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Acubens had been sick a long time. A really long time. And not just that it felt like a long time. It had been almost a month. A month of sneezing and hacking and aching and trying to make it through the day with less than three naps. She'd been to doctors, to hospitals, on antibiotics, through scaners, and they all turned up the same. She was healthy accept for this strange disease they couldn't seem to spot in her system.

The first idea was that she was faking. Accept that no one could keep a streak going this long this convincingly.

The family had accepted that, whatever this was, Acubens had it, and so did a good chunk of the rest of the city.

As of late, however, and for whatever reason, Acubens found herself feeling a good deal better. More than a good deal, really. Almost entirley better. Something had happened, be it the change in seasons or simply her body fighting off whatever ailed her. Whatever it was, Acuben was out of bed, stopped carrying around tissues, and was back on her old beat. It felt good to breathe throguh her nose again. She took a long, deep inhalation through it, letting it out in a contented sigh. Nothing could bring her down tonight. Not even heavy tang of Chaos she'd missed in her excitment to be well again.

Acubens still hadn't noticed the chaotic aura when she stooped down to pick up a small, plastic pitcher, probably left there from a picnic earlier that day.

"Nowhere near as pretty as Megiddo's," Acubens observed outloud.

Ah, even the name set her heart to pounding against her chest. "Oh, my sweet angel of the well. Doubt thou the stars art fire." A light blush began to spread across Acubens nose and cheeks as she spoke. "And doubt that the sun doth move." She clutched the pitcher close to her chest, settling it between her cleavage, stroking it like something most precious to her. "Doubt truth to be a liar... But never doubt I love." Acubens giggled and spun in place, cornrowed beads clicking together as she did so. God, she felt like a little girl again.

"Oh my precious one, my lovley purple-haired wonder." She happily picked at the flaking plastic, counting off one by one as they fell to earth. "She loves me, she loves me not... she loves me... she loves me not..."

And as Lesath drew nearer, the stench of chaos became harder and harder to ignore. Finally she ceased her giggling, letting the pitcher fall form her hands. She grunted once as she turned to face the point of origin, hands on her hips. "You don't hid very well. May as well come out to see me."

Acubens didn't know who had been watching her. And she didn't know what to expect when she called them forth. But one thing was for certain. She hadn't been expecting Lesath to come forth. The surprise on Acubens' face was evident in her wide eyes, her slack jaw, and her frozen posture. Everything about her screamed shock. And then it tightened, turning into a stance of attack. Her mind snapped back to Keren. Where was she now? Not for the first time she wished that her senses could differentiate between individual senshi and civilians.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy to see you," Acubens stated honestly, taking a tentative step forwards. "But I'd also be lying if I said I wasn't wondering why you were here." Her eyes darted from left to right, trying to find the mirror, praying her girlfriend wasn't inside of it again.

"Another hostage, perhaps?"

"I don't really know what to expect, Lesath. Before you said you'd love me no matter what, and then when I make the decision that suits me best, you disown me. I'd already begun to love you and you broke my heart. Adn then you steal someone important to me to manipulate my decision. Excuse me if I don't think very highly of you at this moment."

As Lesath spoke more, Acubens failed to release her tension. She'd lied before. She'll lie again. Her brain recited the mantra, drowning out how her heart wailed for Lesath. Acubens kept her distance, legs clearly taut with strain. She didn't know whether they wanted to run to or away fromt he dark mirror senshi, but she knew they wanted to run.

No.

Not this time.

"Funny, then, how are paths crossed by chance again..." Acubens ventured carefully.

Acubens would have been quick to point out that they'd only happen upon each toher by chance, and that Lesath was the one who instigated conversation, but the other woman spoke again too quickly. Catfighting or talking. Catfighting had been how they bonded in the first place... could it begin to heal the rift between the two of them? It had even been what began the talks of conversion in the first place. Would be begin talks of peace?

"Is it really alright if you're that active so fresh off of being sick?" Acubens knew the illness she spoke of. That strange, sometimes disabling bug that swept though the city not too long ago. It had left Acubens only slightly ill, but otheres were bed ridden for weeks.

The thing that Lesath didn't understand was that she'd never really left Acubens' good side. Acubens merely elected to be a great deal more cautious around the blonde. It was for this reason that she stepped back when Lesath approached her. She ignored the cracking in her chest as Lesath used her pet name. That damned name. This was one time that Acubens needed to keep a pokeface. She knew Lesath, she knew her temper.

"I know that I could never hate you. All I can ever do is love you. Which is why it hurts so much that I can't trust you anymore. And that's also why I don't know if we can ever go back to normal. Not with out a lot of work on both sides." Trust was, after all, a funny thing. Very easy to break, but you had to kill yourself to repair it, and it was almost never the same afterwards. "I've seen a very ugly side of you, Lesath. One says one thing and then goes against her word, lashing out when she doesn't get what she wants. What happens when that happens again? When I make another decision that you don't like? Will we go through this song and dance again?"

Lesath's question made her grin, a shadow of regret playing on her lips. "There's nothing really in particular. You both fulfill different needs. But she loves me romantically. Can you do the same? Or are you just so devasted from the blow I dealt you that you've fooled yourself into thinking you love me?" She shrugged again, digging her toe into the dirt below her feet.

"Had circumstances been different I would have chosen you. The way certain scenarios played out... my life fell according to a certain plan. And I want to find out what that plan is. The good news is, none of my future decisions should effect you the way my last one did." Acubens took a tentative step forward, advancing on her own terms now. "And I meant what I said. I do intend to protect the Dark Mirror Court. Maybe... we can start with some sort of truce? Work our way back to where we were?" Acubens slowly held out her hand, knowing full well that she was no fully vulnerable to attack.

Acubens' squeaked as she was drawn into Lesath's arms. As the shock wore off, however, shemelted into the embrace, grinning brightly despite the tense atmosphere that still hing heavy between them. It was like every dream come true for Acubens, Lesath accepting her terms. Her arms curled gingerly around her friend, afraid that she was another dream, waiting to dissipate at the first sign of awareness.

But when her arms folded around real, solid flesh, Acubens could have sobbed.

Real. She was real. And she really loves Acubens.

More questions to answer. Just when she thought she'd answered them all, Lesath raised about thirty more questions.

All of them flooded her mind as Lesath slipped away from her, leaving her arms empty and her body cold. It was only when Lesath was gone that Acubens spoke again.

"Maybe one day I'll join you."