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After her adventures outside, Elke had returned sans the large book she'd left with just as the sun was setting, her flashlight dimly lighting the way. Her hair was mussed, leaves in the back; as she walked, she was picking them out with dirty hands. Clearly, whatever she'd found, it hadn't gone well. In a move that was not very Elke Arma, she found a space under one of the teacher's desks and hid.

She looked at the hand she'd written her list on, then uncurled the fingers; the words were smudged in most places, but she knew which name she wanted anyway. Uncapping the sharpie tucked into the pocket of her uniform shirt, she started painstakingly rewriting it, and then marking off Avery's name.

It's not fair, she thought, staring at it. Had everyone died but her? Even she'd died, but now she was alive again--alive and free of the overwhelming desire to eat flesh. They were right, she thought, to be angry at her. Elke wasn't much of one for being depressed, but there wasn't any bright side she'd found yet. She hadn't asked to die--to come back--none of it. She'd never asked for any of it. Sure, she was alive, but what good was that when everyone else was dead?

"Avery," she said, clenching her hand again. She didn't seem to realize there wasn't anyone else in the room, or else she wouldn't have begun to cry.

She wallowed in self-pity--well, more than self-pity. Poor Avery, poor Giselle, poor everybody. This was a terrible place, and she didn't want to be there any more. And to think, just a few months ago she'd wanted to return to Barren Pines!

When Serenade came over, she scooted deeper into her hiding space. Elke really didn't want to talk to anyone; she just wanted to sit here and be utterly miserable. At the same time, she wanted to talk to somebody about it. So she looked out at the green-haired girl and answered, "Yeah, I'm fine." Which wasn't true, so a moment later she said, "No, not really." Elke moved over in the space beneath the desk in case Serenade wanted in, and she said, "I saw Avery."

After a moment, she pulled up her sleeve; there was a list of names. Avery, Giselle, Sebastien, Andeon (with the annotation 'vodka' next to it), Yvette, and Kitty were written painstakingly on her palm; from the wrist down was a list of others, but she pulled down the sleeve again too fast for them to be read.. "I saw Avery. My boyfriend," she repeated. Her voice broke on this time. "He's dead."

She really hoped Serenade didn't see Jude as a zombie, either. There was something about seeing someone you loved covered in someone else's blood--it wouldn't make her crazy or anything, but it was Avery. "I hope you don't, too," she said, picking at a stain on her skirt. Blood, she suspected, or else some kind of sauce. Maybe it was dirt. Let's go with dirt. Still, Elke felt a little faint...

Taking a deep breath, she rubbed her eyes. It was nice to be so close to someone else--Hero Barrett didn't exactly welcome such things, and Aurelia Thorne was too scary to ask. And it was nicer still to not want to bite off a chunk of Serenade's shoulder (anymore).

After considering the question asked, Elke said, "N-no. He didn't really hurt me." She did hold up her wrist, which was starting to bruise in a shape that couldn't be anything other than a hand; it was clear, from the casual way she did it, that it wasn't her intention to show Serenade.

A pause, and then: "He said I didn't love him. He said if I had, I would've tried to find him. But I did, Serenade, that's why I died, I was looking for him and I f-fell through the floor. I did look. I did." She looked back to Serenade, and then asked, "You believe me, don't you?"

"I know," said Elke, but she didn't sound very convinced. Was I ever first? First on her list, and first in her heart. Of course. Of course. How could he expect anything different? "But how do we know he ever will be himself ever again?" Her voice broke midway through. She had never considered her boyfriend being dead, monstrous dead; she certainly couldn't have been called monstrous. There had been a distinct lack of biting people when she had been undead.

Well, Avery... Avery... Elke tried to come up with an excuse. Maybe it was that he had always had a higher metabolism from all the exercise. Maybe. Hopefully. It was just a reflection of who he was in life. And she could hold to the hope, however vain, that he had kept to eating only cats. That no one else would suffer. She knew she'd put his welfare above any other's. She smiled back at Serenade--a bit late, a bit too pained. "Do you think we'll be all right, in the end?"

She nodded, not quite feeling reassured. "I'll keep looking," said Elke, "But I don't know if it will help..." Gingerly--was she allowed to do this?--she set her head on Serenade's shoulder. It was the kind of affection Giselle discouraged, and Elke had never had particularly many female friends.

"I hope Hero lets you go outside with me again soon. We did really well with the Captain lady." They had. She had been scary, but Virgo and Chronos had overcome her. "Mostly because of your tiara." Could Virgo do anything cool at all? She had to wonder.

"It's a good thing we didn't tell her about Fallon," Elke whispered, "She'd never let either of us out again." And as bad as her adventures outside had been, she didn't want to be stuck in here. It was pretty cramped, and Elke had too much energy to stay put no matter how important it was. "I don't think you're a bad senshi at all, Serenade," said the blunette firmly, "I think you're an amazing senshi. You're my princess, anyway. We couldn't do anything for Nacio and Azzo and Fallon, but maybe we can do something for others."

She hugged Serenade. "I'll protect you for always, Serenade. Don't worry."