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It had been a few days after the students returned from the field trip. Jove wasn't sure how many, it could have been as much as a week for all he knew. He had spent the days immediately following their return in his bedroom, trying to sleep off his injuries in between visits from his brother. Except after the initial shock wore off he found sleep wasn't coming so easily.

He couldn't get it out of his head how he had seen his friends die, and the hollow sound of Ren's voice whenever they talked... If he tried to sleep all those terrible thoughts would start running through his head and he would find himself frightened in his dark room all alone. Not frightened for himself, but frightened for the friends he hadn't seen yet, and for the ones he knew had been hurt like him. So the pup did the most rational thing his terrified mind could think to do.

Jove crawled out of bed, testing his injured leg for a second before limping to his door. He didn't bother changing out of his white nightdress, nor did he bother with a sling for his bad arm, he just cradled it close to his body as he wandered out of his room in search of the demon dorms. He was determined to find the first person on his mind who needed checking up on, Yaya, who he had last seen with an injured ankle.

Maybe he would visit some other friends later in the course of the night, but the more he thought about it, the more his uncertainty over her fate scared him.

Junko was done taking things for granted. Her hair? Oh, she was definitely finished with that. The Mistress? ...Okay, a little less. Not so much completely over it but she was glad to have Her, because if she didn't then she might as well be dead or human. Her friends? Junko was definitely finished with taking them for granted. Especially after her talk with Riley. Friends were a leap out of her comfort zone, she understood that more than ever now, but she needed them. She needed them now. Originally she'd been somewhat okay not having them, but as time wore on and she came to adore so many others who actually seemed to care about her it was painful to not be around them, even more painful than any abuse she garnered from Her on a day to day basis. One such friend she suddenly realized she'd been neglecting was Yaya; even on the island she'd been so wrapped up in her own woes over her hair being cut that she'd barely noticed her best friend in pain.

She was relatively okay now. Junko had gotten over her fear of being out of her room, and she'd talked to a few people she needed to talk to. Now it was time to make it up to Yaya, someone important to her. It had been awhile since she slept here, huh? She missed it.

Junko had been having so much trouble sleeping lately that it was rather nice to be asleep, and asleep she was! She was out cold. Unconscious. Dead to the world. Yaya adjusting her position almost woke her, though all Junko did was sigh quietly in her sleep and snuggle back against her friend, her hair writhing and wriggling until it curled loosely around the ghoul's fingers while still slithering around Yaya's neck.

It wasn't the curl of hair moving along the dark line of her neck that woke her, nor Junko's sigh as she stirred gently in her sleep. Not even the movement of the bed beneath them as someone new crept over the silk covers towards them. No, it was the sudden weight of a small body landing on top of them that drug the dozing marid from her dreams. Half startling her, though only enough to have blue eyes cracking in the dark of her room to eye the form sprawled across them.

Pale skin, blue tail, and faintly glowing eyes had the demon smiling, and before the pup could move to crawl away she had lifted her arm from around Junko's waist to hook the smaller boy around the shoulders. Pulling him down between herself and her bed mate so she could bury her face in the softness of his hair. Drawing in the faint scent of him as she hugged him close.

She hadn't seen him since her return, but had heard he was safe, relatively. It wasn't the same as seeing him in the flesh though, and a tightness in her chest that she hadn't even realized was there eased at his presence. So many friends to check on, and so little time or mobility. She should have called, or txted, or visited. Something. She felt bad that she hadn't, but between her own issues and Sharra's, time had seemed to fly past without her noticing.

Her Grip on the pup tightened gently, and she tucked her knees up close to his rump and she cuddled him. "Jove."

Jove's first reaction was to try and wiggle out of Yaya's grasp, his side twinging quite painfully by his frantic motions. It only made his fright worse. This was not the time for snuggles! There was someone...

When the pup realized who the stranger was, he was stunned. It couldn't be, he had seen her die... Right before his own injury, he had seen her... But here she was, solid and happy and certainly not dead. Not even a ghost by the looks of it, just as real and alive as Ren was.

For a split second Jove's mouth tightened, and he looked like the small and vulnerable child he was, one who could have burst into tears at any moment. But he didn't cry, he just broke free of Yaya's grip and launched himself forward to give Junko a one-armed hug around the neck. His left arm was the next thing to useless for this sort of thing, he couldn't lift it high enough and had to settle for wrapping it around her body.

It was a good thing he was not very strong or he might have throttled the life right back out of her before he would have let her go.

Oh no! Was he going to cry?! Junko's smile faltered a moment as she watched him nearly break, reaching out to hug him herself before he suddenly came flying at her himself. The ghoul squeaked and fell backwards from the small impact, lying down with the happy little ghost boil hugging her. She hugged him tightly, burying her face in his hair with a tiny little laugh. He was so cute! She was so happy to see hiiiim! She didn't notice how awkward he was being with one of his arms just yet, she was far too excited to see him and how happy he was to see her.

"Oooooh, it's so good to see you again, Jove! I am so, so, so sorry." She said into his hair, giving the top of his head little kisses before she lifted her head away and pet at his hair. He must have seen what happened to her as Tomoko had, and if he did she felt just awful about that. She would do whatever it took to make it up to him; cuddles, treats, games..anything! Junko looked up at Yaya again and smiled before she nuzzled her face between the pup's ears again. She had been about to ask Yaya if it was okay for him to stay but she realized that doing so would be silly. Of course Jove could stay!

There was a sharpness to the djinn's eyes as she watched her two friends, particularly when Jove reached a hand out to touch Junko's stomach. That was odd, the other ghoul didn't appear hurt. In fact, far as she knew Junko had come out from the portal untouched, saved for the ruin of her clothing. Much the same as a lot of the students, come to think of it, her own Sharra included. By Jove's reaction, she was starting to wonder if perhaps more had gone on in the depth of the fog then she was being told. If Junko had been injured, as Jove's concerns seemed to point towards, why wasn't she still hurt like Jove and herself? It didn't make a whole lot of sense.

Jove's whine made her blink, turned down to look at him. Actually taking in the extent of the poor pup's injuries. Bruises, his ear, and it looked like he was favoring an arm. The poor thing. Very gently she reached out for him, pulling him closer so she could curl around him in a full body hug. Legs drawing up from below the covers as she did so, the heavily bandaged ankle visible.

If he was looking to her for an explanation she couldn't give him one, because she honestly didn't know what was going on. The best she could do was assure him of her own safety with a whisper against his good ear. "I'm fine, it'll heal in time." They would all heal in time, physically and emotionally. There would be scars, but they'd be alright.

Hadiyya glanced at Junko over the top of Jove's head, brows narrowed slightly as if to ask why Jove had been behaving so strangely towards her.

The pup's whine turned into something that might have been a sad little howl at hearing Junko confirm her injury. It didn't matter that her explanation was rather clumsy, it was enough to bring up all those painful memories as clearly as ever. He had hoped he had just imagined it, maybe another hallucination out on that island that he could have learned to shrug off, but it really had been real... He couldn't get that image out of his mind.

For once he let the ghouls cuddle close, his cold little body starting to warm up. He could feel their breath, and their heartbeats, both were alive and well. At least, he had to hope they were well, and didn't have that same sick feeling inside that kept them awake and worried all night.

Jove's let out a longer cry as one of the hugs tightened painfully around his ribs, flinching into the pillows rather than pulling away.