Arian was exhausted by the time he managed to reach his bedroom proper. It had been a long day for the dark-haired teen – a long long day that had been made even longer when he’d let himself out of his bedroom to which he’d been mysteriously found, only to find his cousin letting herself in the apartment with a pinched, anxious expression on a face that was normally cheerful, if somewhat bossy (well very bossy if you were to ask Arian’s opinion). Pretending that he’d been in his room all along had kind of been out of the question (Saffy had apparently checked) – but at least he’d powered down – her finding him as Athene would have been problematic.

Given that he couldn’t well tell Saffy the truth, Arian had instead ended up making up a story about being jumped by some men wanting money and had been dragged down to the emergency room when he’d reluctantly had to admit that one of them might have cut him before he had managed to get away. Although she probably wouldn’t have believed that the cut had come from a spear-wielding woman, who just so happened to be a General of part of the forces of chaos called the Negaverse and that said General had been trying to kill him at the time as she hated his alter-ego – no that sounded a little too crazy. Saffy would have probably tried to sign him up to a shrink.

Instead after some brand new stiches in his side later, the dark-haired teen had finally been allowed to go to bed , but had been too tired to do more than collapse face down across the single bed in his room – albeit carefully mind you – he was under orders to take things easy for the next few days after all.

Sleep was hard to come by though, his mind running back to the events earlier that night. From memories of smoke and gas pouring through their meeting hall and finding it hard to breathe, to not being able to see anything more than white light as a shrill ‘eeee-like’ sound rung in his ears, hearing shouts and cries around him without being able to see anything.

There had been no warning – one minute it seemed they were making progress in their discussions (despite all the arguing and counter-arguments) – the next, they were desperately trying to defend themselves as the Negaversers and dark senshi tried to kill them or even worse. There had been bodies, so many bodies – too many bodies – but he was pretty sure that he’d seen glimpses of white in their grasp when the forces of chaos had left, leaving them to the ‘tender’ mercies of the police.

Arian started a little as it registered that his cheeks were wet, that at some point he’d started crying. Trying to keep the sniffles quiet so that Saffy wouldn’t feel that she needed to come in and check on him if she was still awake. As well-meaning as she was trying to be, the dark-haired teen didn’t feel that he was up to more talking with his cousin tonight.

Besides cliché as it was, she just wouldn’t understand, couldn’t understand. She had no idea what he got up to those nights that he sneaked out to go patrol as Sailor Athene and it was better that way.

At some point Arian must have slept, but when he woke it was with memories of the horrible battle and the brief time spent on the Moon, the silvery light that had saved them from the police and the ghostly Queen that had offered her home as a sanctuary of sorts. There was too much going on in his head for the dark-haired to even attempt to try getting back to sleep and Arian didn’t even bother. Instead he somehow found himself sitting on one of the two kitchen stools.

“Arian?” His cousin’s voice, coupled with the switching on of the kitchen light made him start. “Sorry to startle you Rian. Can’t you sleep?”

He shook his head and she gave a gentle smile in response. “How about I make some hot milk with honey, I’ve got some snickerdoodle cookies – you know the good stuff with cinnamon and stuff or there’s some choc chips.”

Arian didn’t particularly want the milk or the cookies, but it seemd rude to refuse if Saffy was going to go through the trouble, so he mumbled out a snickerdoodles when she turned an enquiring gaze in his direction and watched as she put everything together.

He ate the cookie slowly, but the cinnamon-spiced biscuit tasted like ash in his throat. Arian was only grateful that his cousin was choosing not to push, even when he finally gave up on the biscuit and left the remaining half uneaten on the plate. For once not even cookie was going to make him feel better.

[818 words]