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**Back dated to the start of the Order Rescue from the Fun house.

Only Human

It had been a week of holding these people. A whole god damn week. Seven days. One hundred sixty-eight hours. Ten thousand, eighty minutes. Six hundred four thousand eight hundred seconds.

That’s how long the Negaverse had kept these people. Kept them from one another. Kept them from their families. A number of these people had been tortured to talk. Some had probably been beaten just for the sheer hell of it to pass some Agent’s strange sense of boredom.

It slightly disturbed Azurite, to think, that at this point, she could probably navigate her way to Valhalla and Ganymede’s cells even if she were blind. She would try to, visit, for lack of a better term, as often as was allowed (and as often that it didn't become suspicious.). But each time they looked worse than they had been before. How much sleep had she lost? How much sleep had they lost? Where those held captive even allowed to sleep? Allowed to eat? How many of them had gotten sick since being here. How many had died. Though maybe the real question was had anyone died?

The corrupt had tried, on a number of occasions to get them both, especially Valhalla, proper treatment for his injury. But each time, she had been met with some crass a*****e’s attitude of “Why? It’s just a damn Knight. What’s it to us if we lose one?”. Each time Azurite would spin the same story about “Yeah? And what if he knows something we haven’t learned. What are you going to do then?”. The agents would just laugh and shoo her off like she was some meaningless child. The corrupt ultimately had to get loud and pissy and threatening in order to get in and get the Knight bandaged up.

Valhalla had been an absolute wreck from start to finish. Buddingtonite had nailed him with his weapon during the capture at the Hotel. Azurite had managed (somehow) to grab on to the Knight before anyone else could and helped (boy did that feel weird and awkward) him to his cell. It seemed like the others, both Agents and Corrupts alike, had added their fair share of breaking Val. Schorl had broken his fingers and shoved paint chips under his fingernails. Val also sported a new wound above his eyebrow that was likely to scar as well. Jet and Aquamarine had also taken their own turns at beating the crap out of the Knight. Azurite had some extreme mixed feelings about that in particular. She didn't even want to begin to think if Buddingtonite had paid the Knight another visit yet.

Ganymede… Azurite wasn't sure if she fared better, or worse than Valhalla. The pair had both been beaten in front of the other. The corrupts stomach flipped at the thought of that happening to her or Rutile or even Buddingtonite. The poor eternal had been beaten, bruised, broken and even burned. The poor girl now sported a burn in the shape of her planetary mark on her shoulder. Azurite had tried her best to bandage her up the best she could as well. The corrupt would sit with them both, offering some strange sense of support. The corrupt would ask questions they’d been asked a thousand times over. She tried to get them to talk about anything and everything, especially in Valhalla’s case. Azurite wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of him sleeping or blacking out with how much blood he’d lost through the week. She felt bad being with one over the other. Because it left her mind to wander on what could, and probably was, inevitably happening to the other. While Azurite hadn't exactly promised to Cyllene that she wouldn't hurt them, Azurite had tried her best not to inflict any further damage to the pair.

She wasn't all innocent though. Azurite had had her own share of dealings in this. Her magic had been used a number of times, not just at the ball, but throughout the past week. On various Knights and Senshi to the point where one after another had literally dropped to their knees. She would hold her breathe and bite her tongue. Never once voicing any concern she might have had. Azurite would fake a smile here, and force a laugh there. She danced and played the part she was given. The girl kept telling herself the whole while ‘I can do it. I’ll get through it.” She had to keep up this act. For as much as she watched to and safeguard Valhalla and Ganymede, there was only so much she could do without causing trouble for herself, or causing more for them. And as twisted as it was… This was the easiest way to do things.

She couldn't help but think that this wasn't fair. That there could have been some other way to do something like this without, well this. Did the Negaverse really have to something like this time and time just to learn something about their enemy? Did they need to tie and torture these people? But… then again, this had happened to the Negaverse once hadn't it? Azurite could remember hearing Wolframite talk about something like that last year… Just before they attacked the Dark Mirrors.

The teen let out a slow breath as she closed her eyes for a moment. While she didn't particularly care for this sort of escapade, Azurite knew she would walk away from this with the knowledge of how not to do something. She knew this was all wrong. All so very very wrong.

Kerberos had found her at one point and had basically collapsed on her. She sat with him one afternoon, when, unfortunately both Valhalla and Ganymede had been otherwise… preoccupied. So there the pair sat, in an empty cage. Kerberos curled up with his head in her lap and a fist full of her skirt clenched in his hand as he cried and sobbed. Azurite said nothing as she sat with him, one hand resting on his side while the other stroked at his hair. They sat like that long after Kerberos’ tears had stopped falling, and he had long since slipped into sleep. She didn't blame him in the least for this. She would too… Normally. But Azurite told herself that she had to grin and bare it. She had to make up for the betrayals she’d struck for herself. One for the attack on the Dark Mirror Court. One for standing against Buddingtonite when Vespa purified.

This was her atonement for the sins she’d caused. Atonement and sins eventually become too much to handle.

But she was only human. And humans bleed when they fall down. So here she was, as she finally crept from the convoluted fun house. She just needed a moment to breathe, to get away from it all. However as she stepped outside and over to a more secluded spot, away from the opening, a movement caught her eye and Azurite turned to stare at her own broken reflection. Broken, not only because of her tattered appearance and frayed nerves, but also because the mirror itself was shattered. There were a few large chunks missing from it’s frame. It would have made it impossible for any Dark Mirror to climb through, let alone look through. It was smart, she supposed. If it were her, she wouldn't bother to waste time looking through a cracked mirror.

Blue eyes slowly traveled over the surface, an gazed at what she saw. Her hair, tattered and dirty. Strands hanging in her face more so than normal. She had dirt, sweat, tears and a bit of blood smeared on her face and arms. She hadn't powered down that whole week. It made sense that she would look just as bad a** she felt. But what stopped her gaze, was the large dark, deep red stain on the side of her black fuku and along the dark grey furry shawl she wore. It was blood, she knew that much. But even as she looked from the shattered stand down to her side, the momentary thought still crossed her mind that it was hers.

It wasn't. It was the blood of the senshi and knights she’d crossed paths with. It was Ganymede's. It was mostly though, Valhalla’s for Azurite had managed to carefully carry him to this disgraceful place. For once, Azurite found herself wishing that it was her blood that adorned her fuku. Maybe that would stop the tears that burnt at the corner of her eyes before eventually falling down her face.

It wouldn't.

So the corrupt ran. She ran as far as she could before her legs eventually gave out under here and it her lungs burned intensely as she desperately gasped at air to breathe. The corrupt curled up in a ball, there on the spot, not caring where she was. Or lack therefore of. There were some merits to being outside of the city… She sat there with her knees drawn to her chest, with her arms wrapped around her tightly as she buried her hand and just cried. Cried and screamed as loud as she could, for as long as she could.

She knew if the other’s found her like this they would laugh, and call her weak. That she shouldn't care about the fate of a few Order Aligned Senshi or some stupid knights. But that was the problem. She did. Azurite cared. She always cared. Regardless of who it was, or what they were. That didn't matter to her. They were people after all.

Azurite had been so absorbed in crying that she didn't hear the footsteps behind her until there was a presence at her back, and a pressure on her arm. At first she screamed, thrashing and fighting against it until it finally clicked with her that the voice was calling her name.

Laine

Glassy eyes shot open to stare up at long dreads pulled back into a ponytail. Then she stared at his dark uniform with bright red straps and gold colored buckles. Till finally her gaze rested on green eyes. It was Rutile, she realized slightly. Her fiance cocked his head curiously at her, once again saying her name softly, as she continued to stare at him like she’d seen a ghost.

“Kor…” She said through sniffles. “Kor….” Again the tears began to fall and her body began to shake. The corrupt dropped her henshin, and she turned back into the girl she was. A scared little girl. The man said nothing as he moved to sit, collecting her in his arms. Laine met him halfway, practically crawling in his lap before he could even move to begin with. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, clinging like a weed. She buried her face against his neck and her arms as she tried, and ultimately failed to stop the resurgence of tears. The taller man just hugged her close, stroking her hair and wiping away her tears like she had done previously with Kerberos. Like her friend, she cried and cried till she could cry no more. Till she had pulled herself from his neck, and turned herself in his arms. Still, her fiance didn't say anything other than to tighten his arms around her, gently pressing her back against his chest as she stared forlornly, almost bitterly at the dark storm clouds that slowly crept along overhead.

She would make this up to them. To Valhalla, to Ganymede. To Kerberos and to Cyllene. On her own terms, in her own ways. She would let them know that she was sorry for what transpired. For now though, she would continue to try and keep them safe for as long as she was physically allowed to. She just hoped it would be enough. She dared to hope that they understood that she was trying, despite her orders, to do what was right.


[WC: 2007]