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Fall

The most beautiful time of year.

Tree leaves begin to transition from their vivid green to reds, yellows, purples, to colors more radiant than spring time flowers, warm colors that stand out in bright contract to the drop in temperature outside. So often people walk around, eyes downcast, the world passing by. But Fall is the season that gives people an excuse to look up and experience the wonder around them.

But for Hannah this was a contemplative time. The sounds of leaves rustling against the wind, clinging onto the life giving tree, while others relinquish their hold and dance with the breeze. Bringing one foot up to rest on the edge of the bench, she wrapped her arms around her leg and rested her chin on her knee while memories of the previous year replayed in her mind.

Tests... Chemotherapy... Experiencing the side effects and a swift relapse when the first treatment failed... More tests... more needles... Undergoing an Autologous Stem Cell Transplant.. it didn't end there. All the while looking longingly outside through her hospital room window. How many times did she imagine she could be that leaf? To let go?

A bright red maple leaf landed next to her, reaching over she picked it up with one hand and traced her fingers over it's veins.

But she didn't, let go that is, she kept fighting, if not for herself... A small smile spread across her face "Mom and dad" she said quietly. If anything she owed it to them not to give him. It was to put them at ease that she got out of bed every morning with a smile on her face, that she tried so hard to make it seem like life is normal, like they were before any of this started. It helped, being around Delilah and her cousins, people who she could be her old self around and them not treat her like a piece of glass teetering on the edge of the counter.

Despite how normal shes been trying to be, not a day goes by that thoughts of a potential relapse doesn't enter her mind. Her smile faded into a more somber expression a lone tear escaping her cerulean blue eyes. "I'm scared" she confessed, though nobody was around to hear. Reaching up with her fuzzy black gloved hand she wiped her face then stood up.

Night was coming and with the eclipse still over head it wouldn't be wise to stay out, especially if her clone wasn't actually taken care of. Glancing one more time at the fire red maple tree that stood tall next to a bright yellow tree she nodded her head in a good bye fashion and turned to go home.

Sheena was out and about and looking for a senshi. She could feel the senshi, but whoever it was hadn't stayed still for very long much to her chargin. Still they were in the park and Sheena would find them before the night was out. She felt a familiar aura in the area, not a senshi, which left a knight and paused for a second to look around before she spotted him. "Shangri-la" she called out to the dapper squire with wild red curls, which was a color she was beginning to love, not more than brown, but more and more.

Shang turned at the voice calling out to him and smiled to see the cat that was so often one of the constant faces at Maia's training sessions, not the only cat, but she had been to every one thus far. "Hello Sheena. What are you up to? I haven't seen you in a while."

She looked at him and gave him her best kitty grin, "there's a new senshi in the area that needs to be awakened, I'm sure of it. Feel close, though they keep moving. Have you seen anyone in the area?"

Shang shook his head, "no as far as I can tell, no ones around. Maia's not even here tonight. People are trying to avoid their doubles. But, I can try to help you find the person." He said with a bit of a frown, knowing waking up senshi was a necessary evil, though he would love to spare more people this fate, Sheena would continue to do it anyway.

"Right the grey things, I have one too, hasn't found me tonight though. Now lets get to finding that new senshi, before it does!" Sheena charged off leaving Shang with nothing to do, but to follow. "Left," he called for the cat to change directions, "I just came the other way. There's no one there."

Hannah made her way down the wide concrete path, memories of learning how to ride her bike here with her dad and Delillah. It was such a triumphant day to be able to ditch the training wheels. This also happened to be the place where she swore off roller blades because some kids had thrown pea gravel onto the path which got caught between her wheels and she wiped out.

Not far from one of the exits, the periwinkle haired girl clad in a white coat stood  facing one of the many swing sets that were scattered throughout the park. There were many occasions where she would come out here, swing as high as possible and launch herself off to see how far she could jump.

Giving into nostalgia, Hannah shrugged her shoulders and walked over to the swing set. She turned the seat over multiple times to straighten out the chains before taking a seat. One jump for old times sake she thought as she began to pump her legs.  

Shang and Sheena were running left and right looking for the new senshi, for a few minutes, but soon they came to the playground. Sheena stopped with a grin and looked back to Shang who ran over and stopped beside her looking at the cat curiously. "I found her," she exclaimed quietly with a grin, he eyes traveling over to the girl on the swinging as the sun disappeared fully beneath the horizon. Most of the city was deserted with people trying to avoid their shady double, but a few braves souls roamed.

Shang looked up, following Sheena's line of sight and as soon as he saw Hannah he frowned and said, "no not her. Anyone, but her." Sheena looked at Shang with a perplexed expression before it changed to something of an annoyed looked. "Yes, her. I'm sure it's her and there's no one else .... a wooooah. Hey put me down!"

"No, Sheena we're leaving. If anyone shouldn't be a senshi it's her. I ought to know. I'm her doctor." He said turning in the opposite direction. Sheena calmed slightly looking behind them back to the girl who wouldnt be able to see them from where they were. "Oh, is she sick?"

Shang's frowned deepened, "It's complicated Sheena. Techincally, no, but she had a disease inside her that could come back. She need to be safe and in the best possible condition to have her best chance."

Hannah swung high enough to the point that the chains began to go slack before swinging backwards

1....

2...

and jump Sliding off the seat mid swing, Hannah launched herself up and away from the play structure, stumbling forward from the momentum she caught herself from face planting. Triumphantly she stood up and turned around to see about how far she made it all the while brushing sawdust chips from her gloves. "HA!" Not bad... 8 feet maybe.

Ready to head home, Hannah looked herself over one more time to make sure no wood chips clung to her clothing. Turning around to look at her back side she paused noticing someone walking away from her back into the park. "Huh?" she tilted her head to the side confused, "Why are you not leaving?" She wondered aloud though not loud enough for anyone to hear.  

Curiosity kept her rooted where she stood even as night time closed in, a part of her wanted to run after them and make sure he/she was okay while the other part of her told her to leave.

Sheena squirmed, "if she's not really sick and she needs to be stronger than she should be a senshi Shang. She will be stronger as a senshi." Shang stopped and brought the cat up to eye level, "that doesn't protect her from disease. That's physical strenght, senshi still get sick. She can't really afford to get sick. Running around in merlin only knows what at night certainly won't help." He turned and continued on, but Sheena continued to struggle. "Shang let me go," she fussed aloud, tempted to bite the squire only to find herself being dropped as the squire hand received a ten grey claws forced into it.

"Urrrggg," he cried out as Sheena and her double went tumbling to the ground, landing with soft thuds and which the double recovered quickly from and charged at Sheena again.

Sheena only hopped to her feet just in time for the shade to miss her, and took off running toward Hannah. She'd take care of the clone after she drew attention to herself. "A little help here," she called out. Yes the cat just talked and it was being chased grey double did wonders never cease.

Shang having recovered frowned and ran after Sheena and the grey kitty cursing the weird situations this week was putting him in and making himself visible to Hannah, not that she would recognize him.

Hearing a females voice call out for a little help and seeing as two cats ran towards her. Hannah had assumed that the little one had gotten spooked and was running away and attracted some unwanted attention, a coon perhaps? Either way it was keeping up. "Don't worry I got it!" she yelled while making a move to intercept the cat. What she'd do if she managed to get a hold of the cat was yet to be determined.  But avoiding the second critter seemed to be a good plan.

Sheena watched as the other went after her double and grinned, yes she definitely had the making senshi. Not a bit of hesitation, that what Sheena liked to say. She also didn't look sick or Sheena thought being a senshi could only help the girl. She had a job to do either way and this girl was a senshi, she could feel it.

The double, however, only had eyes for Sheena and swerved to avoid capture. "You die," it said looking at Sheena quite murderously hardly paying the new comer an ounce of attention. "Stay away from it Hannah," Shang called summoning his weapon to hand, not thinking about how he just called Hannah by name and appeared as someone she never even met. "Stay away from both of them."

He ran forward swinging his rod, much like one would a hockey stick and knocking the clone off its path.

"Good shot, Shang," the little fluffy cat called while the double momentarily stunned got back to it feet. "We're leaving now, Sheena."

Stopping in her pursuit of the run away cat Hannah looked up confused "Who?" said my name. The voice had most definitely not been a female voice "But..." who's cat... "What?" Confirmation of who told her to stay away came as a tall guy in a dark green and gold outfit ran after the two felines, striking one with a rod.

With wide blue eyes, Hannah stood shocked that someone would out of no where hit an animal like that but more than that when she heard that female voice again saying 'good shot' she realized that the one who had called out for help was the cat.

"You.. Your're" not a female... she stared at the man with the rod "You" called my name "How do you?" her eyes shifted to the cat. "You" talked...

Bringing her hands up to cover her face she peaked between her fingers at the two in front of her this isn't real, I'm hallucinating, oh lord... she took a step back. "First my double tries to kill me and now I'm imaging talking cats" she was talking more so to herself this isn't happening. She brought both hands down to cover her heart much like someone who was about ready to have a panic attack not here, not now.

Shang was ready to scoop up Sheena and head on his way, but Hannah started talking and he turned to look at her knowing he needed to explain a bit, but not trusting Sheena to explain more than he wanted Hannah to know. His thought of all that came to a screeching halt when it appeared Hannah might have a panic attack and he quickly went over to her. "Calm down," he said softly, "breath in and out, in and out. Slowly now." He wanted to avoid a panic attack, he also made sure not to touch Hannah not wanting her to freak out.

He didn't notice the cat double was on it's feet again and Sheena found herself in a battle of teeth and claws as the thing attacked her once more. She was growing tired of the double, but she also knew she was the real one which meant she was better. The double let out a fierce hiss and bit Sheena on the tail causing the poor cat to cry out.

It was then that Shang turned from Hannah and frowned deeply. "I have to get rid of that thing before it kill Sheena, but afterwards I'll try to explain a bit to you. You, however, are definitely not seeing or hearing things. This is all very real unfortunately." He turned and ran over to Sheena grabbing up the double that hissed and lashed out at him not enjoying being restrained or kept from it's target.

Shang whole chest felt numb and it certainly hurt, especially being knocked over like that. His breathing was labored and he didn't care for the numb feeling in his chest and torso, "What did it do to me?"

Sheena looked at Hannah and summoned a pen which quickly tossed it to Hannah with her tail before she was bowled over my her kitty double and engaged in fighting once more.

She watched wide eyed as Shang, or at least that is what the 'cat' had called him a moment ago, took a blow to the chest effectively knocking him over. If all this was as real as he said it was then that looked like it hurt. More so worry towards the other prompted her into motion to go help him up when the glint of light bouncing off a small object coming. Jumping a bit she caught whatever it was that had been tossed at her and ran over to the fallen guy in the green outfit.

Kneeling down beside him her hands balled into fists clutching the hem of her white jacket unsure what to do, help him up or tell him to lay down. The sounds of the cats hissing brought her attention to the fight behind her. Turning her attention back to him she looked at him with a mix of worry, concern, and confusion Lord please let him be okay.

Shang groaned and tried to sit up, very slowly and widely. The whatever it was seemed to be wearing of, still it was hard for him to sit. He frowned at Hannah for a moment before giving her a smile. "Don't worry about me," he said though now it was probably clear he had a rough week. His whole right cheek was bruised and now he was sure he had a bruise on his chest, along with few other's unseen.

Sheena had the shade cat on top of her, pinned on her back, and she was charging her been. "Hannah, thats your name right," she shouted it. "Use the pen. Use the pen. Acrucis Power Make-Up." She struggled against the other cat who had a paw high in the air ready to claw her heart out.

"Say it," she shouted, "hold the pen and say it like you mean it."
Shang looked alarmed and tried to shake of the stunning effect.

Hannah turned when she heard the cat yell her name. Pen? confused she looked at the object she held in her hand then back at the cat.

It felt warm, foreign yet familiar. It was a strange feeling. Giving into the words the cat so earnestly wanted her to say Hannah let the words flow out "Acrucis Power Make - Up"



As she sat on kneeling on the cold concrete, Hanna closed her eyes as she felt her body wrapped in a warm breeze. Unsure what was going on or where the warmth came from she slowly opened one eye then the other, her confused gaze falling on Shang.

Shang looked up, a sad look in his eyes, wishing this night could be undone. He was trying to protect Hannah, but now she was apart of this war. She was a senshi and like the other's brought into the war, who would be determined to help determined to end it. "Be careful Hannah. I don't want you to relaspe. This is a dangerous game we play."

Sheena's beam went off blasting the shade kitty away. She scrambled up onto her paws once more and ran over to Acrucis and Shang. "Acrucis, senshi of Prayer. Try to heal him using his your power. That crazy cat's not going to stay down for long. It is a copy of me after all." She looked to Shang, "you should be able to finish it right. I that took a bit out of me, I don't think I can finish it off unfortunately."

Shang nodded sitting up fully, then she turned to Acrucis again, "use Prayer of Renewal."

Acrucis froze when the "R" word left Shang's mouth. The only word she feared more than death. there was only a hand full of people that knew about that, her family, Delilah's family, the nurse, her doctor and his boss... And him apparently...

Her attention shifted back to Sheena when she ran over to them. Heal him? Before she could ask how the cat blurted out for her to use 'Prayer of Renew'. Looking back at Shang as he sat up Acrucis gave him a look that said something along the lines of distrust and 'I'm watching you.' Bringing her hands up in a prayer motion, she closed her eyes and whispered the attack "Prayer of Renew". Opening her eyes she held her hands out towards Shang, watching as both her hands and Shang began to glowed a soft yellow.

Sheena smiled when Acrucis did as she asked and healed Shang, even though the cat didn't really understand why Acrucis was giving Shang such a terrible look. Shang was looking wide-eyed as Acrucis seemly said a prayer and her started to glows. When the glowing faded, his pain had disappated with it, not only in her abdomen, but in his face as well. "Thank you," he said ignoring the look she gave him, to distracted to be bothered by it.

Shang climbed to his feet, grabbing up his weapon and heading over to the still dazed shadow kitty, before closing his eyes, raising his foot and stomping on the thing as hard as possible. It flicked beneath his boot and disappeared. Killing the cat, even if the thing just disappeared was just as hard and equally disturbing as killing his double had been. This week was taking a lot out of him. He sighed and looked to Sheena and Acrucis, what was done was done. Now he felt a great need to protect Acrucis as much as possible. "We should get out of here. Even though none of us have doubles anymore," he said giving Acrucis a questioning glance, as if to make sure she no longer had a double.

Sheena grinned and smiled at Acrucis, "welcome to senshidom. You did great. You're healing powers are very nice." She summoned a phone, catching it and putting it on the ground and pushing it to Acrucis. "This is your's as well. It will allow you to contact other senshi. Shangri-la is correct though, we should probably move away from this area. I can explain more, but let's get away from here before we find ourselves in more trouble."

Shang looked a little irritated, but nodded, he certainly didn't want Hannah walking into this blindfolded, it was bad enough that she was involved at all.

Acrucis bent over picking up the phone that Sheena had nudged toward her. After a moment of silence she finally spoke, "Thank you," She said hesitantly "but I'm not going anywhere till you at least tell me how you know so much about me. I've just recently moved back to Destiny City and only a small hand full of people know I'm sick, who are you?"

Shang blinked slightly and then realized that he'd probably freaked the girl out spouting off at the mouth things about her in his currently form. He didn't say anything, instead closing his eyes feeling out the area to make sure they were alone, then looking around and allowing his powered persona to fade away revealing himself. Dr. Xander Jacobs, now stood where Shangri-la was, and he gave a small smile. "Hello, I'm sorry, sometimes I forget that unless you know the other person secret you aren't going to recognize them when they are powered up."

He looked around once more and powered up again, knowing she would still recognize him now that she knew it was him. He didn't feel comfortable standing with Sheena and Acrucis as just himself, in case their aura's drew attention to them. "I'm sorry you've been brought into all this."

"Doctor... Jacobs...?" Her words fell to silence as she watched him power back up. Many thoughts flowed freely like white rapids in the spring-summer time just as the winter ice  begins to melt. At least one piece of the puzzle had been put into it's proper place, seeing her new doctor standing in front of her at least answered how he knew so much about her.

She numbly shook her head when he apologized for her being brought into all of this, a physical 'don't be'. Acrucis shivered slightly as a chilled breeze ran across her bare arms and legs. He did what she had asked, a part of her wanted to ask more questions, instead settling on "Where are we going to go?".

Shang nodded, but corrected her on his name, "Shangri-la, when I'm like this Shangri-la is what you need to call me. And I will call you Acrucis." He watched her as she seemed to become a little speechless before she asked where they would go. He turned and looked around, before he saw a building close the other edge park. He pointed to it, "up there for now, Sheena can mask our signature while we all talk. It's just better to be in a less frequented place. Rooftops are frequented yes, but the park is heavily trafficked usually."

Sheena nodded, "come on, let's get up there then, so we can explain everything and we can all get home. I think we have had enough excitement for tonight."

Shang nodded and headed toward the building motioning for Acrucis to follow him.

Acrucis stayed silent watching as Shangri-la and Sheena took off towards the building before falling in step behind them. Standing at the base of the building, she paused in wonder as the duo she was following deftly jumped onto the roof as if it was a gym hurdle on the track. A small bead of hope began to glow inside remembering how the bruises on his face began to fade, a smile graced her features before she jumped up to join him. This is a good thing, or at least she hoped it was.