She’d lost track of the days. It wasn’t hard to do when trapped in a warehouse with no determination of time. Sleep came and went at odd intervals and Harmonia had no way of telling if Hopeite’s visits were at the same time each day or even if a day was skipped.

She had relented on day 3 and ate. Not much, but she had eaten as her stomach had felt like it was clawing at her. She’d never gone so long without food before and pinpointed to how lucky she was to not have experience that pain. Harmonia could only imagine how much worse hunger pains could be. But, the senshi had never had a high pain tolerance. It was unsurprising that she’d relented and eaten some of the food that Hopeite had offered.

Every time though, before she ate now, she attempted to sway the Lieutenant. Tell her that life could be better. That what she was doing wasn’t what she was meant for.

So far, those pleas had fallen on deaf ears or, worse yet, seemed to upset Hopeite.

Her time spent alone wasn’t wasted though. The zipties had rubbed her wrists raw with her attempts, but the payoff was coming.

Eyes followed the cat that was currently on guard duty. As quietly as she could, Harmonia wriggled her right hand. Bending it, cupping it, and do everything she could to make it smaller.

A small pop.

The ziptie had loosened a fraction. Was it enough?

Wincing at the pain of her sore wrists she kept pulling. Something warm trickled down the back of her hand making it slick.She didn’t pause to think what it was, but instead used it as a means to slip her hand free.

Another tug.

She felt skin burn.

Her entire arm jerked upward as her hand slipped free from its restraint. Blood was smeared over her skin. The last piece she had needed for her freedom.

In haste she turned and quickly began to tug to free her other hand. If she could just get loose she would be able to get out of the warehouse.

---

Hopeite was running late that evening. She tried to keep herself punctual, deciding that Harmonia deserved at the very least the courtesy of a regular schedule, and even if she wasn’t visiting daily, she tried to visit at the same time at the very least. Today, however, everything seemed to go wrong all at once, beginning with spilling her coffee all down her front and ending with a child puking in her store. The only way to save it would be a stop-over at her favorite coffee spot for a latte and a scone. She even picked up an iced green tea for Harmonia. By the time she arrived at the warehouse, she was moderately better with the combination of caffeine and sugar in her veins.

“Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” she sighed, slamming the door shut behind her. “Oh, if you only knew about my day. But I’m glad to see you again, precious.” She kicked off the boots of her uniform and padded over to Harmonia in her stockinged feet. On her way, she grabbed the chair by the door, dislodging the cat who was curled up happily on its seat. The cat glared at Hopeite, but Hopeite ignored her, instead focusing on Harmonia as the feet of the chair shrieked against the concrete floor.

“I missed you, pet,” she cooed, plopping into the chair before Harmonia with a grateful sigh. “And look, I brought us presents.” She took a sip of her own latte and raised the straw of the green tea to Harmonia’s lips. “Now don’t get telling me that you’re on one of your useless hunger strikes again. I won’t have it. I’ve had enough trouble today without you disappointing me too.”

---

The slamming of a door and Hopeite’s voice caused the senshi to nearly jump out of her skin. No. No! No! In a mad effort to try and disguise what she was up to, Harmonia righted herself in her seat and clasped her free hand with her still tethered one behind her back. The rawness of her skin, torn away at her wrists ached and throbbed, but she dare not wither or flinch from the pain.

Green eyes trailed the woman as boots were deposited and that sickly sweet voice cooed at her. A chair was pulled over and Harmonia internally prayed that Hopeite would stay away from behind her. There were still the tethers on her legs as well. She needed her one hand to stay free if there was any chance she’d get out.

A straw was shoved towards her mouth and hesitantly the eternal wrapped her lips around it to drink. She had found that Hopeite had not once drugged her food or drinks during her entire captivity. No, the Lieutenant chose instead to drain Harmonia to keep the senshi from having the energy to escape. By the time Harmonia was beginning to recover was when Hopeite returned for more. It was a vicious cycle.

One sip led to a longer dredge of the green tea. It was the only time of day Harmonia got to drink anything. There was no doubt the teen was likely dehydrated, so when liquid was presented to her, Harmonia never turned it away. Food on the other hand...well, she couldn’t always stomach it. “I don’t know if I can eat anything.” She said truthfully. “I just want more water.” She fidgeted in her seat, pulling ever so carefully at her still tethered hand. IT wasn’t unusual that Harmonia tugged and pulled at her restraints, but up until this point, it had proved futile.

“Hopeite. Please. Please let me go home.” Another plea. Perhaps she could break the woman’s resolve down. “I don’t deserve this. You don’t need to be doing this. Let me go and come with me.”

More of this. Hopeite leaned back in her chair and scrubbed her face, disappointment crashing over her like a wave.

“And here I thought you would be the one single point of calm in the s**t hurricane that was my day,” she sighed, setting Harmonia’s green tea down on the floor. “Come along now pet you know I can’t do that there are… expectations now. The troublesome Captain has filed that stupid report, and and people in power are watching me and my progress… I have to fill out piles of forms and requests thanks to him and now it’s nothing but work work work all the time.” Hopeite crossed her legs and leaned her elbows heavily on her knees, her chin resting in one hand while the other draped across her lap. Silence stretched between them as she considered Harmonia with sudden softness in her eyes.

“I miss the old days,” she finally lamented, pausing to find the right words. “I miss… when it was just me and my fun. No one to tell me what to do or how to do it. You’ve heard me say it before, but for a faction named ‘chaos’ there is precious little actual chaos within it. And what irony that is, that your faction of ‘order’ might mirror our own name and that ours might mirror yours. Maybe someone mixed up the names once upon a time… but what weight do these musing hold now?” She leaned back in her chair, back popping against the back support. “Supposing and wondering are for the hermits and the philosophers. And we are women of action, are we not?” She stood then, dusting herself off and adjusting her uniform as she did so. Women of action… but what action? It felt like Hopeite was just running in place. She had planned to take Harmonia for her own pleasure, not to meet any ends. The ends had appeared to her as her rouse wore on, and obvious holes in the system became apparent and yet… even with a plan… she felt… stagnated.

What was with that?

Hopeite circled around Harmonia to the ever-present box and withdrew the hairbrush that she kept there. Action would help her for certain, but right now the action that she needed to take was to clean the young lady up. And she would begin with her hair. Hopeite began at the tips of the candy-floss colored locks as was her usual routine and began gentle strokes as she spoke.

“Besides, you know that I can’t let you go because that would be suicide. The faction has it’s eyes on me now, and if they see that I have failed…” Something caught her eye then. Blood. Hopeite’s breath caught in her throat as she knelt down to inspect the extent of the damage done to the child.

“Oh my dear… what have you done to yourself,” she cooed, removing her gloves to wipe the blood away. After a few moments all of her concern was washed away with another wave of disappointment. She wrapped her hand around Harmonia’s wrist, raw, injured, and now suddenly free and pulled violet pearls from the blood-soaked appendage.

“I trusted you,” she muttered, rising to her feet as the string of beads vanished behind her. “I trusted you, I adored you, and I chose you to be the first of a new breed and this is how you repay me?” Hopeite painfully wrenched Harmonia’s hand up and around so that she could see the extent of the damage that she had done to herself.

“You say you want to help me, and yet you would condemn me to a fate worse than death by leaving me?” Rage was rising her her voice, deepening the sound and causing a dangerous quiver underneath. Hopeite dropped Harmonia’s hand and rushed to the box, slamming implements both harmless and malign out and around until she found the spare set of zip ties.

“Do you know what they would do to me if I failed this endeavor,” she asked, lips coming dangerously close to Harmonia’s ear. “Because I sure don’t, but I do have a very good imagination. Do you know what Youma are, dear girl? They are us… or they used to be. And that would be a merciful fate.” Hopeite secured the zip tie almost too tightly around Harmonia’s wrist, careful to line it up with the newly formed injury to add to her punishment. She even went so far as to tighten the ties around her other wrist and legs as well.

“I cared for you. I washed you. Fed you as best I could, ungrateful little whelp,” she continued ranting, crossing back to the box, contents now strewn about the floor like children's’ toys, “I keep you safe from those with more power… I chose you…” The last statement lingered in the air between them as Hopeite searched for what she needed, her motions growing more and more erratic as the item she sought evaded her.

“No more. No more… this will not happen again,” she announced, turned suddenly with her her sought-after prize in her hand. A bowie knife, long and sharp with wicked little teeth lining what was supposed to me the dull edge. She came upon Harmonia like a hurricane, brandishing the knife like a wild thing as she loomed over her her nose almost touching the girl’s. With her free hand, Hopeite reached behind her, gathering her long, blue hair in her fist, still unbrushed but for the very tips, and yanked it back, exposing the softness of her neck.

“All of the effort I expend on you, sweetling, all of the time and care that I put into you and you throw it back in my face like this… no more.” With one strong, painful pull of the bow knife, Hopeite sliced through Harmonia’s tangled hair, leaving the locks in uneven tufts.

“Friends… don’t let friends… die horrible deaths, Harmonia,” Hopeite finally gasped, falling back into her chair with a sniffle and her a sigh, tossing the fistfull of hair onto the floor like nothing had happened. “And that is what you almost condemned me to, sweetness. What kind of a friend does that?”

---

Hopeite rounded behind her and Harmonia went stock stiff. Her free hand clutched tightly at the secured one. Please don’t look down. Please don’t look down. The mantra kept repeating itself in her head as Hopeite continued to drone on and on about what her life was life now that her plans had been figured out. Paperwork that Hopeite needed to fill out was the absolute least of Harmonia’s worries.

The familiar tug as Hopeite began her nearly daily tending to Harmonia’s hair caused Harmonia to stiffer even more. The woman was too close. Too close to finding out what she had managed to do, how she had managed to create a shred of hope for herself. Top teeth met her bottom lip as she quietly let Hopeite tug and pull at her strands, freeing knots that had built up over the day’s struggle to freedom.

It went quiet. Too quiet. Why had the drone of the older woman’s voice stopped? Why did the all too familiar tugging at her hair while the brush found each little fairy knot cease?

A change in tune. A coo of dismay filled the space. A gentle touch upon raw flesh caused an involuntary flinch, a jerk away from the contact but it didn’t save her when Hopeite grabbed hold with a vice grip. Fingers digging into the wound that circled her wrist.

A familiar pull. This time vicious and fast. Energy poured from her in leaps and bounds all uncontrolled and unsteady but still just as effective. Finesse was not required for her job. Not this one. As a result Harmonia wilted against the remaining restraints as a strong sense of weariness overcame her.

A cry of pain escaped the teenager as her arm was grabbed and wrenched violently around for her to see the damage wrought. Skin had been practically peeled away, blood weeped from the wound that circled her wrist which throbbed in a steady beat to her pulse. “No. No I just want to go home. I told you I can help you. Save you from all of this.” Tears welled up and trailed salty water down her cheeks. “I don’t want you to be hurt anymore. I don’t want to be hurt anymore. Let me go. Please, Hopeite. We can go find help. Keep you from….from whatever fate the negaverse would deal out to you.”

But god, a youma?! Would they actually do that to one of their own? The fear in Hopeite’s words gave Harmonia the answer, even if she didn’t want to fully believe it. What sort of monsters did that to people? Made them into creatures that were forced to obey them at every turn?

The same kind that were forcing Hopeite to do the same to Harmonia. If only in a different manner.

She sniffed, trying to dry up tears that refused to stop as Hopeite moved with a flurry. “Please. Hopeite. I don’t want you to get into trouble. Let’s figure something out. Come up with a way to make this work for both of us.” The zip tie was reapplied and Harmonia squeaked and gasped as the plastic was tightened against her raw, bleeding wrist. Each other restraint was tightened all that more to the point that Harmonia feared circulation would be cut off.

Then came the knife and Harmonia shook her head. “Hopeite. No. Please.” She pushed herself against the back of her chair as much as humanly possible but it did nothing. It wouldn’t stop the Lieutenant from brandishing the weapon, Grabbing hold of blue and pink locks, and lopping them off in a sawing motion. Small pieces of hair cascaded around her as Hopeite gripped the majority in an angry fist.

“I don’t want you to die.” She said through sobs. Her fear growing as the bowie knife was still clutched in Hopeite’s hand. “I want you safe. I want us both safe. Happy. Free. We can do that. I swear.” She hiccuped. “I swear we can both have what we want.” Green eyes flickered from Hopeite’s face to the knife. Terrified of what may be next. “I would never want to hurt you.” She shook her head, the remains of her hacked hair bouncing against her cheeks. The remains she was afraid to even think of. “Never. I swear.”

Hopeite dropped the knife with a loud clatter at long last, rubbing her wrist with her other hand as it began to ache from the force with which she was clutching the weapon. She was breathing heavily, clearly worn out from her exertion. As Harmonia groveled and wept, Hopetie refused to meet her eyes. Instead, she turned bodily to the side, fingers lost in her own hair as she collected herself.

“What you tell me and what you show me are two very different things,” she muttered, summoning her weapon and taking a long calming lungful of the smoke. In the time that it took her to get her fix, something took over her voice and used her as a vessel for it’s own ends. Words poured from her before she could plan them.

“So… selfless, aren’t you love,” something inside of her mused through her voice, “at least in your sermons. But I’m afraid you preach gold candle sticks to your flock until they are glistening at your elbows meanwhile your poorest sheep live ration to ration.” Another pensive drag on her cigarette as she stared at the wall across from her. Before her, Harmonia sniffled and begged, but still she ignored her. Why? Why not face that suffering head on? Was that not what she wanted? Suffering and fear to its extreme? The memory of Harmonia’s so recent screaming turned her stomach and threatened to expel her day’s meals and she could not, for the life of her figure out why that was.

I must not have the stomach for this she thought. She would have to get someone else to do this part next time. Screaming and blood… really wasn’t her scene it turned out. Once she climbed high enough, however… she wouldn’t have to get all of this dirt under her nails. That being said, there was something to be said for hand raising pups...

“The only way for me to survive at this point is to succeed.” she let the statement hang between them for a long moment before she rose again, kicking things out of the way as she made her way back over to the box, pulling out the first aid kit. Why had she even packed this away? Was an infection really so bad? Harmonia was no good without her hands, she supposed, and if infection set in and she lost them well… that was good enough reason for her. Hopeite returned to Harmonia and knelt behind her, gently dabbing at the wound with alcohol.

“Do you think I like hurting you, Harmonia? I don’t. I don’t want to be a monster. I’d like to be your friend again. But I need you to work with me, darling. Do you know what that means? Do you know what I need from you?”

---

The sound of steel hitting the floor caused Harmonia to jump as much as one could when restrained so tightly to a chair. Her heart pounded against her ribcage as eyes stared at the tool laying innocently on the ground not far from the heaps of blue and pink curls that Hopeite had thrown away with as much care. Her scalp still tingled from the abuse of the tug, but with the blade no longer being gripped in Hopeite’s hand as if waiting to find purchase elsewhere, Harmonia could finally feel the weight, or lack there of, from her head. It felt gone. All of it. Only the light kiss of strands near her chin gave her any indication that there was anything left. She couldn’t remember a time she’d ever had short hair. It was like a security blanket she hadn’t been aware of was ripped from her very hands.

The words Hopeite said were barely registered as Harmonia stared at her discarded hair and mentally grappled with the loss. It was silly. Hair would grow back. There was far worse that could have been done but it scared her. It was if an adult told a child that the monsters under the bed could still get you even if you hid under your blankets. That measure of security was now gone.

“No.” She said, snapping back and catching Hopeite’s confirmation about succeeding. “No. There’s other ways. Please.” Hopeite didn’t seem to care nor listen as she wound behind Harmonia to begin tending to her bitten wrists. The pain had become such a norm to her that she barely noticed it much but the alcohol exacerbated the wounds and the teen hissed between clenched teeth at the sudden touch of it. A little warning would have been nice, but what could she expect at this point?

NO. I won’t turn against her. I know there’s a goodness in there. But it wa shard. Hard not to hide that fear that was being bred within her at the sight of small agent.

“I know what it means.” She said softly through a sniffle. “But I am not doing it. I am not going to let you turn me into some sort of pawn. I can’t. You can’t. You’re too good of a person, you just keep burying yourself under what is expected of you as an agent, but if you just give that up, we don’t have to do any of this.”

A hard, painful resolve washed over Harmonia and she looked down at her lap, sniffling once again to stop any remaining tears. “You’ll have to be a monster if what you really want is for me to become some sort of...of turncoat.” She bit her lip. “There’s only one way we can be friends and I know that’s what you want instead.”

--

Honestly, Hopeite was getting tired of hearing this same damn thing over and over. When Harmonia started in on that schtick, Hopeite nearly heard her own eyes rolling. Not only was it unoriginal, it was just so… phony. All Harmonia wanted was gold candlestick afterall. And at the expense of the flock. At Hopeite’s expense. God damn, this kid was going to get her killed, and it was too late now to just let her go and try again with someone else. Oh who was she kidding? There was no one else. Harmonia was the only option that she had. From the very first moment. They had met, Hopeite knew that it was going to be her. That unshakeable faith in the goodness of people. That naivete that kept that belief alive. There was a silver light around her that Hopeite wanted to extinguish, and there would be no rest until she did. Creating a protean race of not-corrupts was just a side-benefit.

Hopeite scrubbed her eyes, ignoring how the action smudged her makeup and gave her dark rings around her eyes.

“You are exactly as I said you were. A preacher who would sell her flock to the devil for a ha’penny. Not willing to get any dirt under her perfectly manicured fingernails to protect a friend who needs her.” Hopeite let the silence stretch out between them and watching Harmonia with drooping, sleepy eyes.

“Listen kiddo, just give me something. Something to report on. Something small, they’ll never miss it. Something… harmless that I can give the higher ups to get them off my d**k, you know?” Hopeite took another long drag on her cigarette and held onto the smoke for a long time, considering the flavor of the nicotine as she watched Harmonia.
‘
“No… no I don’t suppose you will give me even a little bit of information, would you,” she sighed through her exhalation. “You’re too blinded by idealism and baseless faith aren’t you…” She picked up Harmonia’s tea and took a long sip.

“Alright, let’s have it your way. What is your brilliant plan to get me out of the s**t storm that I cooked up for myself?”

---

Harmonia looked at Hopeite with an expression as equally weary, if not more so. She was beat, physically and emotionally, but the Eternal clung onto the hope that something would change. Either someone would somehow find her or, by some miracle she managed to convince Hopeite to let her go. The latter was looking more and more unlikely of the two situations. And the first well….how long had she been here? How long had she been subjected to Hopeite’s whims and her daily energy drains? Harmonia had no idea with the lack of windows in the warehouse. If she was right in assuming that Hopeite visited every day then it had been well over a month. In fact, Hopeite had even gone to the trouble of ‘celebrating’ thanksgiving with her. Like Harmonia had something to give thanks about at that moment in time.

It had to be nearing Christmas. Right? Or perhaps she was just completely thrown off.

“I am not going to change myself just so you can get what you want out of me. I am refuse to betray my comrades and friends. So you’re right. I won’t tell you anything.” Harmonia knew she was dealing herself a short deck. There were only two ways this could go for her at this point, or at least two ways that she could see. Either Hopeite would become the monster she claimed she didn’t want to be or she’d take a chance on what Harmonia had to offer.

She sat on the fence. Harmonia wasn’t a gambler and trying to read her cards was near impossible, but it seemed that something of a good hand had been dealt to her. Hopeite sucked carelessly at the tea she had brought for Harmonia who felt an instant regret that she hadn’t sucked down more of the liquid when it was offered to her. Licking her lips Harmonia blinked as she looked at Hopeite for a moment in her stunned silence before she practically leapt onto the topic like a hungry wild cat.

“Purify.” She said bluntly. “If you want it enough. If you want out of this like I think you do deep down you can leave the negaverse and not have to worry about them hunting you down again as Hopeite. You can start fresh and new and make new friends who won’t hurt you or report you to people or get you into trouble. We can still be friends and do everything like we used to do, just on the same side.” She leaned forward against her restraints as if trying to urge Hopeite to listen as intently as possible. “People who purify get new identities and all. No one from the negaverse would be able to recognize you or find you. You’d be free of their grasp. You wouldn’t have to hurt people anymore if you don’t want to.”

Harmonia chanced a weary smile. “We can have so much fun and really get to know one another without any restraints or worries that we’d be caught. Do you want that? Or would you rather be stuck under someone’s command who’d rather punish you for something you can’t fully control?”

Bored. Bored. Bored bored bored bored. Harmonia was so boring. Her mother had been right all along, it would seem. The thrill always was in the hunt, and never in the capture. Hopeite planted her stockinged foot square in Harmonia’s chest as she finished speaking and shoved her back against her chair, nearly toppling the whole thing backwards. Behind her, Hopeite could feel the cat’s eyes on her. Did Harmonia forget that they weren’t alone right now?

“Can you give us a moment,” Hopeite sighed, rising from her chair and making her way to the door to let the cat out. The creature lingered by the door for a long moment before finally leaving, tossing a warning over her shoulder as she left.

“See to it that I have nothing to report.”

Hopeite scoffed and slammed the door behind her. Outside of the door she heard a surprised sound from the cat but she couldn’t bring herself to care. Instead she padded calmly over to Harmonia and bent herself double to meet her eyes. She stood silent and still for a long moment before she stood and moved so suddenly that she hadn’t even known that she had done anything until she felt the stinging in her hand, even through the glove.

“You are just dead set on getting me killed, aren’t you,” she hissed as she fixed her glove on her hand. “Talking like that in front of an established guardian cat. One who, by the way, is bonded to an influential Captain. You think she won’t talk to them? All I need is another report filed on my a**.” Her body reacted on it own again, her arm shooting out to grab what was left of her hair. Hopeite yanked forward, lifting the back legs of the chair up. With Harmonia now dangling from Hopeite’s fist by a healthy chunk of hair, she leaned down to whisper into Harmonia’s ear.

“This is what I meant by golden candlesticks, Harmonia. You want things that are pretty and nice and you don’t care what happens to the people that you want them from. You want me to purify but then what? I get a new identity, you say, but what else? What about my credit as the woman that I am now? My bookstore? My mortgage? My mother? My dog?” As Hopeite spoke, she could feel the anger bubbling up inside of her. She said it at first to hurt Harmonia but… the more she spoke the more truth she saw in her own words. “You want me to purify, but what will you do when I do? Tell mommy and daddy that you picked up a nice homeless lady? Forge my new birth certificate and social security card? Set me up in a nice little cottage in the country where you can come and visit and we can have tea and cakes?” Rage took hold of her body for a third time and she tossed the chair aside, and it and the girl tied to it fell with a sudden, clambering sound. Hopeite turned away from the sight and the sudden twisted feeling in her stomach.

“I will not be the first notch in your bedpost Harmonia.”

---

It stung. In more ways than one.

It was likely that the Lieutenant had left an angry red mark upon her pale cheek. It certainly felt like it with each each beat of her heart as the skin throbbed in a painful reminder that was likely not to settle too quickly. But it was the hit to her goodwill. Her intent to help and make right, that hurt the most because Hopeite pointed out a terrible flaw in her attempts. With someone else listening, especially a guardian cat, there was the very good possibility that word of what was spoken about here would get around.

How could she do that?

Tears flanked the hit, but not from the stringing pain. “I didn’t mean to…” A hand reached out and grabbed her hair, lifting Harmonia and chair forward. A yell of surprise escaped the white moon senshi as all her weight and the chair was put onto her poor scalp which screamed at it’s abuse. Bitter words were thrown at her. Words that rang with truth. Harmonia didn’t know the specifics of things. How were people reintroduced to society with their new identities? What did happen to all of those people and things that were so much loved and the result of hard work? What about all of that?

It has to be better than living each day in fear or having higher commanders threatening you. That was her reasoning. Her resolve. What burned inside of her along with her genuine worry for Hopeite herself. “We can figure it out. There’s been other who have done it. There has to be a system in…”

She went flying. The pure shock of hitting the floor, unable to brace herself, hurt as her shoulder and head hit against the cement floor with more force than she liked. She cried out her surprise, fear and sudden shooting pain as it blossomed up and around the joint of the shoulder that took the initial shock. Her head, now also aching from the impact caused her vision swim for a moment. A splitting headache was quick to join the sharp pain on her shoulder. One damn throw. A single throw and with her inability to brace or even attempt to prepare for the impact, Hopeite had quite likely done some damage. Damage that would heal, sure, but how well was to be questioned considering the circumstances.

Taking a few deep breaths, Harmonia attempted to temper the throbbing and sharp spikes of pain that were emitting from the two points of main contact with the floor. Finally, eyes winced, she was able form words. “After….after everything we’ve done together and all I’ve said, do you really think I want to get you killed?” She paused a moment as she tried to shift herself to look up at Hopeite but only managed to wrench her injured shoulder. Instead she opted to just stare off in front of her. The dust coating the cement floor danced further away from her with each exhale of breath she made.

A sneeze wracked her as some of that dust found purchase in her nose.

Harmonia hit the ground and Hopeite heard the sound of her body’s reaction from her position across the room. Fear traced over her features as the sound of complaining joints registered in her mind. Without thinking, Hopeite crossed the room with quickness that she could not control and reached out to right the chair. She paused momentarily as she always did in these moments, in shock over her own sudden and unexpected movements. The lingering question settled over her nerve like a haircoat, itching and scratching painfully until she was forced to answer a question that no one had asked. Cruelty of this caliber was… uncouth. She was unused to it, thought she knew it was a necessary aspect of what she wanted. To building a strong structure, the foundation had to be shattered at first but… She longed for control, and yet she lost it when she felt herself growing angry… this would not do. She needed more control. She needed… she needed any control over herself, this was embarrassing.

She hoisted Harmonia up by the bulk of her core and set her back to a proper sitting position. She had no ice for the injury, and so she had no choice but to allow Harmonia’s shoulder to swell and ache unchecked. She did, however, check her head for any obvious lumps. A concussion would be… less than ideal. Head injuries could be tricky and would result in permanent damage if not taken seriously. Slowly, Hopeite trailed her finger in front of Harmonia’s eyes, watching for the way she tracked the motion.

“Alright honey, sorry about that. I really need to get that temper under control. I’m going to make a terrible general if I keep that up, aren’t I?”

She brushed the dust and hair from Harmonia’s fuku with gentle hands, trying not to jostle the injured arm any more than she had already done. The screaming would only curdle her stomach again and that was not something that she wanted to deal with.

“Can you tell me your name and your sphere, sweetheart?” Hopeite’s voice was smooth, despite the confusion and lingering nausea that swirled around her brain.

---

Hopeite was near again, and Harmonia unconsciously flinched when the woman reached down. Instead of another blow she felt herself being righted again. A wave of dizziness came over her at the sudden change and her shoulder protesting the movement, but it passed quickly enough.

Hopeite began trailing a finger in front of her eyes, and Harmonia watched it for a moment before turning her gaze at the woman. What is she doing? An apology was made, an admittance to a temper that tended to be unchecked, and suddenly she was being cleaned up and asked her name and sphere.

It clicked.

“I didn’t hit my head that hard. I just have a headache now.” She sighed. “But I am Harmonia of Harmony.” She knew all too well the painful loss of memories. THe knock to her head hadn’t been that severe, just painful.

As Hopeite fussed over herHarmonia couldn’t help but break the silence. “You were worried.” She said bluntly. “Otherwise you would have left me there on the ground.” A knowing smile crossed her face as she continued to watch the lieutenant. “It’s ok. It means you have a conscious and care about people. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

---

Hopeite stopped in her adjusting and watched Harmonia carefully. Maybe she was right. Maybe there was something inside of her that still cared… Hopeite didn’t give the thought time to roost. As quickly as it lighted upon her mind, she shooed it away, turning from the senshi and letting the cat back in. The guardian looked at Harmonia for a moment and then back at Hopeite before muttering, “something to prove, Lieutenant?” Hopeite only scoffed and returned to her position before Harmonia and considered her again for several long, silent seconds.

“Perhaps,” she acquiesced softly, a small smile playing on her lips. “Your insufferable goodness might be catching. Maybe it appeals to the last vestiges of humanity left within me. Maybe that’s why I picked you up. Maybe that’s why brutality seems to turn my stomach. The last piece of me that is human…” Hopeite turned away again, considering this new revelation. Well that would answer some questions. And set her mind at ease quite a bit. So it wasn’t affection for the girl at all, nor was it weakness. Well it was, of a sort, but not weakness that was totally her fault. It was a weakness of the condition which was foisted upon her as opposed to a weakness of her own character. No… the weakness would be, ultimately, not circumnavigating the weakness of her humanity.

“Thank you, Harmonia,” she cooed, leaning down to collect her shoes. “This has been an… enlightening visit.”