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The bottom floor of the reaper dorm was usually... quieter. It wasn't because of Roch, though, it was because Roch had a sound proof booth. That had saved his few neighbors a lot of headaches. But today the boil seemed intent on being noisy. In fact he had left the door of his room open and the sound of his guitar was crying all the way from the end of the hall.

It didn't sound exactly like Roch's usual songs. The melody was older, Spanish in style, and somehow a bit melancholy. But at the same time, the sound was welcoming, drawing those that knew him to come closer.

((Or maybe it was just "Jack, there's a really good guitarist in the reaper dorm, who is it? Is JD visiting??" To which Roch would give you a dirty look and rant for an hour on the superstar's lack of ability.))

Either way, door's open, music's playing, and now is not the time to be alone, right?

Mitzi had gotten her crying out early, but even still she looked pale and drawn. Between the emotional roller-coaster and the loss of sleep, she felt almost numb. The quick reassurance that her teammates were all right had helped, but less so that it had all been "real", for a given definition of real. It would have been easier, almost, to pass it all off as a particularly vicious nightmare.

The thing that stuck with her the most from the... experience... was how helpless she'd been. Useless. The word still echoed in her mind. So as soon as the gym opened in the morning, she headed over, finding a relatively private corner and a few dummies, and spent more time training than she had in months. She had burned off quite a bit of her frustration, but it had just left her exhausted. After showering and changing, she headed back to the Reaper dorms.

She'd originally intended to just return to her room, but as she entered the dorm she heard the music drifting through the first floor. It fit her present mood, and she paused. She must have subconsciously recognized the source, as she began to slowly follow it.

She didn't stop as she reached the door, continuing straight in as soon as she recognized Roch. She nodded at the other ghoul - they hadn't met, but it seemed a safe bet she was here for the same reason Mitzi was - and then curled up on the boil's other side.

Mitzi took the oustretched arm as an invitation, scooting over now that there was room and curling up against Roch's side. She slipped her arms around his waist, nodding to the other ghoul before resting her head against her friend. "Nice to meet you," she murmured, closing her eyes. Any other time she would have been excited to meet a friend of Roch's, but right now she just didn't have the energy.

She was quiet for a few moments, before she spoke again. "So... You were both in the Trials? You both saw the..." She gestured with her hand, not sure how she wanted to end that. The alternate world? The figures who had attacked, captured, and killed her team? She still didn't understand what had happened, which certainly didn't help her to deal with it.

Roch hesitated, looking at Circe and then at Mitzi. A ghoul on each arm, he should have been stoked. As it was he was fighting the urge to sigh. "That... I ain't sure what happened in your dreams, ghouls, or how much you know about hunters, but they're the ones that had made the world like it was in that thing," he said quietly. "Hunters are real. I don't know why the hell they like our school so much, but I've ran into them a good couple of times. They even have a way of sneaking in here, looking like us."

He sounded paranoid, if you only listened to his words. But his tone was more resigned. "They're strong. And they got nets and cages and all sorts of things that can stop you from using your FEAR. But one thing is good," he told them. "When they die, they're dead for good. They're still humans. Just..."

"I only know what happened back with... That teacher." She hesitated saying her name. Instead she pulled at the necklace that was around her neck, showing the bone fragment she had taken from her head. "That was my first time ever seeing them. I still don't really know much about them other then they are very real and dangerous." Circe shuddered a bit at the memory of them. A more pressing question entered her mind. Well, a couple actually. "Did you guys escape from them in the dream? Did your teammates leave you behind?" Circe asked, a sense of urgency in her tone. Something in her needed validation that her team and best friend wouldn't leave her behind. But a sinking feeling in her chest gave her the sense that even with their answer it wouldn't make her feel much better nor would it help repair what had been lost.

Ice Queen

alliisara

"For us it was Whisper, in the tube," Mitzi murmured. And suddenly it was there in front of her again. She started shuddering, and squeezed her eyes closed, shaking her head to rid herself of the image. "It was so awful... I didn't even get to see what happened to the others."

She slowly stilled, and then looked over at the other ghoul. "If they could have gotten away... I would have told them to go. If there was any way to get out, because staying would only have lost them any chance of surviving." Of course, she hadn't known any of her teammates before the Trials, maybe she would have felt differently if she had.

"I got the chance to run," Roch said quietly. "And I took it. I thought--hell, I thought if I could get free, find someone, we could tell them where the base was and--" Then he snorted. "But even before my full shadow step was done I lost energy. I fell. And she found me. Said I'd make a 'good partner.'"

He was silent for a second, staring straight forward. "I woke up in the tube."

"She made you a weapon too?" Circe frowned as she tilted her head up to look at him. "I'm so sorry Roch." She added as she clutched him tightly, but not to tightly to hurt him or cause him discomfort. Then she looked over at Mitzi and touched one of her hands as the ghoul held onto Roch. "As bad as it was for me, I don't think it compares to what you two experienced while you were in that nightmare." She sighed. In all honesty the coming back had been the worst part for her. Not only had she felt abandoned but then she had to deal with her best friend basically telling her she should have stayed dead. That had hurt probably the most out of everything.

Circe looked at both Roch and Mitzi before stretching her arms and hugging both of them as best as she could. "Did... Did any of your team mates get away from the hunters?" Circe asked, still unaware that all of her team mates had gotten free from the cave except for her. "I'm so sorry." She repeated, not sure what she could do or say to comfort them as she was fairly certain they needed it more then her right now. Then she realized what Roch had said. "Wait... You said that one of them told you that you would be a good partner. What does that mean?" Circe asked with a raised eyebrow.