Hugbell had called her right after the incident. If Hugbell hadn't called her, she might have been clueless about the incident that happened for an extra day. However, when Ellie's energy was stuck in the same spot that was in the same vicinity as the hospital, ********* knew exactly where to go.

Of course, being a cat, she wasn't permitted in the place of healing under normal circumstances. However, she had a way of knowing how to get in. It started off as a simple walk-in with some other person entering the hospital. Then from there it turned into a stealthy undercover mission like in all the spy movies. Filling in gaps when hospital staff weren't nearby, sneaking onto the bottom of wheeled carts and exiting at appropriate places. It didn't take too long for her to find that tomboy. The nurse who made her rounds stopped in the room, allowing ********* to exit and hide until she was certain it was just herself and Ellie.

She popped out of her hiding spot and took in the full picture. Letting out a whistle, the cat commented "You certainly did a number on yourself, Ellie!"

Once the tomboy had her wits about her, she soon enough learned about her injury. She had managed to dislocate her left shoulder and break many of the bones in her left arm. Considering the sort of landing she had, it made sense why her left arm would be as f*cked up as it was. Along with that, she had caused minor trauma to her spine, but it wasn't anything that needed a cast or splint. It was one of those things the doctors noted and told her to keep an eye out for it. If she started having any sort of major back pains, she was to come back to the doctor's so they could take a better look.

Unable to move very readily due to the awkward cast that was holding her shoulder and arm in place, her head attempted to turn in the direction of the voice. Once she was unable to see her visitor, she merely just answered "Yeah... yeah I did..." Despite her momentary weakness with Hank, she had managed to put on the bad a** attitude again.

Rather suddenly, the cat jumped up, landing in the blonde's lap.

"Ungh, get off'a me!" she groaned, not in the mood to deal with cat-in-lap syndrome.

"No Ellie. You are not going to shut me out today!" Though the feline's voice was still that ever friendly tone, there was a serious, stern undertone that demanded the blonde's attention.

"You were patrolling by yourself again! Hugbell told me everything she saw... but the fact is you were patrolling by yourself. Tell me. What did you plan to achieve by pretending you are a solo act?"

The blonde's lips were pressed straight and flat, as if she was wanting to keep stubbornly quiet. However, the cat was pretty much in her face. "I don't know! Alright... I don't know what I was tryin' t'do! Okay? Is that th'answer ya wanted? Cause that's all I got fer ya!"

The manx shook her head, a faint jingling following the motion. "Honestly... if you only would think for a moment... maybe you'd not be in the hospital right now." With a sigh, she looked the girl dead in the eyes, despite how frequently the golden eyes seemed to try to look away.

"I know what you were trying to do. You were trying to prove that you are capable. It's always been that way with you. You need to show the world that Sailor Iris is able to handle herself. It's like when you try to show the world that Ellie Spectre is a bad a**. She can take care of herself and do things for herself. She doesn't ask for help, or is too stubborn to ask for it."

There would be no response, but eventually the pair of golden eyes had stayed steady upon ********* green ones. As much as she didn't like it, the cat was right. Her life had been all about being independent. It had been an expectation from a young age, and now it almost seemed to be consuming her whole being. It was always about proving that she was capable of doing things for herself. It was Ellie Spectre and Sailor Iris versus the world. Perhaps it had taken her falling off of a building to realize this was a fact, but now she knew the cat was telling her the truth.

Seeming to sense the hint of softness in the blonde's expression, ********* seemed to soften her tone once more.

"Tell me, Ellie. Why did you make the rules you made for the team? Why tell the others they need to patrol with other teammates? Why tell them they can't engage in battle when they are by themselves until after they call for backup? Why tell them to not kill the officers of the Negaverse?"

With a half sigh, Ellie confessed her viewpoint of the rules. "I did it fer their own good, *********. Most of them are just regular senshi... Metis might be a Super senshi now... but as much as I hate t'say it, she'll always have that disadvantage of her vision. If a Captain or a General happened to come across them, they'd have a better chance of survivin' if they aren't by themselves..." Her voice paused as her fingers on her good hand twitched slightly. "...I'm an eternal senshi... I can handle that sorta sh*t... but they'd die."

"...what about the third rule?"

"...I killed someone. I didn't even know who he was, but I killed him. I don't know how any of the others would handle it. I've had to deal with it since it happened... and I don't like it. I don't know what Parthenope's stance is on the rule, but he's also crossed that line." Her words paused as she began to bite at the edge of her lip, as if trying to locate the words she wanted to say. Once she found them, she shared them with her guardian.

"...I want to protect them all from this sort of guilt. As much as we fight with the Negaverse... they are still people. Some might call them monsters... but when I killed that Lieutenant... I killed a person. Pure and simple. I can't prevent myself or Parthenope from experiencin' this... but Metis... or Irene... even Eunomia... They don't need to feel this way. Or worse... th'chibi senshi..."

Finding herself quite drained from her explanations, the blonde began to fuss with her hair with her one good arm.

The feline laughed as the girl grew quiet. It wasn't anything malicious, but simply just amusement that caused the airy laughter to liven up the air. "You know, for always trying to deny that you feel anything under that rough exterior, you certainly are still very capable of feeling and caring."

"Ha ha, very funny," the blonde uttered, her words dripping with a forced sarcasm.

Padding forward so she was in the girl's lap, she continued to speak. "If you feel all of these things... do you think your other teammates might feel some of the same things as you? You know you do not always have to be the one protecting them. You do not always need to be a soloist. A soloist can be a strong act on their own... but put them into the right team of performers, and they can achieve more amazing things than one could ever imagine possible!"

Hopping off of the bed, the feline added a final thought before attending to something very serious. "...It takes a very strong person to realize they need the help of others... Strength comes in many forms, but one just needs to realize there's more than one type of strength out there."

Though it seemed as if her visit was done with that comment, ********* soon enough was beginning to rummage through Ellie's backpack which was along the ground. It was hard to open a zipper with only her mouth and paws (stupid lack of thumbs), but eventually she was inside of the front pocket, digging about though Ellie's possessions.

Unfortunately, due to her cast, the blonde was unable to turn and see what the cat was specifically doing. "...what are ya up ta, ********* style="color: gray">There'd be no answer, for ********* had found what she was looking for. In her mouth she held the pen of an eternal senshi. She soon enough trotted towards the side of the bed that the young adult could see. Spitting the object out onto the ground, she then changed quite quickly into her other form. She was going to make this quick, so she would not cause any of the hospital patients any sort of distress with a raiding youma.

"You will probably hate me for this, Ellie..." the silvery haired girl said as she picked up the pink-sticked henshin pen, holding it so the blonde could see it. With her other hand, she lifted up her hat, spinning it in a well practiced manner so that the injured girl could see there was nothing in her hat.

"...however, you need to take a break... I can't leave this laying around for you while you are like this. Let's face it, you'd probably end up finding yourself in some very deep trouble if we left this for you." With that, ********* took the pen from her hands and placed it on her head, then replaced her hat upon her head. With that, she shrank down again back to her usual form. No more hat. No more circus girl. No more pen.

"What?!" Naturally, it made sense for Ellie to start to panic. "What does this mean?! Am I no longer a senshi?!" In the back of her mind, one word was repeatedly sound in her head: SH*T, SH*T, SH*T, SH*T, SH*T, SH*T!

"You are still a senshi, Ellie... as long as you have your starseed in your chest, you are a senshi. No... you are just taking a break for now. You will get your pen back once you are out of that silly thing!" Before Ellie had a chance to argue against the decision, the cat went back into hiding as a nurse made her rounds again.

She was an older woman, perhaps in her mid forties. Her eyes glanced about the room curiously.

"Oh... I thought I was interrupting something... it sounded like you had company."

"...naw... ya didn't interrupt anythin'..." Ellie sulked. This was going to suck completely.