Upon leaving the Surrounding Polaris had lingered on her home star until she could no longer take the cold and silence. With the soft tone of dialing numbers she soon found herself in her own apartment, fuku disappearing almost as an afterthought, no longer having the energy or desire to be the senshi of magnetism for a second longer then she needed.

She still shivered even as she made her way into the bathroom, waiting while the water ran until steam began to feel the room. She was tired, empty, the only motion in her limbs was the half hearted unraveling of braids. There were no tears left, but her chest hurt, her heart hurt.

Even slipping into the warm bathtub with sweet scented salts, one of her favorite indulgences, couldn't push the somber mood off of her. Aurora couldn't even hide from the thoughts she wanted to beneath the water. And she'd attempted it, holding herself underneath the water until she had to sit up again, sputtering for air. All those people... all those poor people. And the senshi's failure.. even if they had won in the end.

She was almost robotic in her motions.. scrubbing her skin until warmth finally returned, until her skin was almost raw. She rinsed and repeated once.. twice.. finding halfway through that she couldn't remember if she'd done it yet or not. Lingering, she didn't move to get up until the water began to cool.

A towel was wrapped loosely around her, held tucked beneath one arm, and she padded into the kitchen to get herself a drink, her throat dry and her stomach grumbling. Glass of milk obtained, she paused after she drank before hurriedly making her way to the living room and flipping the tv on.

It wasn't that she wanted to watch anything.. in fact as soon as she flipped it on she turned away from the screen, not caring about the channel. She just couldn't take the silence anymore.. the lack of life. The sound of a voice, even one that wasn't really there.. it was more of a relief then she could even explain.

Her hair was dripping on the carpet, she thought mildly as she took another small drink from her glass.

"Once again this is a breaking news announcement. The 51 people that went missing over a month ago have somehow been returned. All 51 seem to have returned, presumably uninjured since no hospitals or ambulances have been contacted. Currently they are being debriefed by the Destiny City Police force, but a news conference should be starting shortly. We'll be breaking in with more information as soon as we have it. And as always tune in for the news at 9."

The glass hit the ground with a slosh and a clank as Aurora turned, seemingly deaf and blind to the mess, her eyes quickly searching for the screen. A few seconds of silent film showed a couple of vaguely familiar faces being lead into the police station, the words of reporter repeated again in a trailing bar at the bottom of the screen. Faces she'd seen fall to the ground lifelessly. Walking... safe.. the news had said they were all alive?

How was that possible? She'd seen them die.. she'd seen the golden whisps of their remains give themselves up as a shield. So how were they here now?

It was a question she didn't need an answer to, and those tears she thought she was out of suddenly came tumbling out again, this time warm with joy. She didn't know how... didn't even really care how. But they were safe, each and every one of them.

Perhaps she hadn't had the power to save them herself. But right now all that mattered was that something had saved them. Maybe it was their prayers.. their hope? There had been so much power in that blast that the Zodiac princess had shot off.. the power to push back all the chaos...

Hope and prayers... was there anything stronger? Or anything more debilitating then letting oneself fall to despair?

The world it seemed was full of miracles.