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Jada had added a new ritual to her day, and that ritual had been to go see Audrey. Her free exercise time was often spent staring in a window, seeing Audrey's room full to overflowing with all of the people who loved her. Jada stood outside it all much of the time, out of respect for the others; If anyone could get her to say it, it would come out that in part it was because inside the room she was struck with the terrifying reality that this could be her friend's deathbed. Another friend, stolen away by inexplicable violence. Another friend, this time someone she would happily take a bullet for without hesitation. Not a token friend, but a true friend.

This place did not share the feeling of the coma ward where Jada had been comfortable and at peace, no, Audrey was surrounded by strangers, and Jada didn't fit in along with them. Still, she got her moments alone with her, though they were precious and few. It was in those moments that she lowered her voice even more, and whispered to Audrey. All the little things in her life. All the things Audrey missed during the day, telling her about lunch and her classes. Jada knew she wasn't the only one. How could she be?

Audrey had told her once that she loved Daisies. So while the room was filled with roses and mini bouquets from friends, Jada had chosen daisies. They almost lined the walls, on every available surface, and still nobody had told her to stop sending them, but she had. As each group died, another replaced it, so that when Audrey woke up, she would wake up to something beautiful. With their luck, Audrey would wake up in one of those rare moments that someone was outside, and think she'd been left alone, or forgotten, or...

Ah, well.

Today, she tossed her bag down in a chair and sat down on the edge of her friend's bed, opposite the blonde who never left her side, kicking off her high heels. "Good afternoon." she said to both of them, and got the silence she was expecting as response to her chipperness. "I've got a story to tell you today, Audrey." She cleared her throat, eying the door to see if anyone else was going to come in. When no one did, she started her tale.

= = =

Once upon a time there lived in a certain village a little country girl, the prettiest creature who was ever seen. Her mother was excessively fond of her; and her grandmother doted on her still more. This good woman had a little red riding hood made for her. It suited the girl so extremely well that everybody called her Little Red Riding Hood. One day her mother, having made some cakes, said to her, "Go, my dear, and see how your grandmother is doing, for I hear she has been very ill. Take her a cake, and this little pot of butter." Little Red Riding Hood set out immediately to go to her grandmother, who lived in another village.

]As she was going through the wood, she met with a wolf, who had a very great mind to eat her up, but he dared not, because of some woodcutters working nearby in the forest. He asked her where she was going. The poor child, who did not know that it was dangerous to stay and talk to a wolf, said to him, "I am going to see my grandmother and carry her a cake and a little pot of butter from my mother."

"Does she live far off?" asked the wolf.

"Oh I say," answered Little Red Riding Hood; "it is beyond that mill you see there, at the first house in the village."

"Well," said the wolf, "and I'll go and see her too. I'll go this way and go you that, and we shall see who will be there first." The wolf ran as fast as he could, taking the shortest path, and the little girl took a roundabout way, entertaining herself by gathering nuts, running after butterflies, and gathering bouquets of little flowers. It was not long before the wolf arrived at the old woman's house. He knocked at the door: tap, tap.

"Who's there?"

"Your grandchild, Little Red Riding Hood," replied the wolf, counterfeiting her voice; "who has brought you a cake and a little pot of butter sent you by mother."

The good grandmother, who was in bed, because she was somewhat ill, cried out, "Pull the bobbin, and the latch will go up." The wolf pulled the bobbin, and the door opened, and then he immediately fell upon the good woman and ate her up in a moment, for it been more than three days since he had eaten. He then shut the door and got into the grandmother's bed, expecting Little Red Riding Hood, who came some time afterwards and knocked at the door: tap, tap.

"Who's there?"

Little Red Riding Hood, hearing the big voice of the wolf, was at first afraid; but believing her grandmother had a cold and was hoarse, answered, "It is your grandchild Little Red Riding Hood, who has brought you a cake and a little pot of butter mother sends you."

The wolf cried out to her, softening his voice as much as he could, "Pull the bobbin, and the latch will go up." Little Red Riding Hood pulled the bobbin, and the door opened.

The wolf, seeing her come in, said to her, hiding himself under the bedclothes, "Put the cake and the little pot of butter upon the stool, and come get into bed with me."

Little Red Riding Hood took off her clothes and got into bed. She was greatly amazed to see how her grandmother looked in her nightclothes, and said to her, "Grandmother, what big arms you have!"

"All the better to hug you with, my dear."

"Grandmother, what big legs you have!"

"All the better to run with, my child."

"Grandmother, what big ears you have!"

"All the better to hear with, my child."

"Grandmother, what big eyes you have!"

"All the better to see with, my child."

"Grandmother, what big teeth you have got!"

"All the better to eat you up with."

And, saying these words, this wicked wolf fell upon Little Red Riding Hood, and ate her all up.

= = =

As Jada finished her terribly morbid story, she took a sip from her water bottle. “There is a moral to this story, Audrey, for all that I am probably giving you nightmares. If you really need to know why I felt like telling you the story of Red Riding Hood, you can ask me when you wake up.” The question was if by the time Audrey woke up, Jada would be able to tell her. Things were happening in her life that scared her, and sometimes Jada... well. "I hope it is soon, for everyone's sake." The heiress leaned over to the chair, pulling something out of her bag. It was a gold gilt frame, with a picture inside. Three people were in the image, and it was one of the last truly good memories Jada could claim to have had, even with all the drama surrounding it. In the picture, three young women were captured, each of them on the brink of womanhood. Fallon Novette-Naim was on the left, Jada Chamberlyn on the right, and in the middle, sticking her tongue out at the camera, was a laughing Audrey Collins. Nowhere in their faces was the strain of the night before, or of the fact that Szelem had been in fierce form as an outfit-stealing woman, or that Fallon and Jada's parents were going to be contemplating divorce- that Jada's parents would do it. It was just...

She leaned down, brushing her lips across Audrey's forehead. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said, and no one in the room was really sure who she was talking to.

Next to Audrey's bed, three girls smiled out into the stillness.

It had been a long night, and a tiring day for Sailor Scylla, and probably also for her companion, another scout from the Blood Moon. The two of them had met up after 'bedtime,' around 10:00 in the evening, and were going out on patrol together. The two had never patrolled together before, but it was the idea that everyone got at least some familiarity with everyone else as a teammate, and the Lone Wolf attitude got Scylla-- and Jada-- way too many anger-faces from Sailor Ares- and Fallon. Not even a week before, the capture of several Negaverse agents had led to garnering far too much attention from the enemy, and they had all been forced to double up, even more encouragement than usual. After all, if they had been able to take a General and several others in one night, the enemy could surely take a single Eternal, and revenge would not be sweet for the person captured alone.

The Cadet and Scylla had agreed that they would walk slightly apart to hopefully draw out any enemy, one keeping an eye on the other close enough that they could hear each other cry out. Each had taken turns following the other, and currently Scylla was following the other senshi. The girl was up ahead, walking at her own pace, and Scylla was moving loosely through the shadows. Any fool of a Negaverser was able to sense the power of an Eternal, but considering that Scylla didn't always think of it, who knew if they would?

The Senshi of the Kraken caught herself yawning. After all, it was almost midnight and she'd been up since 6am almost every morning. She hadn't even gotten her last two Sunday morning sleep-ins, either. She didn't call out to her companion, to try and switch position- it was her job, as the one in the back, to not only try and watch the other senshi's back, but keep a loose eye on her own, still... she was flagging, and she was worried about the effects that it was going to have on the last bit of patrol. Her heels clicked almost hypnotically, and she yawned again, stretching out her fingers and twirling in a small circle to glance at the rooftops behind them.

Keep an eye on everything, she reminded herself. Architecture can be a weapon. Taranis had taught her that in a one-night session at the Castor Boot Camp, and Scylla tried to remember all the little details she could.

Step by step, little by little, the two made their way up one street, and onto another. Too late Scylla felt it, too late she felt the tingle up her spine and the presence of darkness. She burst into movement, dropping all pretense at stealthiness and moved around the corner, hands already raised to attack. Her companion was ducking out of the way of a Captain, a larger, burlier woman. She hit the smaller girl across the face, and the senshi punched at her in return. Too close, they were too close together for her to use her power. She was afraid of it. Scylla had been whispering to her again, when she slept, showing her pictures of what they were doing, trying to tell her it was okay, it was right, but it wasn't.

Scylla could remember the distinctive snap of the Captain's neck, the one who had tried to take her starseed. The one Ares had killed, whose body had lay motionless next to her as she screamed in pain, in Elysion. She could remember the bloody faces, the broken noses, the bleeding bodies that her companions had left behind. She could remember the broken look in Wolframite's eyes, when she'd gone back to see him again, just two days ago, to hear him calling out for a dog, whistling air soundlessly through chapped lips. The Lieutenants were the next best thing to dead, and Dioptase wasn't much prettier. She hadn't gone to see Uranophane, and she'd avoided Tanzanite as much as possible.

Tanzanite. The only one of them who deserved-- maybe-- what she was getting. No, no maybe there. Tanzanite needed to suffer, but they were not the ones who should dole out this punishment.

As her body was frozen, staring at the scene in front of her, she heard the other senshi start to scream, and looked up, startled. No! The Captain had her brown-clad hand in the other senshi's chest and was pulling. Slowly. Was she enjoying it? Had she just never done this before and was unsure?

Scylla didn't give the Negaverser time to think. Didn't dare to think about her own actions. Her body moved, just as Ares must have moved.

There was family of blood, and then there was the family you chose. Scylla wasn't going to sit back and allow her sister to die, any more than she'd allow anyone else to die in front of her. The point of her continuing this farce of being a senshi, the point of her going through the pain and the agony of it all, the point of her not running away, was so that she could save the lives that she was given the opportunity to. It was why she didn't risk civilians, even for the cause. It was why she was in the hospital so often with bruises and cuts she could not, would not explain. It was why she lied to her family, and why she had lost Zora as her trusted best friend. It was why Lucas had been moved away from her, back to New York with their father. Why her mother was back in her life, her poison eyes on Jada at every moment.

Jada was losing her life to being a senshi. She was losing herself to Scylla, and the memories of Andromache's life that fed on her in her dreams and every time she went to the asteroid. She had given herself to the Blood Moon, and strived to meet their ideals. Perfection in everything. It had been her motto for too long. What would Jada say about what was going on? Scylla dealt with it in silent obedience, taking everything and trying to play within the rules of the game. But Jada? What would she have to say about this?

She heard screaming, registered it even as she reached the Captain and grabbed a hold of the long blonde hair. She jerked her back, away from the other senshi, heard the screaming continue. There was no glow in the Captain's hands as she cried out, and the other senshi finally collapsed toward the ground with a low, pitiful groan. The Negaverser struck out at Scylla, terror in her eyes, a terror which Scylla saw, contemplated, disregarded.

The Senshi of the Kraken's ungloved hand struck out once, twice, smashing into the blonde-haired Nega's face. Pale pink eyes widened, blood spurting from her nose and she caught the Scylla in the gut with a right hook. Her weapon shot out, and Scylla felt the graze of metal along the skin of her leg, before she had the blonde b***h on the ground, and they were wrestling. The senshi of the Kraken moved without thinking, her self-defense courses turned offensive, finding a way to pin her, ignoring hands in her hair, teeth in her arm. She was bleeding into the Negaverser's mouth, and with her other hand she punched her until she felt the bone shatter, the teeth let go. She lifted the blonde's shoulders off the ground, smashed her head back down into it, fury suffusing her.

Fingers tight on her arms loosened, and Scylla sagged as they fell, and the Negaverser stopped fighting.

She pushed to her feet, leaving the other girl unconscious behind her, and saw her companion staring at her, something close to hero-worship in her gaze. It made Scylla sick, and in her upper arm was the imprint of teeth, blood running down her flesh. She turned to look at the brown-and-green Negaverser behind her, and was sickened when her gaze met first the sight of bloodstained chickie slippers.

No, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no...

Blonde hair that had been curled and bouncy was straigter, and a face that had been radiant with life was grey, a pool of blood expanding outward. Scylla made a small noise, the wave of relief that bubbled in her was tramped down viciously by the wave of horror from the deepest part of her, overwhelming her. She knew her. She'd gone to school with this girl.

If you kill me, she'd told Wolframite, you won't see anything but a girl. Christ forgive her, it worked both ways, and now two senshi were standing damningly close to the bloody corpse of a human girl. “S-S-Scylla.” the cadet touched her arm, shrinking back from the other girl as the purple eyes turned on her. “Thank you.”

Thank you. Two simple words, to repay the taking of a life? What had taken over her? What had... she could have stopped. She could have...

There was another way, right?

The wail bubbled up in her, soundlessly. Wordlessly, and Scylla pushed Jada down, reaching out to take the cadet's arm. “Let's go report in to Gunn.” she said calmly, and Jada Chamberlyn was left bleeding to death next to the corpse of the child she'd murdered.