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The sound of retching was not an inviting one, but Eternal Sailor Pasiphae had no choice but to investigate the source. The chill of Chaos energy permeating from the location licked against her like an icy wind - not the darkest she had ever felt, not even close, but distinct nevertheless. It was a potential threat that could not be ignored.

When she grew close to the source of the sound, her heeled-boots came to a halt. She recognized the blond-haired boy immediately. The one who could summon wasps, whose double had been run down by a car right in front of both of them… but he looked different now. The additions to his uniform signified as clearly as the increased darkness that he had grown in power since they had last met. He must have done well for himself since that time, by Negaverse standards, if he was given an increase in rank. She bit a rose-colored lip and tried to think of something, anything, to say. She couldn’t just… stand there and watch him suffer!

“Do you need a doctor?” It was the question the Shame Senshi ultimately settled on as both the briefest and the most pertinent. Clearly he was not ‘alright’ if he was vomiting; there was nothing she could do to help him, as she had no healing abilities. At least the offer to help would show that she bore him no malicious intent. His strained, pale face tore at her heart… but experience led her to keep a few feet of distance between them. She had been in too many battles, seen too much to purposefully expose herself to danger. And, as long as a Senshi had Chaos in him… there was a natural expectation of danger.

Pasiphae flinched at the savage tone that flew from the boy’s mouth, but she was not particularly surprised. Anyone would feel vulnerable in his state. How much worse, then, was it to be sick in front of an ‘enemy’? She took another step back to show that she meant no harm, her gloved hands held up slightly in a surrendering pose. She had no intention of escalating the situation, if she could avoid it.

But she couldn’t leave either. “You’re obviously sick. If I leave… who knows what’ll happen to you?” He could pass out or have another, more aggressive Senshi decide to take advantage of the situation. She didn’t want either of those outcomes. From what she had seen, Vespa was not a bad individual. They had worked together, albeit in more forced settings, before. Maybe she could get through to him better than she had Carnelian or Euclase? “I’m just trying to help…”

The girl watched him rise to his feet, her arms coming into a defensive position. almost instinctively. Yet, his request made her freeze in place. Had he… seriously just asked…? The punch hit her straight in the jaw as a result, causing her to jerk back into awareness. She slid back across the road, rolling into a crouch before rising back to her feet. Her pulse quickened, and a sweat-slick curl remained plastered against her forehead as she stared squarely at the Corrupt Senshi.

“I’ve never killed anyone. I want to help people, to save people… not to kill!” The anger came quicker than Pasiphae expected… and until she heard her own voice, she had not realized how much she had been holding those emotions within her. Every situation she encountered became harder, and more of the ones she loved came at risk. Yet, her fellow Jovians gave her the strongest core of hope. That they did not have to kill, even if they had to fight. That one day it would all be over, and all of their toil would… end. She held on to that hope, to that promise, and fought for it. Therefore, the implication that she was a murderer, that she would casually take a life, that she was, in fact, the heartless terrorist that Negaverse propaganda made her out to be… it offended her to the core of her being.

Her lips quivered, and one corner dripped blood down her chin, but a glint of steel could be seen in her maroon eyes. She did not call upon her shield, not yet. He had seen it before, felt its effects before. He knew what she was capable of. Maybe holding back would get through to him just how willing she was to help. The magic would be there, should she need to call on it. “I’m not going to kill you. I don’t… think you really want to kill me. Why is it so hard… just to let me help you?!”

Waves of nausea overtook her, though not enough to join the insect Senshi in puking. One hand moved to cover her chest protectively. She had felt first hand what it was for someone to reach into someone else’s chest, take hold of the core of their very being and squeeze. Nothing she had endured had been more painful or shaken her more. Not the first fight against Painite, who still haunted her dreams, not in the Surrounding, not recently when the crack of a Negaverse whip had given her a new scar to hide from her parents. Nothing compared to the feeling of someone crushing the soul in their hands. Now, he had taken it a step farther, to an area where she had only seen Generals tread. Consuming that life force, those souls…

But his reaction was completely different from what others she had witnessed had been. Others consumed starseeds like the most delicious treats, and on the battlefield seemed to get a boost of health and stamina from them. She had never seen anyone who consumed them vomit or be distressed in any way… which indicated clear as day that he was not beyond help. Pasiphae rubbed the back of her hand over her bleeding mouth and dared to take a step closer to him. “I’m not leaving. You’re upset… I can’t imagine what it’s like, to do what you’ve done… but it’s never too late! You don’t have to do this anymore.”

There was nothing but conviction in her tone. She was weak, in many ways, and she acknowledged those weaknesses… but one place she was always strong was in her belief in the ability to save others.