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If you'd seen her just the other day in the mountains, you might not have believed she could be so quiet. When her captain had stumbled across her, the last time she'd been 'this deep' in whatever was driving her. She'd been kneeling over a body screaming. She'd pulverized what had been the head to a hamburger like -mash- well before he got there.
Tonight though, she did not yet have a body, tonight she was still searching for something to unleash her anger upon.

She leaped from one roof top to another for a better vantage point of the streets below, her hands curling almost white knuckled on the edge with the anticipation that crawled under her skin. Something... someone, but not just anyone. She wanted to pick... 'carefully' from the few who still traversed the streets below. The sound of cars passing below made her proverbial hackles rise in vexation. Sadly she didn't think she could take on an automobile just yet, she was confined to the foot traffic still for her targets.

Nothing, nothing and no one, she was going to go mad, she could just -feel- it. That rising desire to start screaming was going to get her killed sooner than later. Her hands rose to clutch at the sides of her head, fingers curling to claw at her own scalp in frustration. She had never had so much sympathy with wild animals who found themselves caged. What she needed now was not, strictly for the purpose of destruction, but the relief of loosing herself to the dark moments. Once she satisfied them, there was a period of calm, even if it was heavy laden with the guilt and sickness that came from the knowledge of what she had done.

She was almost ready to move on when her eyes locked on a 'target'. She should have thought 'person' or even 'young man' rather than target, but she was in deep and sinking fast, they were now nothing more than the target, the prey. She moved quickly to the edge of the roof that lead down into the alley and leaped over the edge. She landed catlike in a 3 point crouch, her dark eyes blazing for a moment before she crept to the mouth of the alley. She measured each of her breaths to the rhythm of the approaching footsteps. her hand lashed out curled like claws to snag them the moment they came to view. Never suspecting what lay in store for them, never expecting what she had planned for them. At least some part of her -reveled- now in that thought, it was the opium to the dark 'fracture' in her soul.

*******



The next she realized she was standing once more over an unmoving body, no longer a target it was a person. Her knees were shaking, she was drenched in cold sweat and spattered in blood and nausea curled in her stomach like a knot of worms. Her mask slipped free of her fingers to clatter on the pavement and she trembled wildly. It... he, was not so badly damaged as the last 'person' had been by the time she was finished. That was some small relief at least... but now she was realizing how much shorter he was than she and she feared she might be ill. Worse she could still feel that black anger, that deadly rage, diminished but not gone. Something had snapped her from her work before she was done, she'd not suffered that before, she had no idea the consequences of that revelation, how 'it' would react.
She bent and with shaking hands grabbed a handful of sweat shirt to turn him over, some morbid curiosity to see the face of her victim.

She -lurched- backwards, hand flying to her mask, dark eyes wide and had to turn away to wretch into a corner. Oh god...oh god. Oh god...

It was just a kid, just a -KID-, oh god she'd killed a child... another child, and there was No Nea to blame for this. There was only her, just her and everything that was wrong with her.
A sob tore its way free of her throat as she glanced back at him, and then up at the mouth of the alley, realizing she heard voices. Realizing with no doubt that there were -senshi- on their way. The part of her wracked with nausea and tears was more than a little willing to stay, to let them find her. But that -thing- inside her declined the invitation. She grabbed her mask and leaped to the fire escape and made her way, wild eyed and terrified for 'freedom'. She staggered over the edge and had to pause another moment to wretch again and only then realized that her hair was quite undone from its braid and her tie was missing, her cheek ached from some impact she could not remember at all, and the vague recollection of other blows echoed on her torso, tribute to at least some small scuffle. It did little to make her feel better, but it was something... at least till she saw there was at least one Senshi already on the roof tops, that she had been seen.

She ran... it was all she had left.

She too heard the noises- after all... who could not understand the noises of someone screaming bloody murder? That was usually the call for someone needing help- it was not some fictional batman signal in the sky. It was cold, it was cruel, and in the end... it always left a mark on its victims.

She also decided to stay hidden as a civilian until the opt moment- the actions of sailor nea still plagued some peoples hearts... and they might call the police if they saw a random senshi wandering around. It was growing harder to stay hidden. So in this case, Beth appeared to be a normal student late for class with her bag flailing behind her. Something about the screaming left her uneasy, made something in the back of her mind nag her and force her feet to move faster. She knew that voice.

Beth Henshin'd up the second she knew no one was around (which was when she turned down the alley initially). The same feeling that drove her to run faster... was now telling her that it was too quiet, much too quiet. This was not a good sign.

And then, with one last duck around another alley... Lyra stopped dead in her tracks. She was late, really really late. The first thing she saw was a crumpled body on the cement- it was not a pretty sight. Her hand rose up to her mouth as she gasped.

"someone help me please."

Those words brought her out of her trance like state- this was also the first time she noticed the second senshi hovering over the body. She approached and leaned down on the other side of the corpse- something caught her eye. A.. familiar cluster of hair- one that if seen on other circumstances would have brought a smile to her face. This time, the realization of who this was caused her to inwardly cry out in grief- echo'd through her mouth. "...Oh...oh god. ZAC!" She reached down and grasped his hand out of instinct and leaned down- he was breathing. He was breathing! A glimmer of hope shined through- Z had survived this ordeal. Something told her he would not last for long- she flicked now tear stained eyes at at the senshi. "We need to call for a ambulance- now."

Lyra henshin'd down, not caring if this other senshi saw her civilian form. While rummaging around in her purse, she spoke "Demy would want to know- you need to call him." She pointed at the cellphone laying astray on the cement next to Z's body. Finding her cellphone- Beth dialed 911 and told the clerk what she needed to know. The snap of her cellphone closing signaling that they were on their way.

Panic swarmed over Alkaid as the sound of footsteps approached, a dozen ideas running through her head all at once. First and foremost was the thought of the negaverse lieutenant returning, or perhaps another stumbling onto the scene because of the sounds of the struggle. She was a fool to think she could stop them from hurting Z any further - she wasn't a fighter, she was the support. Then she remembered that any passing onlooker would think she had done this (the stupid misrepresentation of the media and all) and her heart sunk even further. The one thing that didn't occur to her, out of everything, was the idea of another Senshi bursting onto the scene.

Alkaid watched with the first glimmers of hope as the girl walked towards them, her fingers curling tighter into Z's hoodie as if she were afraid letting go would mean losing him. It was only as she saw recognition in the eyes of this other senshi, heard her cry out with Z's name on her lips, that she realized she was no longer in this alone. She didn't know who the other senshi was, or how she knew Z, but they were all friends here. It was probably a good thing, too, because this other girl had a much better head on her shoulders at the moment than Alkaid did.

As soon as the girl mentioned Demy, a light flickered on in Alkaid's head. Her face became even more grim, but she managed to raise one hand and scrub quickly at the tears on her face as she leaned over and scrambled clumsily with her other. How was she going to tell him this? How did you tell someone.. this? Already feeling her throat closing around a lump, she listened to the girl's conversation long enough only to discern who she was calling. 911 - that made sense, and also meant they were on a time limit now. Her shaky fingers scrolled through the contact list on Z's phone, watery eyes trying hard not to cry lest her voice become too cracked to speak.

As she pressed send, her gaze fell back to Z. The distant ringing in her ear filled her with dread since she had no idea what to expect, and it wasn't helping matters that she was staring down at one of her best friends in the world - unconscious and bloody. After what felt like ages, the ringing on the other end was cut off by a voice that she faintly recognized as Demy's, with some greeting that she was too dazed to hear.

"Demy, it's Khalla, I.." so much for her voice not cracking, "I'm with Z." She could feel the tears starting to well up again as her voice began to shake, finding that it was so much harder to say this aloud than to simply think it. "There's an, uh, there's an ambulance on the way and they're going to take him to the, the hospital." She swallowed hard, trying to keep her composure but finding that she was quickly losing control of herself. "I don't know what happened, Demy, he's in really bad shape. I found him.." her voice trailed off in a stifled choke, not only because she was finally losing her composure but also because she was lying. She knew exactly what had happened to Z, but she couldn't even tell him.

Once hanging up the phone she slipped it back into her pocket. Beth caught the name of the other senshi while she was on the phone, Khalla. She was taught it was bad to eavesdrop on others but at the moment, she really did not care what she was taught or what rules of society she broke. Her once cool- calm attitude went downhill with a landslide. Beth scooted next to Z again and replaced her hand on on his. Tears now free flowed down her face causing her vision to blur. Why...why did it have to be him? He was the only family she had besides her mother.

Memories flooded her thoughts; memories of Z and Demy visiting her for Christmas. Memories of when she showed Z to not hide behind his hair, and wrap it up in the front. Memories as far back as when they first met when they were both no more than 5 years old. "Please... please you have to pull through this."

Sirens could now be heard in the distance- the ambulance was getting closer. She willed it to hurry- willed it to not be too late.

"I..." ...." who did this?" She managed to choke through her sobs. It sounded like she was talking to Z, but she was trying to address the second senshi. She was on the scene before Beth, maybe she had seen someone or something. The thought of who it could be changed her sorrow, to that of rage. Giving Z's hand a firm grasp- she let go and stood up.

"Khalla, i need to tell me if you know anything... I'm going after whoever or whatever did this."

Beth really appreciated the warning- but she did not care if she was going up against a titan at the moment. Irrational, and pissed off... were not a good combination. The thought of another senshi already on the heels of the enemy should have made her glad... but it also caused her to feel the need to get there first. NO one messed with her family.

A feeling of understanding passed between them when they made eye contact- it felt like a serging bolt of energy. She nodded once- she did not know Khalla personally... but she trusted her. She knew Zac was in good hands.

The ambulance was just around the corner now- and the presence of it was drawing attention. She would be much faster traveling around in senshi form, but Beth didn't exactly want to be caught transforming. She mumbled the 'magic words' while holding the pen in the air and Sailor Lyra took over her form.

"Thank you." Lyra gave one last meaningful look before she leaped up to the rooftops. This time, she was the hunter.