It had never really occurred to Helena to escape. She wished to go home when she was very small, but being very small knew she could not escape those who caged her. The Prolethians had held her captive for so many years, she had forgotten about freedom. Forgotten about wanting to go home. It was Kira who brought that back to her, with her quiet sobs and clinging hands. Kira remembered home. Kira had a mother. A family.

Slowly the little girl's pain dug inside her, wormed through years of training, years of fear and hopelessness and hurt, to the part of Helena who longed for the convent which was her home. Helena cried with Kira as her heart rediscovered loss and longing for family. Feeling such things was even more painful than the ache in her chest, because these wounds, once scarred over and numbed were once again as raw as they were the day Helena was taken from the closest thing she had ever had to home. Kira's pain became Helena's pain and she could not stand for it to go on any longer.

This pain made Helena sharp and dangerous in a way that she had not been before. Helena had never wanted something quite like she did now. She had a goal of her own for the first time, one not fed to her by Tomas. The idea made her strong, gave the scattered, shattered parts of herself a singular focus. She would take Kira to her home. Kira would not see the things Helena had seen. She would not suffer. She would not hurt. Would not live as she had lived. Would not be made like Helena. She turned this idea over and over in her head for many hours, sitting silently on the floor of the cage.

When Kira woke in the morning, Helena crooked a finger at her niece to call her over.

"Angel," she whispered softly, "When I tell you, you do not see, you do not hear, yes?"

Kira looked confused.

"Like this," Helena squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her hands to her ears. "You do not see, you do not hear, you stay very still. You do this when I say, and I will take you home."

Kira nodded and grabbed Helena's hand through the cage.

"Thank you Helena."

"You are welcome, little angel."