Chapter 20: Forgiveness
"How is she doing?" Michiru asked while leaning against Haruka's bed. She grabbed a hold of the blonde's hand and ran her cheek across it.
"She should be fine after a couple of hours of rest." Hotaru answered while changing her bandages.
"I can't believe Star Shooter would attack her like that." Michiru spat furiously. She had subconsciously tightened her grip on her partners and.
"It wasn't Star Shooter." Hotaru muttered.
"What do you mean?" Setsuna questioned.
"She changed...into some animal or something." She explained. "Her teeth and nails had grown and her eyes turned red."
"Why are you standing up for her?" Michiru demanded.
"She's been taken over by the darkness for years. Her minds messed up or something. Did you see all of those scars on her back? She just needs to adjust." Hotaru explained. "I understand why you hate her but she has had a troubled past. You can't blame her for that."
Michiru was about to answer but was interrupted when he door bell rang. Everyone sat in silence to see if it was a delivery man. The doorbell rang again.
"I'll get it." Setsuna got up from her seat by the bed and left the room. The person at the door started to knock instead. "I'm coming." She called out and opened the door. There stood Stephie-chan with her arms full of flowers and chocolates.
"Hey, I came to see how Haruka was doing." She muttered and handed Setsuna the gifts.
"Come on in. She's in her room." Setsuna stepped aside to let the starlight through. Stephie-chan slowly entered the house and took off her shoes. Setsuna lead her up the stairs and into the injured woman's room.
"You're awake." Setsuna smiled as she saw Haruka sitting straight up in her bed. Haruka smiled and then caught notice of Stephie-chan in the doorway and immediately frowned.
"What are you doing here?" Haruka demanded. Stephie-chan flinched at her outburst but didn't leave the room.
"I came to apologize." She whispered.
"I don't want to hear it." Haruka snapped.
"Just give me a couple of minutes to explain." Stephie-chan pleaded.
"No way." She crossed her arms over her chest.
"You can hate me all you want but I have a lot of stuff to explain and apologize about." She took a seat next to the bed. "Please?"
Haruka looked down at her and noticed the hurt and the pain hidden behind her green eyes. She felt her anger melt away. "Fine, go ahead." Stephie-chan took a deep breath and started.
"I can only remember parts of my time with him, but what I'll always remember is that Demando is a monster. I don't remember when I was taken but he treated me nicely until I turned 8." She explained softly. "He started to have Sapphire and Emerald and Rubeus to attack me at any chance they had. "I was weak and he wanted to toughen me up."
"After he had them beat me he put me to work." Stephie-chan continued. "If I complained or I went to slow I would get whipped. It explains all of the scars on my back."
"What about the marking on your stomach?" Hotaru interrupted.
"This?" she questioned when she lifted up her shirt and pointed to a small scar. Hotaru nodded and softly traced the scar. "It's from a bear scratch."
"Why did you turn into an animal?" Setsuna questioned. "When we were fighting your nails grew, your teeth grew into fangs, and your eyes turned red." She added. Stephie-chan nodded and lowered her shirt.
"It's from the scratch. Demando didn't think that having humans hitting me would toughen me up. He would use animals and forced me to hide in the woods and had the animals hunt me down." Stephie-chan started to rub the scar subconsciously over her shirt. "He would sometimes keep me in the woods for days and not bring me back into the ship until I was half dead."
"That's awful." Michiru gasped.
"It gets worse." She chuckled softly. "One of the bears that attacked me was...enhanced."
"What do you mean enhanced?" Haruka muttered.
"It was given all of these injections and medicines and stuff to make it more powerful." Stephie-chan answered. "When it scratched me it was a full moon. I turned into an animal and went to attack Demando. I lose conscious of what I'm doing."
"But why did you attack Haruka?" Hotaru asked.
"Because she was my enemy at the time. I only go after things that are a threat to me." She explained while standing up. "I wanted to apologize for everything because it's the right thing to do."
"Apology not accepted." Haruka crossed her arms over her chest and relaxed into the pillow behind her. Stephie-chan's jaw dropped as she jumped to her feet.
"What?" she demanded. "I just explained to you everything that has happened to me and why and you still can't accept my apology?"
"I can't accept your apology because I can't trust you." Haruka shook her head.
"What do I have to do to show you that I'm pure and I'm here to help?" Stephie-chan asked. It was then she realized she was shaking and close to tears. She quickly reached up and wiped her eyes to make sure she didn't cry in front of them.
"You want to help?" Haruka sat up again. She winced in pain and Michiru grabbed onto her hand. "Leave, take your family and go back home."
"Why do you hate my family so much?" Stephie-chan whispered.
"Because they ruin everything." Haruka spat. "Who knows what's going to happen to us in the future now that Mamoru and Usagi broke up."
"You can only blame this on the change of someone's heart. Not me and my family." Stephie-chan shook with anger. "I don't know what I have to do and I don't care. I'm going to find a way to gain your loyalty." She stormed out of the room.
"Wait." Hotaru called out. Stephie-chan walked back into the room. She climbed to her feet and walked over to the starlight. Without warning, Hotaru reached out and gave her a hug. "I forgive you." She muttered.
"I forgive you too." Setsuna smiled.
"Me too." Michiru nodded.
"I'm aiming for someone else to accept it but thanks." Stephie-chan smiled and broke free of her grasp. She sent them all one last look and left.
"Haruka do you have to be so difficult?" Michiru turned back towards the blonde haired girl. She quickly regretted what she said because Haruka was lying their trying hard not to cry. "What's wrong?"
"I forgive you Stephie-chan." Haruka whispered.