Thud. Thud.
A beam of brilliance shone shattered the darkness, uncovering the wreckage that lay still among the ruins.
"What a mess," Meiou Setsuna muttered as she gripped the wooden hand railing, cautiously making her way down the half-rotted steps. She rolled the torch beam along the wall of the broken down room, hoping that none of these steps would give way under a foreign weight.
"How did this happen?" Kaiou Michiru asked no one in particular as she flipped the light switch.
"I already tried that, Michiru. The bulb`s dead."
Setsuna suddenly paused, and moved back up the stairs a bit.
"Setsuna?"
The dark-green haired young woman didn`t respond.
"Hey, Setsuna - are you all right?"
"Them," came the answer, a hoarse whisper.
"Eh?" Tenou Haruka interjected, clicking on another flashlight.
"They`re here," came the voice again.
CRACK!
"EEE!!!" Michiru shrieked, jumping backwards as the light ahead disappeared.
"What the-" Haruka grunted at the same time.
Haruka dropped her torch in surprise, jolting the batteries just enough so that there was only darkness.
"Michiru!" Haruka shouted. "Setsuna! Are you two okay?"
"Setsuna?" Michiru called out.
Faint breathing answered, Heh huh. Heh huh. Heh huh.
"Se, Setsuna?"
Heh huh. Heh huh. Heh huh.
"Setsu-"
Michiru`s oceanic voice was disturbed by the creaking of wood, and a blinding light revealing the three young women lying crumped on the stair steps.
"Guys?"
Haruka wrapped a slender hand around the hand railing and pulled herself up.
"Thanks, Hotaru," she said, helping Michiru stand up, and dusting herself off.
"Setsuna-mama?" Tomoe Hotaru queried, looking past two of her three surrogate parents at her other one. "Are you all right?"
Heh huh. Heh huh. Heh huh.
Hotaru knitted her eyebrows in curiosity, and moved down the stair steps towards where the tanned woman sat.
Heh huh. Heh huh. Heh huh.
"Setsuna-mama?"
"So, so many of them..." came the hoarse reply, followed by more ragged breathing.
Heh huh. Heh huh. Heh huh.
The purple haired child looked at where Setsuna`s garnet eyes lingered with horror.
SQUISH.
Haruka smiled proudly whilst Michiru had a look of surprise and physical ill on her gentle face.
"Looks like we`re going to have to wash the flashlight." Haruka placed a hand behind her cropped short hair of golden amber, laughing slightly. "Cockroaches! Faced the horrors of the world without so much as a whimper, she has, and yet something as small as cockroaches set her into a state of panic! Poor Setsuna."
Her sea haired lover said nothing, only marched down the basement stairs, and, gripping Hotaru`s thirteen-year-old arm in one hand, gingerly taking the now blood-stained flashlight in the other, led the smiling child up the stairs to wash her hands in disinfectant and to sterilize the flashlight thoroughly. Extremely thoroughly.
Haruka chuckled, and then walked down the stairs, placing her hands on Setsuna`s shoulders gently.
"Come on, Setsuna," she said caringly. "Let`s go upstairs, and I`ll make you some green tea to calm you down. We can clean the basement out some other time."