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When Scheelite had so boldly strolled out the night before to do his 'work', he had planned out his homecoming in his head. He'd return a hero, the star seed of an evil woman clutched in his hands, and the praise of his roommate falling on his ears. Z would be so proud of him, both for getting some work done and also for disposing one of the largest obstacles in their path. They'd celebrate, maybe get some dinner or something. It'd be great.

This planned scenario had not included a series of texts from Z explaining he was with his cousin at his house and would be by briefly the next day to pick up schoolwork. It had no room for a lonely night spent curled up in bed licking his wounds. No, the perfect end to a perfect day had not looked like this.

The night before he had texted back, trying to get Z to come home. It was to no avail. His partner's cousin needed him, and while Demy wanted desperately to say he needed him too, he just couldn't find the heart to drag Z away from his family. No, he'd be a good minion and wait back in the lair.

Retrieving homework though, that was a problem. Demy hadn't felt like moving. Afterall he had taken a vase right to the face (the dried blood was still on his face, outlining the cuts), a toaster to the ribs (boy had that hurt), and any other of the numerous injuries that were a result from the fight with Lyra. Oh yeah, and he had been in a burning building and flew out via an explosion...not that he had been awake for that. No, Demy's homecoming was not the triumphant hero's return he had imagined. It was simply a limping pitiful lump of a boy wanting to sleep and cuddle his roomie. Thankfully he had managed to con a friend into getting their homework, and Zink's lay in a neat little pile on his desk. Demy's....god only knew where it had ended up.

The blonde himself lay curled up on his bed, staring rather lifelessly over at Z's empty bed. Well...empty except for Mr. Tenebrous. Demy had managed to drag the bear out of it's hiding place, but couldn't bring himself to snuggle with it. That'd mean getting him bloody, and Z wouldn't like that.

"Work...got something done..."
He was smiling slightly, a tired sort of smile that accompanied the rather exhausted tone of his voice.
"Something you...might be proud of. What happened to Beth...?"

"No...no hospital, not going anywhere. Staying here...waiting for Z."
He blinked a couple times.
"....er...waiting for you. Like....when you come back for good. Yeah....totally what I meant."
It seemed he wasn't exactly in the best of minds right now.

Demy let out a little laugh, quickly cutting himself off.
"S-sorry...it's..it's not funny that happened to Beth dude. Not at all. That like...really sucks. It's...just a funny coincidence you know? Cause yesterday I totally..."
Huh. Beth's house had burned too? That really -was- an odd coincidence. But...there was no way he could have made a mistake. He knew what Z's mom looked like, and -that- is who he had stolen a star seed from.

The very star seed he had moved just enough to pull out of his pocket, keeping it in a balled fist for now.
"Gotcha something....totally thought about putting it in a box like a friggin promise ring or something, woulda been awesome. Forgive me man...too tired, ya know?"
Demy grabbed the boy's hand, pulling it from it's fishing to carefully deposit the star seed in his hand.

This was not how his perfect homecoming had gone in his head either. Z was supposed to instinctively know who that had belonged to. Just...know. And then hug him and tell him what a good job he had done. Yeah, a good job. He had totally done the right thing. There was no way he had messed up. No way.

"It's...your mom's silly. That's what I snuck out to do tod---er...yesterday right? Yeah...yesterday... She didn't put up much of a fight...but some crazy Senshi did and man, the house kinda went up in flames, I don't know.... But all that matters is I did it man, I offed her. Aren't you happy Z? I did it for you..."
Smiling still, so sure that praise was just about to follow.
"All for you..."

Praise was not to come.

Instead he was silenced, and Z was making a phonecall. What? The phone was more important than him? More important than his accomplishments? Demy had been about to speak up, demand that Z put down the damn phone and listen to him.

But Z said mother, and Demy's blood ran cold. If Z's mom was on the line, then he had failed...but he hadn't! He had the star seed right here! He had taken it from her, seen her die, seen the house go up in flames!

Though the more he thought about it, the less it made sense. That house hadn't looked much like the one Z had taken him to the time they went to watch movies. But his mother had been there. He was sure of it!

"I know you do Z-man, but that's not up for debate now, what is is the awe---"
And then the word twin hit his ears, and Z could likely feel Demy's muscles tense under his skin. Twin? TWIN?! What?!
"N-no...you didn't. You're...joking right? Ha ha Z, very funny...but really...."
No way...no friggin way. He had NOT messed up. He couldn't have messed up. Not this...not something as important as this.

To Demy, the world had come to a crashing halt. He had done this to be good, to do something that'd mean a lot to Z. That star seed had been his prize, his victory. And now...now...

That carefully thought out scenario in his mind unraveled, taking most rational thoughts with it. This didn't make sense. Nothing made sense right now. If...if that hadn't of been Z's mom, then who? And why would Beth's mom get killed and house blown up the same day as...

"Oh...oh g-god."
Demy whimpered, moving to draw his hands to his mouth. It wasn't a gasp, it was more a maneuver to keep himself from hurling.
"I...no...no no no no no!"
And then he was sobbing, sobbing and whispering the mantra of no's into the hands at his face. Why?! Why had his perfect plan ended up like this?! True, he wasn't the planner Z was, but he had TRIED damnit, why did it have to be like this?

"I'm fine..."
A few minutes of frantic sobbing later and he was back to his typical answer. The blonde was trying to build up some kind of wall, some kind of anything that'd make sense of it. Really it was all lies. He had done no wrong...no wrong at all! This wasn't his fault, couldn't have been his fault. He'd never hurt Beth, never hurt Z like this.

Despite all attempts at saying he was fine, as soon as he was pulled close enough to hug Demy buried his face in the other's chest and bawled. There were attempts to talk mixed in there, somewhere in the sobbing.

"It...it would have been perfect if she had been there Z. P-perfect, you know? And Beth would be okay, and you'd be happy, and I....w-wouldn't be like this and just...oh god."
The blonde whimpered, hugging onto the other boy even more. He was shaking, a mixture of both pain and just how horrible he felt about this.
"I..I could have died man. The friggin house just went up, and one minute I'm fighting the Senshi and the next we're outside and the place is just gone. I....I t-think she saved me, you know man? Like I blanked out or just something and...god Z, I could have died, what the hell kind of partner am I?!"

He was sure the other teams didn't ******** up this bad. Not like this.

The hand in his hair felt nice. And all the sobbing and freaking out was taking a rather big toll on his already exhausted body. Whether he wanted to or not the blonde was forced to quiet down, the loud bawling turning into simple little whimpers and sobs as his partner spoke.

Z couldn't ask for a better partner. That...made him feel at least a bit better. Even if he had screwed up. Bad.

"K-kay Z...I'm listening..."
He half expected a lecture on the importance of being sure of one's target before taking them out. Really, Z had a right to scold him right about now.