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Acrucis remained seated on the folded blanket, her head rested on the crook of her arm which rested atop her knees, while she continued to run her fingers through Thraen's ash blond hair. With the aid of the constant hum of the small space heater and the dizzying smell of mint, iron, and glue; exhaustion sought to claim her weary mind tugging at her eyelids as she struggled to stay awake.

What happened Thraen? Who did this to you? Something she didn't dare ask him in his current state, nor did she anticipate asking when he woke up either. Still... she couldn't help but wonder.

When she was sure that sleep had claimed him, if only indicated by his even breathing, Acrucis closed her eyes, reaching out as far as her senses allowed to sense if there were any signatures around.

Satisfied they were still alone, she withdrew her hand and powered down to her civilian clothes. Blue, white and gold uniform was replaced with black pants, a white suede jacket and cyan colored scarf. After quietly removing her shoes so they didn't squeak on the tiled floor, Hannah rose to her feet - the cold seeping through her white cotton socks chilling her toes. Leaning over for a brief moment, she carefully took a hold of the top blanket and pulled it up to cover his bare shoulders.

Cerulean eyes scanned over the dimly lit room, small puddles of Listerine and blood stains on the floor and window sill to be cleaned, gauzes and discarded wrappers to be tossed. So much... how are you still alive let alone breathing Resigning herself to cleaning duty she shuffled her feet across the room, far enough away so she could contact Delilah before setting to what needed to be done.

Pulling out her phone she swiped her fingers over the screen to unlock it so she could send Delilah a text. A message that she hoped her friend would understand her otherwise cryptic message and power up so she could talk. There was no reason to make her parents wonder why she's texting so late at night when she should be asleep when she could simply blame it as a butt dial or she fell asleep and rolled over it by mistake. Not that she condoned lying to her parents but sometimes situations called for it... like this one.

PU?- H


After hitting send - though she had just powered down so she could walk around without worrying about the clicking sound of heeled boots on the floor - she re-powered up once again for a brief moment and summoned her senshi phone so she could send a second more clarifying message.

Phact-

I need your help. I need to ask you a huge favor please.

- Acrucis

Acrucis breathed an audible sigh of relief that her friend understood her initial text before calling the Senshi of Doves.

Careful to not speak too loudly she waited for her friend to pick up "Phact?" her voice not much louder than a whisper sounded tired.

"Phact, I need your help please." Her voice was oddly calm yet sad and saturated with exhaustion. "I'm at a safe house." She continued, choosing her words carefully. She had no intention of answering how she was, because to be honest she didn't really know - worried, scared, tired, sad... all words that came to mine but not one was really any more prominent than the other. Not feeling all that inclined to remain standing as she spoke to her friend on the phone, Acrucis leaned her back against the wall and slid down to sit the floor.

"When I arrived... Thraen." The image of his body covered in bruises, lacerations across his face and back with broken ribs flashed across her minds eye for a brief moment. "Thraen was here already. He's hurt... really bad... I-I tried to help, but I don't know how much good it did." The only thing she could do was what he had instructed her to do but somehow it didn't seem like enough.

Taking in a deep breath to keep calm she continued, "He refuses to go to the hospital." Acrucis leaned sideways so she could see him, to make sure she hadn't waken him up. "I-I can't leave him, not like this."

Hannah breathed a mental sigh of relief. Having spent the majority of their lives together, it was reassuring to know that even after nearly two years apart they still knew what the other was thinking. However there was one problem with the proposed plan… her parents thought she went to bed early and was asleep. That aside, the scolding yet worried tone in Phacts voice was endearing. In order to put her friends mind at ease Acrucis was quick to reply though in a hushed wisper “Don’t worry, I’m fine and I promise you’ll be the first person I call if anything happens.”

“But… umm…” Acrucis drew in a deep breath then tentatively dove right in. “It’s a little more complicated than that.” She paused, fiddling with her bangle bracelets as she looked around the dimly lit room biting her lower lip unsure whether or not Phact would go along with what she was about to ask. “I need to ask you a favor; my parents think I’m asleep in my room. Can you… will you break into my house and leave a note for my parents saying I woke up early and went to your house. Maybe say something like you were already or still awake?” It was one thing to sneak out of the house, another thing to lie, but this… this was wrong of her to ask of her friend. Guilt ridden for being brought to the point of asking someone else, Phact no less, to not only do something illegal by breaking into a home (at least it was hers) and lie for her left a foul taste in her mouth. But what choice did she have?

“My bedroom window is open, there is paper on my desk. If I can ask you to please write something and put the note on the kitchen counter, I swear I’ll be forever in your debt.” Having laid everything out without so much as taking a breath once she got going, Acrucis unknowingly held her breath as she waited for Phact to say something… anything.

Blue dots started to blur her vision when Phact finally spoke up, Acrucis breathed the sigh of relief releasing the breath she had been holding onto. "Thank you" she breathed into the phone. "I'm sorry to have to ask you to do this I really am."

At the mention of Thraen's name, Acrucis leaned to the left in order to get a look at him, Still asleep. Righting herself back up she turned her attention back to the raven haired girl on the other end of the phone call. "Hey Phact? I'm going to power down so I don't attract anyone, I'll turn my phone will be on vibrate though if you need me call okay? Both my parents should be asleep" I hope...

Despite Phact's best efforts to bring some humor into the conversation, though it did make a smile tug lightly at the corner of her lips, Acrucis couldn't shake the guilt she felt for bringing her into the situation yet leaving her blind.

"Don't worry, I'll be okay" for now at least. "Be careful!" it was a simple request more so in fear that whomever had injured Thraen was still out there seeking another target, less so that her parents woke up and her raven haired friend got caught.

Acrucis heard the soft beeping sound of the phone call ending, indicated that Phact had hung up. De-summoning her phone, she powered back down to her civilian clothing - feet still bare aside from her socks. With the aid of the wall she had been propped up against, Hannah rose to her feet and stood on semi shaky sea legs - ill effects of having stood up too fast mixed with mass amounts of fatigue.

Mindful of her footsteps, she quietly made her way back over to where Quenton lay taking note of how full each water bottle was and that the blankets hadn't fallen off of him. It was going to be a long night, that much she was sure. Worry that should she nod off that something would happen kept her alert.

When trying to be silent it is increasingly more difficult to find what your looking for when in an unfamiliar place. But after several minutes of looking she finally found all the cleaning supplies and set to work scrubbing the stains out of the floor, window ceil, and table tops. Every now and then she either swapped out or refilled his water bottles as necessary, mindful to make sure he had something within arms reach should he wake up. By now everything she did was on auto pilot while she waited for the call back from Delilah letting her know she had made it home safely.

Hannah pulled her phone out of her back pocket when she felt her phone buzz indicating she had received a text. With a soft smile she responded sticking with her cryptic text as before.

KTY H