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Birhan had been dreading the patrol. Ares had been unreachable for three days now - to Birhan, at least, maybe other BMC members had had better luck. It had been a rollercoaster few days for Birhan, trying to gather suggestions and concerns for the next slated operation. Some senshi were very helpful, Birhan's heart warming with excess love for her senshi family. Others, well, were displaying the more expected reaction. It gave Birhan a whole new respect for what Ares dealt with - though at least Ares had the firepower to back up her leadership.

If Birhan was surprised to see Ares at their meeting point for the patrol (and she was), she couldn't say the same about the fact that Ares was doing her best to ignore Birhan once they started out. Birhan tried to match Ares' level of professionalism, but couldn't help the sad frown tugging at her lips every time she turned on instinct to talk to Ares and found her leader several paces ahead, already moving on.

Nothing was showing up. Someone powerful enough, or weak enough, might have been able to hide their energy signature from Birhan. But an Eternal like Ares would have been able to sense more than Birhan, and she wasn't finding anything either. They'd spent the last half hour in silence, when their weekly patrols had previously been filled with all manner of talk - small and important, senshi and civilian (on Birhan's part, at least - she had gotten the impression that Ares tried to ignore the fact that she was human underneath the magical getup, whether that was only during patrol or an always thing, Birhan couldn't guess). It was getting very awkward. That saying about cutting the tension with a knife? Birhan didn't think a knife would be sharp enough.

Enough was enough. Even if all it earned her was a cold shoulder and a silent back, Birhan refused to treat Ares like someone she hated. As they paused on a rooftop to scan the area, Birhan broke the unspoken distance barrier between them. She forced her frown into a tentative smile, though her eyes remained sad beneath drawn down brows. Birhan at last broke the long silence. "Am I allowed to apologise?"

Given the choice, she would do the same thing again. Her opinion hadn't changed. But she was so desperately sorry that she'd hurt Ares. Maybe someone better with words could have avoided hurting Ares so badly, or maybe there was no way to lessen the pain. Maybe she could have argued harder in private, refused to let Ares start the meeting before they'd hashed things out, and therefore avoided the additional sting of Ares being questioned in front of the entire BMC.

"Disappearing doesn't make me worry less, you know," Birhan added, tone gentle, trying to get across that she was worried for Ares, as opposed to being worried over what Ares might do. Considering the latter had been the driving focus of the meeting turned argument, Birhan didn't want Ares thinking this was round two of the same fight.

Birhan's mouth twitched, itching to form one of her wry smiles but well aware that this wasn't a good time for it. "No, that wasn't the apology. The apology is that I am so very sorry for how that meeting turned out. I am so sorry for hurting you, and for taking my concerns public when they should have been kept within the ISS."

The problem was, Ares hadn't been listening to the ISS. And without any sort of public acknowledgement, the cadets and mercenaries would have had no idea that any of the ISS had been trying to mitigate Ares' head-on collision course with the next deadly battle. There would have been more walk-outs.

... Well, there may still be. Nemesis didn't seem like she was going to show up anytime soon unless Ares was leading the charge.

"It felt like you weren't listening to us," she tried to explain. "Like you were driving ahead with your own plan no matter what anyone said. I thought we were meant to be a democracy - and even if you're the head of it, you could still pretend like our opinions matter. Like our lives matter. So when you started that meeting the way you did... well, redheaded temper, you know," Birhan gave a small smile, pointing at her scarlet bangs.

Normally Birhan would have toed the 'united ISS front' party line. She'd spent most of her time in the ISS going along with whatever. But at least back then Ares had been asking them for their opinions and ideas... back before Elysion. Before Rota fell.

The flame-haired senshi heaved a sigh. "I hate fighting. With you, I mean. With the BMC. Give me a fight I can win with my fists and feet any day over all this." So much political maneouvering within a group that was all meant to share the same goal. So many people bandying around the word 'traitor', trying to stick it into Birhan or onto Ares... forgetting that they were all just people with differing opinions.

"It's not easy."

She had a new understanding for what Ares went through as Captain of the BMC, now. It was hard and thankless and someone was always going to be unhappy with the decisions made. The only difference between the two was that Birhan was prioritising the safety of their members above the results. Maybe that wasn't the way to win this war. But it was the only way Birhan could live with herself right now.

"I know you're not heartless, Ares. And god knows I know that sometimes it's easier to pretend you don't have a heart so no one can hurt it. But these kids are looking to you to be more than a remote royal figure sending the pawns out to battle. Sometimes - just sometimes - you've gotta let them see what I did when I joined." A hopeful smile bloomed on Birhan's face. The Ares who'd invited Birhan to join, who'd taken a freak of a girl who didn't belong anywhere and set her up as a member of inner sanctum of an elite fighting group... that was the Ares that Birhan would gladly follow, and die for if need be. If Ares would just be that person again, Birhan knew the BMC would be just fine. Better than.

Birhan took a step forward, one hand raising, as if to reach out to Ares as the hardened shell the Eternal senshi clung to began to crack. She paused, on the verge on sharing her own family issues - not feeling 'home' where she lived, the sudden disconnect between the only people who'd ever taken care of her... She wasn't sure why she stopped. She'd shared the tale before and it was no longer a fresh wound. Certainly she wanted to bond with Ares once again, feel the closeness they'd shared earlier in the BMC's history.

So what stopped her?

A tiny part of Birhan that had wondered if Ares meant the same thing that Birhan did. She followed her leader's gaze to the moon. The Parallel Moon... that was where Ares had started out. Fallon was the one with the civilian family, and Birhan was never sure that she was talking to any part of Fallon. For Ares, 'home' may have meant that other dimension, the Prince and Princess she'd lost. A team, a family, that had been reduced to Ares, Gaia, Lacoon and Zirconia. A small group, who all looked to Ares for guidance, and Ares no longer having a Princess to rely on herself.

Or perhaps Fallon was simply having home troubles.

Birhan opened her mouth - to sympathise, to seek clarification, to simply comfort Ares that Birhan was here for her, any time - when Ares went on high alert.

"General Queen!" Ares shouted.

"Holy crap," Birhan sputtered, and chased after the fleeing Ares. They rarely came out! That's what they had minions for! Birhan didn't like the notion that one was out and about, nevermind so close to the leader of the Blood Moon Court after killing a few of their people and torturing several more.

"Can you tell which direction?" she yelled, passing Ares to check the other side of the street for mirrors. It wouldn't do to be heading directly for the Big Bad, rather than in the opposite direction.

In a storefront, Birhan spied a mirror frame, side-on. "Ther-" she began to call, breaking off as she drew closer. Spiderwebs ran through the glass, half the pieces fallen to reveal the backing. "Crap."

Birhan ran on. A shoe store up ahead - she'd frequented it before, she knew there were plenty of mirrors there. Still, something held her back from yelling for Ares before reaching the window. Birhan stumbled to a halt. Her mouth dropped open. Every single mirror - shattered.

"Ares," Birhan voice rose in pitch as she found her feet and continued to flee. Something was very wrong here. The chances that so many mirrors, so close together, would all be broken at the same time? Not bloody likely. "I can't find a single unbroken mirror!"

Dread filled Birhan as it became obviously that every mirror in the vicinity had been deliberately shattered so that Ares could not use them to escape. Someone had made a very calculated trap for the leader of the Blood Moon Court. Someone who was, or was working with, a General Queen.

Birhan's mind flashed to Tanzanite. There were others out there, she knew, but Birhan had never seen them. And Tanzanite had a very good reason to be holding a grudge against the BMC.

"She's going to kill me, Birhan! This is it -- this is it."

"No," Birhan protested. It was futile - there was certainly nothing Birhan could do to alter the outcome of any fight between Ares and a General Queen. But she refused to hear of Ares dying, couldn't believe they were in the situation. And yet the oppressing aura of a General Queen pressed down harder on Birhan's senses, flooding her veins with icy fear. "No, Ares-"

And then Ares was ordering her to go. Birhan wanted to protest. But the scornful words from the last BMC meeting echoed in her ears. 'You're a weak little girl,' 'a baby in this war,' 'too goddamn weak.' They were right. Birhan was useless in this fight. A distraction, even, something that could be used against Ares.

"R-right," Birhan nodded. She turned and ran, blinking frantically to keep her vision clear. Taking a corner, she fumbled for her senshi phone and scanned to see if anyone else was close by. "Backup, call for backup...!"

Nothing. No small blips indicating other senshi. Birhan cursed, close to throwing the phone in frustration. Where were the other BMC patrols? The useless other senshi groups? Why wasn't there someone, anyone, out there when Birhan needed them!?

A scream rent the air.

Birhan jerked to a halt, nearly faceplanting onto the concrete. That had sounded like... That was... "Ares!"

And then her feet were moving and her breath was escaping in harsh pants and Birhan realised she was sprinting back towards Ares. Her body claimed no knowledge of Ares' order to flee, simply responding to the cry from Birhan's leader.

Back where she parted from Ares, Birhan dashed into the dark alley that Ares had taken. She nearly ran into Ares' back, stumbling to a halt, head whipping around looking for the threat.

"Ares! Wha- Where...?"

There was no sign of a General Queen. No Negaverse officer or corrupt senshi facing Ares down. Stepping closer, Birhan caught sight of something even worse.

On the ground not far from the stunned Ares, a fallen body. A civilian with a bloody chest. Lying next to a bloody-tipped torch. Blood drained from Birhan's face as she matched the pattern of the wounds to the torch prongs.

"Ares," Birhan forced out of a choked up throat. "W-what happened?"

Desperately she hoped that when you killed a Negaverse officer, they reverted back to a civilian form. God, please let that be the case.

"Oh god," Bihan breathed, wide eyes swinging from the dead body to Ares, back and forth. There was always some horrible new detail to notice. Birhan felt a little light-headed. Sure, she'd seen dead civilians before - but only due to the Negaverse. Sucking out all a person's energy was much less messy than stabbing them in the chest. So much blood... Birhan was torn between wanting to back up, and that most horrible of human instincts, to look closer at the metaphorical train wreck.

Ares' cold, emotionless words wove over Birhan like black magic. The dread in Birhan's chest grew and grew, rising to fill her throat, choking off more words. Even as she realised she was frozen in place, a sitting target for the lurking General Queen, Birhan still couldn't force herself to move.

A bloody hand on her wrist broke the spell. Startled violet eyes darted from the blood now soaking into her white glove, up to Ares' grey eyes. The horror on Birhan's face was quickly blinked away, Birhan doing her best to regain a more professional composure - she wasn't one hundred percent successful.

"Y-yeah," she stuttered an agreement. Definitely time to be moving on. There wasn't anything Birhan could do for the deceased and they still had their mystery stalker to worry about. Birhan couldn't even work out if Ares' blank face was a true lack of caring, or another mask like the one Birhan had almost had Ares shedding before the General Queen made her presence known.

"We... should talk later," Birhan insisted, as they backed out of the alley. Apart from the consequences of this, Birhan really wanted some reassurance that Ares wasn't as heartless as she was acting. She was scared that she wouldn't get it. And Ares' hair-trigger, to kill a civilian for grabbing her arm... Birhan didn't like that, either, or the justifications Ares had been using to blame the civilian.

Birhan had a terrible feeling that the breakthrough she'd had with Ares earlier had just been rendered useless. But first they had a General Queen to escape from. She could worry about Ares' state of mind once they were safe.

Their mad dash continued. No one could deny that Birhan was a fit, healthy girl, but she was panting for breath by this stage. There was a ragged edge to her gasps that hinted at how easily they could transform into sobs if the situation were any calmer.

Later, Birhan promised herself. You can break down later. Escaping first. Much like Ares herself, Birhan believed in keeping up a strong front. Perhaps there was something to Ares' continued claim that Birhan was the one most like the Blood Moon Captain.

Relief finally arrived in the form of a full-length mirror. As they slowed in front of it, Birhan held out a hand, expecting to be pulled through by Ares. Instead, Ares backed up against the mirror, staring at Birhan with her serious grey eyes.

Worry returned, bringing a friend in Despair as Ares gave the reasons why Birhan should keep the night's actions a secret. All but ordering Birhan - no, at the end there came a flat-out order.

"Oh god," Birhan whispered, voice soft and high. Her eyes were as wide as they could go - her default expression of the night, it seemed. For Ares to have come to this... Claiming a civilian meant nothing, that she was useless. It wasn't that Ares was wrong, per se - the civilian was certainly not going to tip the tide of the war. But Birhan couldn't say that Ares was right. This was just too callous, too cold. She couldn't tell if Ares was putting up a front or if she really did believe that there was nothing wrong with killing a civilian. Birhan had gotten Ares to reveal emotion before, but that was over Ares' own senshi, and that had been hard enough! To try and crack a shell that may or may not be there over a civilian...

Birhan shook her head. Problems for later. Everything was a problem for later, except for their escape through the mirror.

"I would never bring this up before the entire Court," Birhan swore. She did agree that it was not the kind of thing the cadets and mercs needed to hear. Discipline had never been their business, always somethin carried out quietly by Gunn and a sub-branch of her special forces. To not tell the ISS, though... Birhan wavered. And of course Ares would be able to sense it.

Shouldn't they be getting out of here? Couldn't they discuss this someplace safer? Birhan's concern over Ares' actions wasn't decreasing as Ares seemed to place her own reputation over both their lives.

"There's rules for this," she said, pressing the palm of her non-bloddied hand to her eye. "You made them. You enforce them. I guess..." Birhan wavered again, this time closer to Ares' way of thinking. "I guess we can just handle it between ourselves...?"

It seemed Birhan wasn't going to let this slide. Even if she agreed to keep Ares' secret, she wasn't budging on the fact that Ares should still be serving her own punishment. It remained to be seen how Ares would handle this counter-offer.

"Yes, you made the rules, the rules you said no one was above." Not even you. Not that Ares had ever said so, specifically, but she'd certainly implied it. A Court where even the leader could be held accountable... like so many of the early BMC promises, it seemed to be fading fast.

Birhan eyed the hand Ares held out as though it were a weapon aimed in her direction. In a way, it was - a political weapon, wielded by a self-styled Queen. Lately it seemed that Ares had been buying into her own propaganda. Despite revealing the truth to the entire Court, Ares was acting the part more than ever these days.

Meanwhile, with Ares' arm in front of the mirror, Birhan had a sinking feeling of how this might be ending up... Another lurking threat to stay in line, follow along. Too bad for Ares that Ari had never been one to follow the pack.

"I'll give you my word not to speak of it to anyone," Birhan said, trying to keep her voice cool, "if you give me your word that you'll hand over your henshin pen the moment we're out of here."

No matter what Ares said, she was not above the rules. If Birhan had any hint that Ares was actually feeling repentant over the death, perhaps she could have been cajoled into leniancy. But every word that spilled from Ares' mouth just reinforced Birhan's belief that her leader was going to brush aside the accident and bury it away. Preventing civilian deaths was one of the reasons why Birhan had joined the BMC - she wasn't going to stand by while a senshi was so blase about 'casualties of war' and 'acceptable losses'.