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Only now had Lilith heard the news. From an unlikely source, no less: the Team Rocket therapist, Isadora. Things tended to find their way to the ears of the doctor, and Lilith knew that she was one for gossip. She was completely and utterly unprepared, however, for the news that now had her heart in a choke-hold.

Sorano was out cold, and he was not waking up.

As soon as the words reached her ears, Lilith bolted out of Isadora's office towards the infirmary. The doctor made no move to stop her. The older woman knew that her patient was very fond of the teal-haired man, and seeing him would do her good. ...She hoped. She uttered a silent and quick prayer to any deity that would hear her thoughts that Sorano would recover quickly, so as to keep Lilith from going off the deep end. Arceus knew she was already teetering on the edge.

By the time she reached the infirmary, Lilith was breathless. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed two people who looked remarkably alike - one was lying in one of the beds, unmoving, and the other was hovering around. Lilith instantly recognized Lennyka and Sorano. She paused in the doorway, unsure about whether or not she should disturb the siblings. Hesitantly, she spoke. "...Lennyka?"

After a moment, Lilith disregarded all bonds between the kin and rushed in to Sorano's bedside. While his eyes were always squinted, she knew that they were closed, and they showed no sign of opening. He looked bedraggled. Lilith gazed in horror. He was unmoving, and there was no reaction from him whatsoever. A choked sob escaped her lips and she covered her mouth with her hand in shock. Her eyes began to glisten as tears slowly began to well up from the recesses of her heart.

"Oh, Arceus, no... Please, no..."

Lilith glanced at Lennyka, who was standing nearby. Honestly, she did not appreciate the other woman being here when she wanted some time alone with her thoughts, but it wasn't like she could ask the woman to leave. After all, she was Sorano's sister: she had every right to be here, but so did Lilith. She was Sorano's girlfriend, as hard it was for Lilith herself to believe. For a moment, she wondered if Lennyka knew that she and Sorano were now boyfriend and girlfriend. She decided not to ask: after all, it was hardly the time or place for that.

As the other spoke, Lilith did realize that Sorano was covered in cuts and bruises all over his body, from what she could see. It was alarming. What on earth had happened to him? Len said that she did not know, but Lilith wanted answers, dammit! The tears cascaded down her face as Lennyka continued to speak. "Don't say that! Don't! He can't... die."

Her words cracked with emotion as they came out. What was Lennyka saying?! Sorano wasn't allowed to die! He couldn't! Not when Lilith had barely started knowing him, and not when she only recently felt like she wasn't alone in the godforsaken prison of Team Rocket! And Lennyka wasn't making Lilith feel any better. As she continued talking, Lilith became more and more enraged: at her, at Sorano, and at herself. Anger would solve nothing though: she had learned that. Neither would hastiness or defiance.

"...I hope so. Oh, I hope so... Arceus, what can I do?" While being hardly aware of it, Lilith began uttering a hasty prayer to every Legendary she could think of for Sorano's recovery. As she did, she could not help thinking that this was her fault, and her's alone. How could she let this happen...?

Is this my punishment?

A sharp intake of breath and widening of teary eyes marked Lilith's reaction to the stirring body before her. Her countenance quickly transformed form one of sorrow and heartbreak to one of indescribable joy and elation. Sorano was alive! Without thinking, Lilith flung her arms around the man whom she had become so attached to and clung to him, sobbing all the while. These tears were not of sadness, as they were before. No, they were of simple and pure happiness...

...and perhaps of love.

"Oh, thank the Legends! Sorano, you're okay!" As if a miracle had just been witnessed here, her prayers were answered. Silently, she thanked every individual Legendary deity she could think of at the moment. Her thoughts were already occupied, however. She did not mind, certainly.

After a few moments, Lilith released her grip on Sorano and looked at him, worry faintly seen in her eyes. "What the hell happened to you? I had no idea where you were or what went on!"

...At this point, Lennyka was about the last thing that would have crossed Lilith's mind. Instead, she remained a shadow in the corners of her thoughts.

Lilith reveled and relished the embrace from Sorano, and it did the trick to calm her down. Very soon afterward, the tears had ceased flowing down her face, and all that was left were the stains of the tracks that they had made. She pulled away from Sorano rather suddenly when she heard him grunting in pain. Her eyes quickly clouded with worry and they looked all about the man, recognizing a large number of scars tracing along Sorano's body.

"A Shaymin? Really?" Lilith blinked in her surprise. Shaymin was a gentle Legendary, a lesser one. How could inflict such damage, and how could it be under the control of a human? It made no sense to her, but she pushed the thought aside for the moment. Sorano was what she needed to pay her attention to now.

After a moment - a very long moment - Lilith stopped to think and recalled Sorano's sounds of pain when she hugged him earlier. Two and two suddenly snapped together in her mind and she gasped. "Oh, my! Did I open any scars?" She grimaced and looked at Sorano worryingly. Arceus, she was such an idiot! Why couldn't she think things through?

...Even now, Lennyka still had not entered Lilith's mind or crossed her train of thought. At that point in time, Lennyka might as well have not even existed.

Sorano's compliment did exactly what he expected it to do, for when he said it, a splash of color appeared on her face. It was a light blush, though. She had gotten used to hearing flattering things from her beloved, but it was certainly welcome. "Thank you..." She smiled, and as she spoke, she noticed that Sorano's eyes were open. This was a small bit of a shock, and Lilith could not help but comment on it. "You... have really pretty eyes. Why do you keep them squinted all of the time?" She laughed at her question, for she did not expect an answer.

Lilith sighed and gave a small smile as Sorano fingered her long hair. "Okay... I was worried that I had hurt you even more." She could not hear the complete lie in his voice, but she knew that he was in pain, be it from his injuries or from her opening them.

She blinked and her eyes became downcast for a second. "Yeah... From what I had heard, it was very dangerous, but I wished I could have gone, too." She leaned her head against his, which was resting on her shoulder. She could indeed see a stain on the back of his shirt, which almost made Lilith cry out in fright. She held her tongue, though. She did not want to alarm Sorano. Instead, she smiled as he described the ball to her, as well as the partner he danced with. "Oh, I doubt she was that bad. I'm really not that great of a dancer... You know that first-hand." She chuckled awkwardly.

At that moment, there came a word from the corner of the room. It was a single word, but it spoke millions, and it rang loudly as it reached Lilith's ears. Her eyes widened in surprise and she turned to where the word originated. The creator of that word was Lennyka, and that word both reminded Lilith of the other woman's existence and told her that Lennyka did not exactly approve. "...Excuse me?"

Lilith did not understand. She did not understand at all. What was going on here?

Did she... just call them - her and Sorano - ...disgusting?

Her eyes widened, then narrowed into dangerously thin slits. She spoke, and her voice was soft and low with anger and confusion. "I'm sorry, but you think we're disgusting? I didn't know I needed your written permission to be happy in Sorano's company."

At the silence that followed Lennyka's accusation, Lilith stood, feeling rather alarmed. Her eyes were still lowered, but her rage had slowly ebbed into something more like frustration and a twinge of fear. Lennyka, whom Lilith always regarded as a quiet, awkward bookworm, looked ready to kill. Or, at the very least, heavily injure.

Lilith chanced a glace at Sorano, who looked as startled as she did. She wondered if she should go, as Lennyka obviously had something to discuss with her brother, but at the same time, Lilith had no desire to leave her beloved's side - especially since he was hurt. Hesitantly, she spoke to Lennyka.

"...Am I unwanted here?"

There were few times that Lilith could mention or even recall when she was this confused and terrified.

After the lengthy speech, complete with an impressive range of vocabulary, Lilith stopped for a moment to take it all in. A minute, a long minute, passed before Lilith reached a conclusion and spoke. Her eyes were laden with apprehension and uncertainty.

"What the hell are you talking about? You sound completely insane."

After a moment of stopping to pause and to think, most of the furious woman's words began to sound like empty threats. Lilith would rather not tempt it, though. Instead, she looked to Sorano, then back to Lennyka. Frustration made her speak, and anger made her voice strong.

"Would you care to enlighten me as to why exactly I have earned your ire?" She strained to make herself sound as calm as possible, no matter how much she wanted to scream some sense into this woman. She held herself back, not wanting to upset Sorano in any way. She glanced nervously in his direction. She had no clue as to what he was thinking.