Ryden's Palace.

[Crash Bandicoot]

"No, Ryden. You said, and I quote, 'It's ok. You'll be fine.'" Crash swallowed the lump in his throat and tried to clear his head before turning to look at her. His eyes looked a little red. "It's not your fault...just don't tell me something you're not sure of yourself", he mumbled, closing his eyes.

[Ryden Hertz]

"But you're going to be okay..." She said as she looked at the bed.

[Crash Bandicoot]

He just stared at her. "They have to do surgery on me...these people lied to me years ago. There's no way in Hell I'd ever trust them again", Crash mumbled.

[Ryden Hertz]

"I know how you feel Crash.." She whispered. "But i'm not going to let you hurt yourself..."

[Crash Bandicoot]

"Pfft, whatever. I ain't stayin in here." He ripped the covers off his body and shuffled to the door, wincing when his shoulder accidently bumped the wall. The pain was unbearable but he couldn't let Ryden know. Crash opened the door and tried to map out his escape.

[Ryden Hertz]

"CRASH!" She shouted. "YOU'RE ONLY HURTING YOURSELF!" She walked out after him.

[Crash Bandicoot]

"No, I'm only trying to find an exit. Neil wanted to be a doctor before he commited to skating. I'll just get him to help me." He looked around and walked quietly towards the door, his feet barely making any sound.

[Ryden Hertz]

She sighed and looked at him. "You're a retard." She said,.

[Crash Bandicoot]

He looked back at her, his hand almost to the door. "Whatever." "Hey, kiddo. You're going the wrong way. I'm ready to operate on ya, so let's get her done, huh?" Crash looked up, seeing Dr. Sanchez in between him and the exit. He grumbled something under his breath while the Dr. led him away. Dr. Sanchez looked at Ryden.

"Won't be long, ok? I'm an expert at these things. Promise!"

[Ryden Hertz]

She smiled. "Just make him better.." She whispered and walike up to the Dr.

[Crash Bandicoot]

Sanchez nodded and led Crash to room 7. Two hours went by and he came out running a hand through his hair. "Alright, here's what's going down. Crash severely tore up the ligaments in his shoulder when he hit that wall, and so the surgery was done in order to hold the clavicle in place. Typically, he would need to rest his arm for two to three months but...there was a problem in the surgery process. It's very uncommon and I'm surprised that it happened but one of his blood vessels was damaged. Badly."

[Ryden Hertz]

Ryden didn't look up at the doctor. "I told him everything was going to be okay... Why isn't it okay!" She shouted lightly and clamped her fists together.

[Ryden Hertz]

Nexxt time. (:

Ryden was sitting on her balacny sun tanning. She was in her extra short shorts and her green and white striped bakini top on. She stood after 10 mintues and just looked off the balacny. She took her ray bans off and smiled. "Lovely day..."

[Harvey Ferrero]

Harvey was running with his iPod in and was wearing a tight muscle shirt and black ball shorts. His running route has change due to Ryden in trying to avoid her. But today hed forgot and ran right past her house.

[Ryden Hertz]

Ryden smiled lightly seeing a figure that looked like Harvey fein te distance. She sighed and tried her hardest to not go over to him and say hi, knowing he hated her.

[Crash Bandicoot]

~NEXT TIME!!!!!~

Crash pulled up at Ryden's house and stared up at the humungous house. All the times he'd been there and he still hadn't really gotten used to how big it was. ".....Rich folk", he muttered as he got out the car, slamming the door. He walked up to the door, twisting the knob to find that it was already open. Shrugging, Crash walked inside and went to the kitchen. He grabbed an apple from the wicker basket before noticing a light in his periphery.

"Ryden?" he called, his mouth full as he sauntered over to the bathroom.

[Ryden Hertz]

All Ryden could hear was the pounding of her heart in her chest. As the blade hit the skin of her forarm, everything blanked. She felt her arm and hand tense up as she slid the blade down her arm, watching the blood fall onto the bathroom floor. A little grunt came from her throat.

[Crash Bandicoot]

Crash sighed, finding that the apple tasted just a tad mushy. "Ryden", he whined in annoyance. "This god damn apple is......" He stopped short in seeing her with a blade to her arm, then averted his eyes to the floor where the blood was pooling up. His heart stopped in his chest and he felt like he couldn't breathe. Why...why...how? That was all that was running through his head. How was this happening? Ryden...his best friend. The familiar ache in his chest was back from 2 years ago...same as when Tawni had started...

It took him a while but he managed to let out a small, "Stop it, Ryden." That hadn't been what he was going for but it's what came out instead of his planned, "Fuck you."

[Ryden Hertz]

Ryden looked up at Crash. Her eyes were wide and her jaw flet like it was touching the floor. "Crash... what are you... I..." She sighed and turned from him.

"Don't tell me to stop..." Ryden didn't want to be mean, this is something that had to be done though. "You don't know what i was put through.... this is the only thing that keeps me from breaking down....."

[Crash Bandicoot]

Crash gave her a measured look and catiously stepped into the bathroom, closing the door behind him and locking it. He hopped onto the sink and just stared in front of him for a while, trying to collect his thoughts. There were so many ways he could go about this....it was just a matter of picking the most effective one. Biting the inside of his cheek and mentally screaming, he turned to Ryden with a calm, yet tired look.

".......You're right, you know. I don't think I can tell you to stop. I don't...have that right. That doesn't mean I don't think what your doing isn't stupid. I don't know what you've been through. I never will." His gaze on her hardened then slightly. "All I know is you're hurting. And.....I don't like seeing you hurt. But you wouldn't give a fuck about what I care about, would you?"

[Ryden Hertz]

When Ryden heard Crash's last words, She droped the razor. "You're fucking kidding me right?" She looked up at him, her eyes filled with water. "You are one of the only people that i care about. And i care about what you think." She looked at the toliet now. "I don't believe you would think that Crash..."

[Crash Bandicoot]

Crash glanced at the razor on the ground, tempted to snatch it up so it'd be away from Ryden but he left it there. He could do this without either one of them holding the weapon of choice. He brought his amber eyes to Ryden, full of warmth and understanding. Consideration. "You care about me so much, huh? You wouldn't be doing this if you did."

He stepped closer to her, crunching the razor beneath his foot. At least he got her to drop it. "How selfish", he muttered. "You don't care about me. How the fuck do you think this makes me feel? I do care about you Ryden - probably more than anyone else. So because I do love you oh so much, don't you think the least you could do is tell me why you feel the need to hurt? You owe me that much."

[Ryden Hertz]

She looked down at Crash's foot. Ryden got up and stood right infront of him. "I was beat, i was raped... Shouldn't that be hurt enough." She said looking into his eyes. "I was told no guy would ever love me, or would ever want me. I was told that i was ugly and i would never be beautiful." She sighed and looked down. "I'm not someone you should care about.."

[Crash Bandicoot]

"...What are you trying to do? You wanna scare me off? Is that it? Sorry to break it to you but that's a helluva lot harder said than done." Crash looked at the toilet, put the seat down, and settled there while he talked because he knew he'd be doing a helluva lot of talking and he didn't need to be standing for all of that. "I've been here, Ryden. Where you are. My life....has been tragic from day one....alright, maybe day ten actually. I know the mental scars, the emotional scars can't ever go away. I know that. It hurts everyday."

He looked away from her again, staring momentarily at the floor. He wondered how he could make her pull through. He had to get through to her - he wasn't gonna leave this bathroom until he did. "But I'm not leaving you. You can scream at me, hit me, tell me you hate me all you wanna but I won't give two shits because it's not gonna make me give up on you. You say you're not someone I should care about but it's just a little too late. You already mean more to me than life. Part of the reason I haven't given up yet is because of you, Ryden."

[Ryden Hertz]

Ryden looked at Crash then at her scars. "I'm broken down.." She whispered and whiped the blood from her arm. "I don't know what to do.. I feel like i'm.... Like i'm nothing." She then looked back up at him, her face was completely wet now, due to her tears. Ryden tried to wipe her tears but she couldn't move her arms.

[Crash Bandicoot]

Crash flicked his eyes to the tears streaming down her face and slowly got up. He raised his hands, lightly brushing her tears away with his fingers and then he just kept his hands there, holding her face. "You say that. But I'm here....I'll always be here." In saying the last 'here', Crash dropped one of his hands from her face and placed it over Ryden's heart. "Ryden, you'll never be nothing to me....you could never be."

He stopped after that, reanalyzing her situation as he grabbed a washcloth from the cupboard and doused it in cool water. He began to wipe away the blood on her arms and hands.

"The best of us are broken down. The toughest ones have the biggest scars. I understand how hard it is and you understand that you have to keep going...because you're tough, Ryden. I know you can handle anything. Who was the one who helped me through so much of my relationships? You were about the only one who could talk some sense into me. You stayed by my side in the hospital even though I know you hate it. You brought me soup, took care of me when I was annoyingly sick and you call me out on my bullshit when all I want is for everyone to go along with it."

After tending to her bloody person, Crash slowly brushed her hair away from her face, tossing her a warm smile. "And even if you're broken down...who cares? I'll just have to keep patching you up, won't I?"

[Ryden Hertz]

Ryden felt her fist clunch from just looking at the cleaned wounds. "Why did i do this to myself? I would of killed you if you did this to yourself. Why was it okay for me to do it to myself?" She whispered as she bit her lip. She sighed and looked up at Crash. He's smile making her smile a little.

[Crash Bandicoot]

"It's not ok for you to do this to yourself", he muttered, reaching in a cabinet for the medicine, gauze, and medical tape as he tended to the first cut. "Of course I'm mad that you did this but me yelling at you and being angry isn't gonna solve shit. I can't be mad at you for what you feel. You can't help that." Once Crash had properly cleaned Ryden up, he looked at her to see a small smile on her face. He flashed her another one and brought his hand to the back of her head as he pressed his lips softly to her forehead. When he pulled away, he sighed slightly. "It could take years - decades. All the time in the world. But that really doesn't matter. No matter how long it takes, I'm determined to show you how beautiful you are", he said as he dropped her a lopsided grin. "On the inside and out."

[Ryden Hertz]

She sniffled and looked down. "I know i'm beautiful..... Sorta" Ryden sighed and looked up at Crash. "You're the bestest friend a girl could ever have.." She whispered and kissed his cheek. "Really.."

[Crash Bandicoot]

Her 'sorta' comment made him grimace but that was ok. Baby steps. At least he got through to her. Sighing in overwhelming relief, Crash reached out and grabbed Ryden's wrist, pulling her into his arms securely. "Good to know. I love you, Ryden" he mumbled into her hair, closing his eyes.