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Before he'd even finished the knock, there were lights in the driveway behind him as Raven came screaming up to the house in the car that she'd likely swiped from her brother. "Sei!" she called out, scrambling out of the car and fumbling with her keyring. "I tried calling... I didn't get an answer," she said quickly, looking to him in dread as she finally managed to shove the key into the lock of the front door.

When it swung open, the house was quiet. The lights downstairs were off, save for the single light above the sink in the kitchen. It had been left on at night for as long as Raven could remember, as a nightlight to keep the downstairs from turning into a deathtrap in the middle of the night. "DAD??" she called out, wincing when she heard her own voice echo. "Omi??" She was fairly clinging to Sei's sleeve as she stood there for a moment, not even daring to enter the house just yet.

"Upstairs," Raven answered, moving to follow him in. She didn't even know what she was afraid of, but it was like her feet didn't want to move. "The stairs go up, then the hall comes around to the right. There should be a nightlight in the hall. Dad's room is around the stairs, at the front of the house." Omi's room was in the attic, however... and she hadn't heard a single sound since they'd entered. "Come on," she said, finally finding her nerve and starting towards the staircase in the livingroom. "Dad??" she called out again, knowing that unless Omi was awake, the Fa'e wouldn't hear her all the way in her room.

Upstairs, there were four doors lining the hall. One was closed with bumper stickers and surfing posters all over it, revealing it to be Kaeru's room, even without opening the door. The second was the upstairs bathroom. The third door was also closed, which made Raven frown as she motioned towards it. "That's the attic door," she whispered, as if making noise would somehow bring something jumping out of the darkness. "Omi's room is up there."

It was the fourth door, however, that made her stop. It was a simple dark-stained wooden door that matched the rest of the house. It was Youko's bedroom door, and it was almost always open. He'd only recently started sleeping with it closed, after finally coming to grips with the fact that he didn't have to listen for children at all hours of the night. There were no more diapers to change, no more midnight feedings, no more 'scary dreams' that would bring some small creature running into his room in tears. "Daddy?" she called, taking hold of the door knob and turning it, pushing the door open just enough to peer inside. "Daddy, are you there?"

Almost immediately, she breathed a sigh of relief. There was the familiar lump in the bed, the silver ears peeking out from the blanket. "I think he's sleeping," she whispered, turning to smile to Sei.

Nodding, Raven squeezed Sei's arm, then walked into the room. "Daddy, wake up..." she paused by the bed, freezing in place as she realised something. He wasn't moving.

There was no even rise and fall of the blankets... there was no twitch of the ears to her voice, as was common even when he was asleep. She felt a shiver go through her, and something in her mind screamed to just leave now before she saw something she didn't want to. But another part made her move forward, resting a hand on her father's shoulder and shaking him lightly. "Dad-...." Immediately, she snatched her hand back, the bi-coloured eyes wide in panic. "H-he's cold..." she managed, her voice barely more than a squeak. "He's cold... Sei..."

Still shaking, Raven finally reached for the blanket, pulling it back. Youko was curled in the bed, as he would have been had he just been sleeping. The gold eyes were open, staring into nothing as one hand clutched at the front of the thin shirt he wore. Against his throat, dark bruises had appeared and never faded, the angle of his neck seeming to be unnatural in its position.

Raven could feel her world slipping away as she stared at him, and let go of the blanket to back away, finally hitting the wall and leaning against it as if it were all that was keeping her vertical. "Omi..." she whispered, finally seeming to remember that her father wasn't the only one in the house. Whoever had done this had managed to do it without even giving him time to react. "Where's Omi..." she asked, turning to Sei as she tried to pull together what remained of her senses. "Where's my sister??"

The wooden stairs creaked as Sei made his way up them, leading into the wide open space that was the attic. As it normally was when Omi was sleeping, the room was lit. Not brightly... but small fake 'candles' were scattered about, each flickering in their electronic way. Omi wasn't crazy enough to use real candles in there. Especially when she wasn't going to be awake. Still, the light reassured her when she woke from nightmares. This time, however, the nightmare hadn't ended when she'd woken.

Omi was collapsed on the floor, curled into a ball with her arms wrapped tightly around her knees. She was shaking uncontrollably, and although she looked as though she were crying, no sound could be heard. She'd screamed plenty when it had happened... at least she thought she had. Now, however, she had nothing left. Her cheeks were dry, her lips parted although no noise emerged. When Sei entered the room, she didn't acknowledge him... it was as if she'd never heard him at all.

Raven nearly FLEW up the stairs, one hand coming to her face as she rubbed away the tears that dampened the fur against her cheeks. "SEI??" She nearly fell, grabbing hold of the banister that kept people from just falling over the side of the stairs from the attic floor. "Is she..." Almost afraid of what she'd see now, she let out a keening whine as she saw Omi alive and breathing. "It's okay," she whispered, sliding to her knees on the floor beside them and winding her arms around Omi tightly. "It's okay. I'm here. You're safe."