[Hannah Kerela]

Cecilia could still see the shadows, in truth, and hear faint voices that she knew, rationally, didn't exist, but she felt safe in Gabriel's arms. She leaned back against the older woman, and placed her hand on her arm. She tilted her head back to look up at her, opening her mouth to speak, then stopping. She could hear...

"Do you hear that? Please tell me I'm not hearing things."

Gabriel stopped, tilted her head, listened for a moment, nodded. "I do."

"Should we investigate?"

"Yes."

[Hannah Kerela]

Gabriel led the way out of the Halls of Purity, heading toward the faint whimpering they both heard resonating from the Halls of the Lost. She kept a pace ahead of Cecilia, preparing herself to fight if there was a threat - the girl was in no shape, she thought, to defend herself.

She stepped in first, scanning the room, her eyes focusing on a small trembling mass in the corner. She approached. "Hello?"

[Hannah Kerela]

The child curled in the corner whimpered at the call wordlessly, shrinking back further. Tears ran down her cheeks from her pink eyes. Like Cecilia, she bore circular scars in her popliteal region, but she also bore three scars in each sural region, in an obtuse angular formation, opening medially. Her green hair had pink tips, but it was messy, as if it hadn't been washed or combed in quite a while.

When Gabriel approached, she sobbed, curling up tighter. Don't touch me!

The woman pulled back sharply. "...What?"

Don't hurt me! I've been a good girl!

Cecilia moved forward. "Honey, it's alright. Neither of us is going to hurt you."

[Hannah Kerela]

Cecilia placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Do you have a name?" she asked.

The child shook her head silently, crying, trembling at the touch. She looked too young to be out alone, and too young to be this afraid. She looked up at Cecilia, terrified.

Please don't hurt me...

Cecilia shook her head. "I won't..." her eyes trailed off with her words, focusing on the scars. "Are you hungry?"

The child nodded, and Cecilia took her hand, placing it to her temple. "Go on, then. Just focus and open your mind, alright? Focus on what it is you need to consume." When the child obeyed, she also revealed her own past. Cecilia's heart skipped a beat in shock - a setup just like what she'd been in, in the same facility, but with newer 'recruits'. So, then... where was her own group?

[Hannah Kerela]

Gabriel watched a sensation akin to awe at Cecilia's gentle demeanor. She seemed confident, but not imposing. Like she was merely offering help. The blonde girl looked like an angel, holding the child's hand against her temple gently.

And then Gabriel saw it, a tear sliding down Cecilia's cheek. As the little hand withdrew, she watched Cecilia embrace the girl, kissing her forehead. Then Cecilia looked at her.

"We have to help her."

Gabriel blinked, slowly, staring at Cecilia, before remembering the scars she'd noticed. "...She's like you," she realized. "That's it, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

[Hannah Kerela]

The child felt Cecilia's compassion when she touched her mind, and settled against her quietly, clinging to her as Cecilia and Gabriel talked.

"Do you even know what to do to help her?"

"I know enough. She needs me, Gabriel - needs us. I can't fight, but you... I think you can, can't you?"

"...I can," Gabriel admitted, then sighed. She spoke again, "Alright. She needs a name."

"...Remiel," Cecilia suggested.

"Remiel..." Gabriel said, testing it out, looking at the child.

The child nodded.

"Remiel, then," Gabriel agreed.

[Hannah Kerela]

Cecilia smiled. "Thank you, Gabriel," she said, honestly. She held Remiel - Remy, she'd already nicknamed her - close, but watched the human feline. The woman was well-built, and looked caught between compassion and suspicion at the moment, an exquisite conflict of emotions that played over her eyes and her mouth.

"Don't. I only agreed because you're too attractive," Gabriel said, her voice short and quiet and her eyes looking anywhere by at her.

"Then you're of... that persuasion?" Cecilia asked, carefully. She had to know, had to be certain. Could it be?

[Hannah Kerela]

Gabriel still looked to the side, embarrassed. What had possessed her to say that? Still, she answered: "Yeah. What of it?"

Cecilia laughed. "I'm glad."

Well, that was a shock. "...You are?"

"Yes," Cecilia said, setting Remy down and standing, approaching her. Oh, for the love of-- Cecilia stood on her tip-toes, kissing Gabriel's cheek. "I'm glad I'm not the only one."

Gabriel turned to stare, slack-jawed. "Wh-what?"

[Hannah Kerela]

Remy watched as Gabriel stared at Cecilia, actually having to contain a girlish giggle. Gabriel's avoidance of the matter was sweet, as was Cecilia's straightforward kiss to the cheek.

Gabriel stared at Cecilia for a moment longer, then managed to speak, "D-do you mean that...?"

"Of course I do!"

"...Why?"

"Because it's how I was born, and because you're attractive?"

"...You know what, I'm not going to question this."

"Good."

Remy giggled, attracting both women's attentions.

[Hannah Kerela]

Cecilia knew she was blushing. She walked over, picking up Remy. "Well, it looks like you do have a voice, after all."

Remy merely buried her face in Cecilia's shoulder.

Cecilia smiled a bit, looking at Gabriel. "Thank you," she said, quietly. "In an hour, you've given me more than I was able to find in three years - a reason to live. A way out of this... distance."

[Hannah Kerela]

"You did the same for me, you know," Gabriel said. "And you've saved Remy the trouble."

"So did you."

So they had both ended up here, believing themselves alone until that critical point where two axes crossed, that origin from which a new position function could be drawn. If only they touched for a brief moment, and fused.

They touched.