Welcome to Gaia! ::

He might have been speaking to air for all that his words affected the girl in his arms. Lina's mind was a black hole now, sucking in every thought that wasn't centered on the fact that Tanzanite was dead, and Castor could have stopped it. The queen could have stopped it. But she didn't. Why didn't she? Weren't they the good guys? The ones trying to make a difference?

When Castor pledged to never let anything happen to her, the tears finally fell and she laughed, oh so bitterly. "What can you do, Castor? She can call me at any time, did you know that? She could crook a finger, and pull me from your arms. He could too." There was no question as to who he was. It was obvious. "Tanzanite, she was strong. Strong, beautiful, capable. And what am I doing? Cuddling up to a senshi!"

Revulsion for herself, and only herself, was evident in her voice. If he heard it, she didn't know, nor did she care. Forgetting to drop the penguin, she simply held it against herself and ripped out of the Senshi of Hail's comforting embrace.

"I...I have to go. I have to find out what happened. What's going to happen now." Without even saying anything, nor stopping, she simply turned and ran as hard as she could. It didn't matter where, all that mattered was that she got away from him. Somewhere quiet. Somewhere alone.

Home could always be found later.

Being grabbed and having a tongue rammed down your throat when you were in the middle of an existential crisis was not even remotely something Lina had ever considered happening to her. What was he doing? Why couldn't he see that she just needed to be let go, that she'd come back when everything was settled?

Why was this happening?

As tears tracked salty lines down to meet at their lips, the girl did the only thing she knew how to do. She fought. One arm curled at her side, and without warning, her fist rammed into his solar plexus as hard as it could. She didn't even stop to see if he crumpled, she simply continued to run. Harder and faster now, so that she couldn't be caught.

When she'd hoped that some god somewhere would take pity on them, she'd been foolish. Whatever gods there were in the cosmos, they were laughing now. It echoed in her ears as she vanished into the night, clinging to a stupid plush toy like there was nothing else left.

It was all she could do now as finally, with dawn peeking through the grey sky, Audrey Collins curled up in her bed and wept for the loss of a good friend and perhaps even a lost love.