Ryoken walks right up to the door of Shing's room and knocks, he waits for a moment to see if he gets a reply. But there's no replay so he opens the door and comes in to find a dark room with very little light, and there laying curled up in a ball under the covers is his friend.

'I'm so glad she's safe.' Ryoken thought to himself.

He walks up to the bed and takes a seat on the side, gently he rubs his hand on Shing's back. This simple jester causes the girl to move and poke her head out from under the blanket, shock and disbelief as well as pain litter the girl's eyes.

"R-Ryoken, is that you?" Shing says, unsure of the person before her.

"How are you feeling?" Ryoken replies softly.

"Not to well, I'm racked with pain and it's starting to spread down to the rest of my body." She says with a sigh as she leans against him, her guard down.

She has no knowledge as to what has happened to Ryoken over the past few weeks.

"Let me take care of your pain." Ryoken says softly and lefts his hand to touch her head.

Shing moves even closer to him but suddenly feels like something's off about him.

"Ryoken, are you feeling alright?" She asks as she hides a wave a pain moving away from him a bit.

"I'm fine Shing." He says softly and gently brushes his hand against the side of her head.

Shing lets out a small gasp as a numb feeling over takes her, numbing the pain as well as taking away her sense of emotion and self awareness. She falls against him, her eyes having a clouded tired look to them. Ryoken helps Shing to her feet.

Suddenly the door to the room opens and Ryoken hides behind the bed, taking his hand away from Shing's head. The girl comes back to reality sitting back nearly falling onto the bed, she holds her head in pain. The door to her room opens letting the light in as a nurse walks in to check on her and her vitals.

Shing just lays back on the bed holding her head in pain, the nurse tries to ask a few questions but she doesn't get much of a response. Shing appears to be a healthy girl aside from the extremely painful headaches she has.

'Did I really just see Ryoken, or was that someone else? Or was it all just a dream? His touch... felt so, so cold and numb. Ryoken doesn't feel anything like that. He feels warm and comforting.' Shing thinks to herself not even paying attention to what the nurse is saying.

'Go away you stupid nurse.' Ryoken thinks to himself as he hides behind the bed waiting for the nurse to leave.

Eventually the nurse leaves, Shing tries to relax but the pain is slowly building. Ryoken comes out of hiding, going back to his friend's side.

"Shing let's go, this place isn't safe for you." Ryoken says taking the girl's hand.

Shing looks to her side to see Ryoken, she looks horrified to see him and pulls her hand away.

"That numb feeling... it wasn't just a dream." She says almost whispers out as she quickly gets off the bed and goes to one side of the room to get away from him.

"Shing, are you feeling alright?"

"You're not Ryoken."

'What has he done to her?' "Shing it's me, you're dear friend." Ryoken says and takes a step closer to her.

Shing moves back closer to the door. "You're not Ryoken, his touch doesn't feel so numb and cold. Has Varis gotten to you since I passed out?"

"Varis is trying to keep you safe, Playmaker and that Ignis of his are out to use you."

"You've been lied to, Varis is the one trying to use me. Don't you remember Ryoken, his touch causes me nothing but pain." Shing says as she comes a bit closer to him, trying to reason with him.

Ryoken walks to her side looking down at her due to the difference in height between them.

"I know you care for me but taking me back to him is only going to put me in more p-" Shing is stopped in mid sentence as a wave of pain washes over her making her fall to her knees.

"I'm doing this to protect you, I'm sorry you don't see it the same way I do." Ryoken says as he leans down and brushes his fingertips again her left temple.

Shing let's out a small gasp as the numb feeling over takes her again, she tries to fight it and move away but she's trapped in her own mind and body. Ryoken gets her back on her feet, taking her into Link Vrains and back to Varis.