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"Oh, I met her," said Sadie, deciding not to mention that the Senshi of the Hunt had struck her as a little sharp and harsh, even back then. "I was there. Um, when she was ambushed." Her lips pressed together, thin as thin, and her voice went soft. "It was brutal."

The scar on her own back had just recently faded all the way to white.

"I don't know much about how corruption works, especially in situations like that, but I'm not surprised her head's all twisted up."

She tried to lean in even closer to her friend, to be as comforting as she could when she was like this.

"It's not far," she said, nodding towards a building at the end of the street. She hadn't been out wandering. She'd just gone to the closest park to think for a little. "I'm tired, mostly. I think I just need sleep. Maybe some bandaids." She glanced towards her wrist.

"I trust you," she said. She was as relaxed as she could be in his arms, given the circumstances.

It was just that she didn't want to make people worry about her. If they were kind because they worried, it could start to make the guilt rise, but she was aware that it was an unhealthy thought process, so she whispered, softly, "Thank you."

The building was locked at night. When they approached, Sadie pulled the key card from her pocket to get them inside, then gestured for him to let her down so that she could unlock her apartment, too.

The halls seemed empty, but she still kept her voice low as she said, "Well, I'm not certain what happened to Cybele. That night's all blurry. There was this General, and I, um, ended up in the hospital."

She realized too late that talking about that might make him worry, too.

Quickly moving on, she squinted, trying to put the thoughts she'd had when she'd first seen Cybele into words, even though things were all blurry now, too.

"It was her training event that was attacked, though, and they were taking prisoners," she managed.

There were enough pieces to start putting together a very sad puzzle.

"I think so," said Sadie, nodding against his shoulder. "The silver lining to all this is the lovely people I've met. Like you," she smiled softly, "But others, too. We help each other."

She still wasn't always the best at asking for that help, but it was something she was working on.

She leaned heavily against Alya as she unlocked her door, but as soon as it was open she stumbled forwards to collapse onto the couch instead.

"I don't know if I can hostess so much right now, but there's tea in the cupboard," she said, thinking that in this moment maybe they didn't need to dwell so much on the past. "Um, wine, too. There's fruit and crackers on the counter."

She turned so that her face was smushed into a pillow, so her voice came out muffled as she added, slowly, "First aid in the bathroom, behind the mirror."

There was a muffled, barely intelligible protest from the pillow, something about how she could worry about him, and she was a little worried. He might not have been touched, physically, but it had been his friend that had been taken by Chaos.

She would have wanted tea or maybe even wine after all that.

Worried or not, Sadie did not move. Her couch had been picked for comfort and was set up as a nest of soft things. Sadie sunk deeper and deeper into it, and she felt herself beginning to drift even in the few seconds that her guest was gone.

His voice brought her back, and she turned over as requested. She winced when she offered her arm for him to look over, although the nail marks on her wrist were the only visible wounds.

"You were good," she murmured. "You got through to her, somehow. I think this is the best way that the situation could have turned out."

She reached out to rest her other hand on his arm. "And if you don't want to be alone, if that makes you anxious, you can stay here as long as you want."

Oh, Sadie was too used to people fussing over her. Having a caring family and taking multiple trips to the hospital with unexplained injuries had that effect. People had spent so much of their precious time, so much of their emotional energy, worrying over her, and the guilt built up.

It wasn't something to lay on Alya, on Virell, though, not now.

"It's Sadie," she said instead, watching sleepily as he dabbed at her wrist. There was a moment of silence, and then she added, softly, "You know, you're going to make such a good dad."

She peeled herself from her nest of pillows until she was sitting up straight, and when he was done, she stood with what looked like intense effort. She used his shoulder for support at first before switching to the wall, and she looked back over towards him. "You're saying all these sweet things about me, but you're the one who carried me home," she said. "I just want you to be okay, too." She finally flashed a soft little smile. "If me being okay, if me taking care of myself will make you feel better, then, um. I'll try."

On other nights like this, she'd collapsed right into her couch and not moved until the morning, but now she vanished into the bathroom and emerged a few minutes later in a set of pajamas, with her hair braided back and her teeth brushed.

The apartment was a studio. The bed was just on the other side of a divider half-wall, and she headed there now to sink into yet another mountain of pillows.

"Okay," she said, glancing around back towards Virell and the kitchen. "Water, right?"

"Not fussing," Sadie murmured, taking a pillow in her arms.

It was true. Any walking around to try to hostess or even to take care of herself was over now. The last of her energy was spent and she was not moving from this little nest for several hours. She did adjust her position, though, enough that she could peer over at Virell with her good eye.

"Kindness isn't some one way street," she said. "You were asking about my life, too, in that hole. You were sweet as sweet. That means I can try to be here for you." She nodded, although even her small motions were softened by the tiredness, now. She waved a hand, as if that would fill in the gaps in what she wanted to say. "That's, um, friendship."

Her eyes fluttered shut, but she fought against sleep for a little longer, because she was thirsty.

"But, um, can you get me water?" she asked.

Sadie held the glass of water with two hands, as if it were impossibly heavy, but she managed a few sips before she set it on the bedside table. Within her nest of blankets, she wriggled a little until her feet were all the way covered, and then she lay flat again.

"You're a good friend, too," she said, voice slightly pillow muffled. She smiled down at him for a second, and then she closed her eyes. Now that she was safe and taken care of and in a bed like this, there wasn't much fighting the sleep.

"The couch is open, if you want to stay," she murmured. She had the bed claimed now, but the pillows and blankets on the couch were just as nice, and there were even cushions scattered around various parts of the floor.

However, Sadie would not see if Virell took advantage of any of that. Within a few seconds, she had drifted off.