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The darkness and nothingness had been almost blissful. Peaceful. Sure she was alone but she had been alone for weeks now. She could deal with it a bit longer right? She could....deal with it forever...right? At this point Mitsu was certain she didn't have any other options, her fate was certain. This was where she was going to spend eternity, alone with only her memories to comfort her.

A sudden noise caught her attention but where it was in the void was hard to say. It sounded like it was coming from all directions. Turning her head she tried to follow it as it continued. It felt like it was getting closer, louder. Should she be worried about the noise? She was already dead wasn't she? So why did the noise make her so anxious?

Her breathing quickened as the now obvious alarm grew closer, more urgent until it was all but screaming and wailing in her ears. There was no where to run from it, no where to escape and finally...

She simply awoke. Her eyes snapped open wide, the whites bloodshot and nearly as red as her irises. As her consciousness settled in so did the pain, fresh and raw and instantly she tensed, her neck and spine craning back from the pain lifting her off the table. She couldn't see the damage but she could feel it and she only hoped it wasn't as bad as it felt.

But her arms felt like they were....free? As she had moved tensing in pain she realized her wrists were free to move but her arms felt so heavy and useless like the muscle wasn't attached to the bone. Her head free to move now she tilted it over to look and she realized...it was exactly as it felt. Her arms were fairly mangled, sliced open with bits of muscle just laying there or gone all together. They were taking her apart piece by piece like a dissecting science experiment. The horror of the realization made her want to scream but as she opened her mouth to do so her mouth fell almost slack and to one side. Most of her jaw was missing and she couldn't hide the panic she felt.

Why had she been woken up? Did they just want to see the pain on her features? The fear? It was hard to hide, her eyes spilling tears down her cheeks frantically looking around for a tech to only spot someone else....Candace....

She wanted to run. She could run couldn't she? Mitsu had no idea her legs and torso were only slightly less damaged than the rest of her but the writhing agony was so even throughout nothing gained any more attention than anything else.

HP: 31

Searing pain, that was Mitsu's entire world at that moment and the longer she was there the worse off she realized she was. Her arms were something close to shredded, the skin peeled back to expose the muscle underneath. Her torso wasn't far from the same treatment, neat lines having been carved down her front like they had been ready to section her off and split her open like a frog during science class. Even along her sides there were holes where they had drilled for whatever reason, taking chunks for perhaps samples and leaving a gaping wound behind.

Closing her eyes again Mitsu wished she hadn't been awakened. If they were going to pull her apart couldn't they have just left her to her dark little void? The pain was so intense, she could barely think and focusing on anything outside of the blaring alarm and the scrambling techs was hard. So hard Mitsu missed the first few things Atropos said finally tuning in around 'trust me, okay?' Her eyes had opened painfully slow to stare at the golem, seething hate creeping in between all the pain.

No...Mitsu didn't trust her. She didn't trust any of them. How could she put her faith into people....humans that were capable of disassembling her like a doll for parts? Her eyes lifted and looked just slightly beyond Atropos to Candace, those large red eyes so full of pain and agony that the mere movement of shifting her gaze set a flash of fire across the tattered skin of what remained of her jaw and throat. The ability to speak wasn't there but Mitsu locked eyes with the Hunter and the message she conveyed was very clear. 'You lied to me.'

When she finally broke her gaze Mitsu shifted from the table, somewhat rolling off it onto the floor. She found her legs really couldn't hold her, the weight of her body and the movement of falling sending a new flash of pain through her that had her silently crying out. As much as her legs hurt, despite the cuts and bruises, the tears and missing skin, she forced herself to stand her slightly less damaged arm bracing herself against the table.

Her immediate thought was to look for a weapon, something to buy her some time but as her gaze shifted to the tray of tools the lab techs had been using her eyes settled on something else. The pendant! It must have still been in her hands when they brought her here and they had taken it from her while they were taking her apart. Forgetting the need to flee, forgetting the need for a weapon, forgetting everything else Mitsu grabbed for the only thing she cared about in this jack damn place and held it close like she meant to protect it with her life.

With one last glance toward Candace Mitsu stumbled away from the table weakly trying to push it toward the Hunter to help block her path. At first she had no idea where she would go, where she COULD go. But as soon as she turned the answer was there. Just beyond a hole in the wall there was the smell of fresh air, the glint of the sky beyond the horizon, and most of all freedom. There was pain, so much pain in every little movement of her body but if she could just...make it there.

HP: 27

She was almost afraid to look back and see if she was being followed. Honestly it felt like hundreds of years were passing but it was only seconds as she took one painful step after the other toward the hole in the wall. Mitsu could see techs barely out of the corners of her vision, frantically troubling over their machines trying to get them back into order but how long would that occupy them? Would it even keep Candace's attention?

Fear drove her and pain only helped slow her down. Her left leg finally buckled under the strain of moving sending her to the cold tile floor of the lab. She smacked down hard, blood splattering in a circle around her. The pendant was still tightly in her grasp though and she pulled it back toward herself clutching it in her damaged fingers making sure it was still with her. Even if she couldn't make it she wasn't going to let this go. She wasn't going to drop the gift that Shun had given her. They would have to dissipate her for it.

Her senses were overwhelmed at this point and all she could smell and taste was blood, sweet and metallic. All her aching body wanted to do was curl up on the floor and give up but in spite of herself her damaged arm dragged around and pulled her forward as if refusing to give in.

HP: 21

Before Mitsu had time to react to it a pair of dark arms with purple striping were picking her up and holding her, cradling her against their chest. Should the ghoul look up she'd find herself staring into a face full of sorrow and concern; dark purple eyes, purple marks across her cheeks, thick purple hair that fell around her face and a pair of sharp black horns. "I am so proud of you." She said quietly. Proud of what? She didn't explain. "Stay still, you need your strength. We'll take you back to Halloween, okay?" Atropos kept her voice as gentle as she could though she had a natural edge to it as it was.

"You can hold on to me if you like, but either way I'm okay with carrying you. You're uh...very light.." She tried to put that as delicately as possible, really.

Candace was there soon after, looking behind her with a frown. "Take her to the lighthouse portal."

"Yes, of course." Atropos forced a smile and stepped through the hole in the wall, cradling Mitsu protectively to her chest. "You'll be home soon. Hopefully they can heal you there. Candace is very upset, you know...please, I can understand why you would but please don't hate her. She wanted to bring you home safely without causing you any harm. This was all done behind her back.." Candace couldn't hear what Atropos was saying with how quiet she was. "She isn't as bad of a person as she makes herself out to be. She just gets...scared." Atropos couldn't look at Mitsu anymore. The sight of seeing her so mutilated was making her sick to her stomach. It was one thing to be used to fight the creatures of Halloween, it was another to see them disassembled in this way. She was so glad this hadn't been done to her. She'd gone the correct route...

The weapons golems experimentation was Mitsu's sole saving grace. Hunters barely gave Atropos or the werewolf hostage a passing look as they fled: by the time the techs had managed to apprehend Candace, her weapons golem was long gone.

There were few options now, but at least Mitsu would find freedom. Only two active portals, the rest was too easy.

She could finally go home.

Mitsu took short moments between sobs to breathe deep ragged breaths, coughing and sputtering from the blood running down her throat. Atropos was trying to sooth her, she had even tried to sing to her but that hopeless feeling had settled in deep. She was broken, incomplete, a piece of junk not worth anything more than to be taken apart. Scraps...that's what they had said. That word repeated in her head, the lab tech's indescribable face looming behind her eyelids.

She could feel Atropos stop and turn now and again but Mitsu didn't bother to look up and see why. Her head just kept falling further and further back, her eyes closed as she tried to focus on something other than the blistering pain that throbbed to life with every step. When she was finally set down Mitsu opened her eyes, eyebrows knitted as she regarded Atropos. She couldn't understand this ghoul and her need to stay behind...or maybe she could. There was love and devotion there, the same love and devotion that wanted to see Mitsu home despite how battered and messed up she was right now.

Holding up her hand Mitsu opened her fist lightly to show Atropos the pendant. She still could not speak but it was her way of showing her she had someone she cared about and loved too. Someone who was her everything and she had probably hurt him badly by being here.

As Atropos' hand cupped her undamaged cheek Mitsu closed her fist around the pendant again, leaning into the affection. She wasn't sure if she could feel sorry or horrible for the woman who had brought her here but a part of her couldn't disbelieve what Atropos was saying. Candace had treated her fairly well despite her constant attempts to attack and escape. It had never come up that this could have been an alternative...if it had Mitsu sadly might have been more inclined to agree to weaponizing...especially now that she knew..knew what the people in the lab were capable of.

And then came the real question. Could she walk? Certainly not on her own....if she got to a portal. If she managed to get home...how would she make it to where she needed to be? Staring up weakly at the hands offered to her Mitsu made an attempt to raise her arms, the pain evident on her face. She managed to take hold of Atropos' hands but her legs would not lift her, they could barely shift underneath her to bare her weight sitting down. After a moment Mitsu shook her head, pleading eyes looking up toward the set of deep purple ones. As she was now Mitsu knew she couldn't make it, there would be no hope, and healing....she would never look the same.

At the proposal of an idea Mitsu stared at Atropos expectantly but her solution to the problem had her eyes growing wide. Dissipate her... She was so far away would she reform where she needed to? Would she reform at all? Her body was so damaged her mind even more so.

Fear gripped her but she held tightly to the ghoul's hands. Her options were limited, mostly to dissipate or getting taken back to the lab. She didn't want to go back, she would take anything over that. Even with the possibility that she might not reform...she had to try.

She swallowed hard, blood draining from the cuts across her throat. Time was running out but she just needed to push back her fear. It would be quick. She promised. How much worse could it be compared to now.

Her hand tightened around the pendant wishing Shun was here with her. She was so scared, even more so now with the threat she might really never see him again. This might be it, this could very well be the end. Turning back toward Atropos, Mitsu looked the ghoul in the eyes and nodded. She tried to keep her face as brave as possible but fear started to creep in, her body shaking as she waited for the inevitable to happen. Her heart was already pounding in her chest, her brain telling her to flee and her body telling her she couldn't. What was it like to dissipate when you asked for it to happen?