel said. He pulled a chair next to the bed and started talking.

"You see, your unchanged form, your flesh-and-blood body, is getting very unstable. I can see your strings moving apart every second. But when you change into something else, be it material or form, the strings move back again, forming one solid mass. So you could stop yourself from this premature death by staying in a certain form."

Samuel leaned back while studying Sparrows expression.

"Of course this form would degrade after a certain amount of time, but changing into something else then would help too." He concluded.

Sparrow laughed.

"Your terrible at trying to make me feel better, Samuel."

Sparrow walked over to the small inclusive bar in the room, and pulled out a small bottle of gin.

"I don't usually drink this stuff, but it can't exactly hurt can it?"

"Apart from becoming drunk and having a very strange perceptive of who is lying to you and who is not, no. Not really." Samuel said with a frown.

"I am not lying, this could really work."

Sarah walked over to the bench, but did not sit down. The night was cool, and the wind blew freely through the trees and bushes making them stir.

Sarah avoided looking at Iceous. "I'm not exactly sure what happened. I just know that there was an explosion, and that Sparrow and Samuel did it, but only to destroy the American lab. Apparently they had been working on a new Prototype. Though I don't think the explosion they caused was supposed to be that big, but it was felt throughout the city. From what I heard a series of aftershocks broke almost everything in a fifteen mile radius. I'm not really sure about anything anymore Iceous, I'm sorry."

"Samuel, I appreciate it and all, but it's alright. Don't think much can keep me all that optimistic anymore."

Sparrow took a sip of the gin.

"Urgh, christ. That's horrible."

Iceous managed to connect the dots between the explosion and Sarah shattering.

"Th-thanks Sarah...." An unusual ting of pity sprung in his heart.

"Look, Sarah..... I'm sure Samuel and Sparrow will figure something out. If those two are anything, it's persistent."

"Sure.. I guess you're right." Sarah sat on the bench. Her head once again filled with thoughts Sparrow's condition and his.. Sarah could bring herself to think of Sparrow dying, instead she shook her head, and tried to push the thoughts as far away as possible.

Sarah glanced at Iceous and smiled. "We should get back." Sarah sat back up, and along with Iceous made their way back to the others. When they opened the door Samuel could be seen sitting on the bed, and Sparrow was drinking.

Sparrow waved to Sarah and Iceous, as he attempted to take another sip of the gin.

"Nah, not for me."

Placing the glass down, Sparrow picked up a Dr Pepper from the side of the minibar.

"What were you two speaking about?"

Sarah shrugged and sat down on a nearby couch. "Nothing important, Iceous just wanted to get filled in on whats happening."

The feeling in the room was slightly awkward, for Sarah at least, as she had no clue how to act towards Sparrow anymore. He had been lying, and when she confronted him after Samuel told herthe truth he lied to her again.