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"Riley," Roch said quietly. "I keep glancin' in, but... well, I don't know what I could do for her even if I did go in," he went on, running a hand over his face. "I swore she had my guitar for the rest of school, and the first time she was in danger afterwards, I wasn't even there." The guilt seemed to run off of the boil for a moment before he let out a sigh. "No, I was tryin' to save Xiu like half the rest of the school. Man, that hunter run in... I learned a few things."

He looked at Mot, a tug on the corner of his lips. "There are people in this school that everyone focuses on--hell, Riley's one of them, to be honest. And then there's people in this school that no one seems to notice at all."

"But what about the afterwards?" Roch said quietly. "I ran into Sparrow, sparred with him, kicked his a**, but he was crackin' up, Bandit. That was the first time something like that had ever happened to him. And I realized that it was probably the first time for a couple of them. I went to check on Chuppi, man. Because she's so tiny and... emotionally fragile, I guess. She was locked up in her room. It was a pig sty, or a slaughter house might be a better term for it. She was a pain in the a** to coax out of the CORNER, Bandit."

That didn't seem to be the end of it, since he took another drink of water. "Then I went to check on Lark. She was new, man. She was jackin' TERRIFIED that her familiar would come out messed up or warped because he disappeared on her in the battle. She only knew me, Savior--who's only partially there--and talked to Levi once. Oh, and had a class with Xiu. She was hiding under her covers."

He was staring forward blindly. "I checked on others, too. Amrita, when she came back from the field trip she was stuck lying on her floor for three days cuz of her body being so messed up. She wasn't as bad off this time, but--"

"Jack, man," Roch said. "Sure the first time I actually dissipated was when I came to school, that I remember, but I almost kicked the bucket a million times according to my old man. I overate to the point I was jackin' gonna explode from too much FEAR. But really... 'that's life'?" he repeated scornfully.

"Maybe for guys like me that's life, but little ghouls? Raised by loving parents? Sure the parents might be dicks or might expect too much, or all that s**t, but that is NOT life for them. They came here expectin' to learn how to be good, scarin' Halloween citizens, NOT killed off by jackin' humans that were only supposed to be myth!"

Yes, Roch was cracking up. But he did have a point.

"There's got... there's got to be something we can do in the meantime," Roch said, running a hand over his face. "We fight when we gotta, but there's going to be time between attacks. The horsemen bought us some for now. Maybe if there was some sort of list, or system, or just--just some way to make sure no one is forgotten afterwards. There's people like me and Hel, ones that can keep going after dying over and over again, and CAN help others after s**t like this happens. We need to KNOW who needs us to coax them out of their rooms, who needs us to help them recover. Because there might be a handful of students right now that are secretly hiding how jackin' terrified they are, and we don't have a clue."

Then he looked at Mot, a serious expression in his silver eyes. "I don't know how long I'll be here, man. The boogies know where I am, they know all the s**t I've done, or supposedly done, or might have done, and me, man, I'll slip up any moment I'm sure. They're USELESS against the hunters, but against me? I'm sure they'll be jumpin' the fence to get me stuck in juvie. Where I won't be able to do jack for the fighting OR for the other students."

Roch looked at him. "This is the first day I've actually BEEN in my room since it happened, man. I just told you, I'm doin' what I can. But you're right about the community thing..."

He dug out his eyephone, bringing up groanspring. He typed on the screen for a brief second, then pushed send. "There," he said. "We'll see if that does anything."

"Dude... I just TOLD you, I only have so much time," Roch said in frustration. "They're practically campin' on our doorstep, and I want at least a few of my pals to be free from bein' locked up in their rooms just like the others were locked up in the cages on the trip. I took today off, or did you just forget how you complained about me being stuck in here and doin' nothing but whining and bitching?"

He let out a laugh. "This conversation's goin' nowhere, and venting doesn't feel as good as bellowing at the top of my lungs or even practicing my FEAR for the next fight."

Yes, there really WAS a reason for the punk who specialized in playing the guitar instead of singing, to have a soundproof booth. Why knew?

"I was thinkin' of going into town and working on my mural, later," Roch said. "It's comin' out good so far!" This kid... seriously...

"I was workin' on it before the s**t hit the fan," Roch said with a shrug. "It's relaxing, y'know, spray painting. It's an art form!" He sighed and headed to the couch, dropping down heavily. "Man, I don't know what to do. I only got so much time, and there's so much I want to get done, it's like--"

He hadn't slept much. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he slept. Sure his granddad healing him had given him some energy, but he was running down. Wait... Mot hadn't come for all this stuff, he'd come to tell him about him and Hel.

"Forget it, man," Roch said, abruptly. "You and Hel, I'm happy for you. I'm seriously happy for you. Now go spend time with your ghoul already."