To: Sophia Torres
From: Hanahi Anto

At the hospital. Could really use a friend.

Hanahi sat all but alone in the room, her sister was in the hospital bed, a mirriad of tubes and cables coming out from her. She didn't know where to go or what to do, in no way did she want to go home, to that empty place where no one would come to see her, where no laughs would ever be had again. She had a number of bandages that had been slapped onto her in the emergency room the night before. The room had four beds in it, she'd been kept in one the night before for observation. She hadn't gotten a moment of sleep all night, instead she had spent it just watching her sister breathing, wishing that she would stir, Hanakou hadn't so much as moved a finger all night. She just wished that she could go back those 24 hours and take a different turn than that she had taken.

She'd never been so lonely before than she was now.

It was an interesting and eventful morning for Sophia. She looks down at the recent text message and replies back.

To: Hanahi Anto
From: Sophia Torres

I’ll get there as fast as I can.

She puts a hand in her pocket to make sure the keys are still there. Yep. Sophia needed a good reason for why she was living on her own. She wanted to try living on her own for a while? A falling out of some sort? None of these even approached the truth.’

It takes her a bit in the hecticness of moving out of her home to get the hospital. However, her new place of residence was very close to the hospital at least. Walking distance really. She takes a quick stop at the gift shop to buy some flowers before heading to Hanahi’s sister’s room. When she gets to the room, she knocks before opening the door. “Hey,” she says, walking into the room. Hanahi’s sister in the hospital bed stirred up a ton of bad memories. She places the flowers next to her bedside before walking back to Hanahi and giving her a hug. “Sorry, I took so long. I got here as quick as I could.”

By the time Sophia arrives in the room Hanahi had drifted to sleep after the long night. When Sophia started to speak Hanahi woke with a start. She blinked a couple of times before finally focusing on Sophia. As Hanahi could feel Sophia's arms wrap around her she could feel her body shake as she stood there being held. It was a long moment before Hanahi was even able to find her voice to speak to Sophia. "Thanks... Thank you for coming. It really means a lot to me."

Hanahi continued to hold onto Sophia, not wanting to let go, or rather not being able to.

Sophia rubs Hanahi’s back, trying to soothe the shaken girl. “You’d do the same for me. I am really sorry about all of this.” She feels pangs of guilt, looking at Hanakou. This was the second time that she watched someone get tainted to the point of their soul being fractured. If she was stronger, maybe she could do something to help them both. If she noticed them earlier, she would have healed them both before Lance. A logical part of her brain knows that there wasn’t anything she could do and this was simply a terrible unforeseeable accident. Emotions drowned that out though.

“Did Dr. Ami Mizuno say anything to you about her condition?” Sophia asks. She is kind of hoping for something she knows won’t come. Dr. Ami Mizuno knew how to keep the girl alive, but not how to wake her up. And Sophia wasn’t about to reveal the only way that she knew how to bring the girl back. In the end, the situation would be worse. However, there had to have been another way.

Hanahi hugged Sophia as tightly as she could, though with the shot she had been given the night before, everything was still weak. Once she let go of Sophia she retreated to the chair that was between the bed she'd spent the night in and Hanakou's bed. Hanahi held Hanakou's cool hand once more as Hanakou just lay there completely unresponsive to the world around her.

With Sophia's question Hanahi shook her head. "No the doctor only wanted to make sure I was alright, saying that she wanted to wait until one of our guardians arrived." She shuttered as she said that, her world was falling apart around her, she was near her wits ends. She had no idea what to do. Right now it seemed like her best option was to higher a male stripper to play the role of her father, and fake her way through all of the paper work. "She just looked me over and put a bandage on my forehead, then had the nurses bug me every few hours when I would rather be sleeping." Hanahi sighed, not sure what to say.

Sophia takes a seat in another chair, and watches Hanahi grab Hanakou’s hand. This was heartbreaking and difficult to watch without wanting to start crying as well. Why did things have to end up like this? And why couldn’t all her magical powers fix this? There had to be a way besides the Lance’s death solution. At least, she was determined to find one.

She looks questioning at Hanahi, “Your father isn’t here? Surely, he would come back for this…” And suddenly, she regrets saying that as things fall into place in her head. “Oh,” she says. Her eyes cast downward, “You should have told me earlier. I can try to pull a few strings around the hospital. They would probably be willing to help you.” She could explain the situation to Ami or Peter, and maybe they would take some pity on the girls.

“Hanahi… I’m kind of living away from home right now. Things are a bit strange on my family’s side. My place right now is walking distance to the hospital, and you wouldn’t have to live alone or have to stay here. You don’t have to make a decision right now,” she offers, “My landlord wouldn’t mind. I’m on really good terms with him.”

Hanahi felt her shoulders stiffen as Sophia spoke, had she figured everything out? Hanahi wouldn't have been surprised her entire life was a house of cards and something like this was like shooting it with a canon. She just slumped forwards not sure what to say to that offer.

Watching Hanakou's face Hanahi started to talk to Sophia without looking at her. "I hate the people that caused this, and this one with hair as long as mine, I think I hate her the most." She shuttered as she breathed in. "It's her fault that this happened." Hanahi's face was hot, tears once more slowly flowing down her cheeks.

Hatred. It was never something that Sophia felt comfortable with or knew how to handle. Hell, it wasn’t an emotion that she could summon anymore. She frowns and looks down. She does feel guilty. She could accept Hanahi’s hatred. After all, what else could she do? She looks over to Hanakou. In another world, she would be explaining to her what it meant to be a senshi. Instead, they had this. “Yeah, me too,” she says.

Taking a breath, she gets up, grabs somes tissues, and hands them to Hanahi. “I know things look really bad, but don’t lose hope regardless of whatever happens, ok? I’ve seen people recover from this kind of thing before. Hanakou seems like a strong girl. I can’t imagine what you guys have gone through up to this point, and you guys still made it. So she will get through this. Just believe in her.” Sophia feels determined to make this right somehow. Either the Silver Princess in all her power would fix it or she would search endlessly for a way.

When Sophia said that she agreed with Hanahi's hatred, Hanahi looked over to her and gave her a weak smile. "Thanks," She couldn't really expect Sophia to say much, she hadn't been there, if she was, Hanahi wondered just how things would have been different.

Gently Hanahi took the tissues from Sophia, patting at her eyes with them. Once Sophia had finished with her pep-talk Hanahi's stomach erupted with a growl, it had already been nearly a day since she'd last. "Uh sorry about that." Hanahi felt a little embarrassed that such a grouse sound had come from her. She stood up her head was swimming, and after only a single step she was suddenly on the floor, not sure how she had gotten there. Everything just keep swimming around her.

“It’s ok. When has been the last time you’ve eaten?” Sophia asks. She suspects the answer would be since breakfast or lunch yesterday. She didn’t eat when she was depressed either. “There is food downstairs, and if you don’t want hospital food, there is stuff across the street. And we can come back up here,” she says. She could understand if Hanahi didn’t want to leave her sister’s side. However, she wouldn’t be helping anyone if she starved herself. The girl was already on the thin side.

Hanahi looked up at Sophia, trying to focus on her question. "Um, dinner, two nights ago?" She honestly wasn't sure. "Maybe longer?" She felt like a child confessing after having done something wrong. "I... I don't know. What if she wakes up here? She'll be all alone. Don't they say that you're more likely to wake up quickly rather than slowly?" Hanahi wasn't looking at Sophia any longer, but instead at Hanakou.

Dinner two days ago? That was a damn long time. That meant she didn’t even eat breakfast before school. “I think waking up is different for everyone. However, a lot of the times it is slow. It’s not much like the movies unfortunately. Hanakou will be ok here. She is probably in the best hands in the country. I’ve talked to Dr. Mizuno. She is a brilliant woman, and I’m sure she’s giving Hanakou the best standard of care,” Sophia attempts to reassure Hanahi. “Besides, you’ll be better able to look after her if you aren’t starving yourself. We won’t take long. We’ll be right back up here.”

When Sophia said Dr. Mizuno's name, Hanahi wondered just how Sophia knew that was the doctor looking after Hanakou. "I guess, you have a point." Even as she said that she still had the nagging question sitting in her gut, now matter how hard she tried to push it away. "But we came come right back here as soon as we have the food, right?" Hanahi slowly stood up, still feeling a little woozy as she did.

“We’ll run up here as soon as we’re done,” Sophia says. She can see Hanahi is a little woozy. Probably lack of food and sleep. And plenty of crying. She takes her arm in arm. “Are you going to be alright though?” she asks. Hanahi looked like she was about to fall if she didn't keep her steady. “Just to the elevator and then straight ahead.”