Welcome to Gaia! ::

Grayson Graves had been instantly killed in a car crash when the side that he had been sitting on had crumpled into a tree, the car itself skidding through an old railing and somersaulting down a hill.

For some reason the car kept skidding through Hero Barrett's mind as she opened the door to Serenade's room -- no Elke, Elke had been sitting in the back seat, by the grace of God Elke Arma had not died -- and closed it behind her. She and Grayson had never been anything but awkward around each other. Jude had cared for him a great deal. She had cared for Jude. Their relationship had been strained and quiet and far-apart.

When she heard the news she had been sick, retching endlessly over the toilet bowl and having it all go around in her head again: we never got out of Barren Pines. We never got out of Barren Pines. This is our curse. We never got out of Barren Pines. She was at the same time grateful and then desolate that Miriam Jacobs wasn't there, was off at fencing, when the news hit. Now she was with her Princess. Now she was tearless and had swilled out her mouth with Listerine, and there was a hole inside her that sucked in all of her internals and left her as an empty blown egg.

"Serenade," she said, and she locked the door behind her.

Hero came and drew up a chair from her desk, placing it next to the bed and sitting herself down in it as slowly and dignifiedly as though they were in a meeting. Hero was, in fact, tired. Going through the motions of getting the chair, sitting down, feet flat on the carpet at least gave her something to do with her disconnected body. She tried to be aware of everything in the room to tether herself to it.

"A car crash had nothing to do with you," she said. Even her words felt strange. "It was an accident. There is nothing you could have done."

They could see from each other's faces the blankness, the exhaustion. Uniforms had started to slip now that on top of everything else, the sleeping death had hit Destiny City and classes had been shut. Hero was wearing a school orchestra button-up shirt and some trousers, and looked more respectable than in her Crystal dress. Her Captain said, "What are you going to do now?"

Hero's eyes closed. It was hard to tell whom she was thinking about. Eon, maybe, though Eon had given his life with all the willingness that Eon had ever given anything, and surely his sacrifice could not translate into a punishment for them as though they were acting out the plot of a new Final Destination. Maybe she was thinking of Jude. Maybe she was thinking of Grayson.

Her lips were pressed together quite tightly. When she opened her eyes they had a sort of dangerous red sparkle in them, as though she hadn't been thinking about any of them at all. "Rally," she said, and there was a sine wave in her voice of despair. "You?" She jerked up out of her seat like a jack-in-the-box and flexed her fingers a few times. "When was the last time you rallied anything? You couldn't rally a team of Spartan warriors, let alone our -- our..."

It was the sharpest thing Hero had ever said to her. "Wiseman took the Opal from you because it was like taking candy from a baby. You never listen to me. You think I'm some harridan drill-sergeant who sees shadows in each corner."

"You were happy to be a puppet, weren't you?" Hero sounded scornful. "There's more to the team than fighting or sitting in your room. Where were you when Jude wanted to quit? Where are you when Pisces wants teaching? Who are you other than something that sits on our collective mantlepiece like a useless souvenir?"

Useless souvenir was, by far, the unkindest thing she'd ever called her, and her Captain had never been this cruel before. Her Captain had never been cruel before. Hero was not, as a rule, a cruel person. She could be stiff or brusque but this was Hero, Furious. "You're a year my junior. You weren't confused, Serenade, you could have made a decision on your own if you'd wanted to."