It was many hours before Serena passed out from her crying, at which point Ayane brought her to bed and tucked her in, then found a chair to sit in and think. She had to do something, anything at all to make things right again. There had to be a way to fix things, there just had to.

"How is she?" Law asked as he quietly opened the door to the room and peeked in.

"Passed out, but not good…" Ayane said quietly "I've… I've never seen her remotely like this… it's like she's broken… I don't know how she'll respond when she wakes up."

Law nodded "medical report came in" he said "Leona is stable, but comatose, she might wake up eventually, but there's no guarantees. So we can't count on her recovery to fix this."

Ayane looked to Serena, then to Law "based on what I know… she's going to seek revenge… she was ready to kill before… If her mom is in a coma for good because of that villain… she's going to try and do just that." She said sadly

"We can't let that happen." Law said firmly "we must stop her from crossing that line at any cost… if she kills him for revenge it'll consume her."

"I know…" Ayane sighed, she was well aware that Serena was in a delicate state that could have irreparable consequences if she went down the wrong path. She wasn't sure how to stop her though, using force was out of the question without having a pro-hero guarding her constantly, and she doubted she could just convince Serena to stand down with words alone.

"If there's anyone who can convince her, it's you Ayane" Law said "you're the person she's closest to apart from her mother."

"She won't stay put and just listen to me" Ayane said "not when she's like this."

Law sighed "I'll talk to Shin, he can probably form some kind of plan, for now, stay with her, leaving her alone right now would be ill-advised."

"As if I'd leave her in a time like this." Ayane said "just do what you need to, whatever plan you come up with, I'll assist you."

Law nodded and quietly closed the door, leaving as quietly as he could.

Ayane's attention was diverted from Law's departure by a sound coming from Serena. She stood up from her chair and went over to the bed.

"Ayane…." Serena said weakly "are you there?"

Ayane reached the bed and sat on the edge, putting her hand on Serena's shoulder "yeah… I'm here…" she said quietly

Serena opened her eyes and turned her head to look at Ayane, her bloodshot eyes still watering with tears. "Sorry… I got you wrapped up in some nasty business…" she said softly

"Silly, you don't need to apologize to me, I'm sorry I couldn't do more." Ayane said as she shook her head and rubbed her eyes to keep the tears from forming, she didn't want Serena to see her crying right now and feel obligated to comfort her.

"It's not your fault…" Serena said "but… I need to ask a favor…"

"Anything Serena, what is it?" Ayane asked

"Please… stay close to me tonight…" Serena pleaded "if you don't… the nightmares…"

Ayane suddenly remembered something Serena had told her back during the training camp. Back in the cave after her being treated for the venom she'd gotten from one of the animals there, she'd had a nightmare where she relived the torture she endured as a child. She said she relived those memories whenever she felt exposed or weak. In a situation like this, Serena was almost certainly feeling weak and vulnerable. Ayane nodded, then laid down in bed next to Serena and got under the sheets. "Of course…" she whispered "don't worry… I'll stay here all night and keep them away… I won't let them hurt you."

Serena nodded and closed her eyes "thank you…" she said as her breathing slowed and she fell asleep.

Ayane wrapped her arms around Serena and held her close, stroking her hair gently. "I won't let anyone hurt you like this… never again…" she said "I'll make this right, I swear it, so just rest…" Ayane closed her eyes, and soon drifted off to sleep

- The Next Day -

The next day Serena and Ayane were brought to the hospital to check in on Leona and answer further questions about what had happened the previous night.

"…and that's when Professor Core showed up" Ayane finished. She was speaking to the cops outside of the hospital room Leona was in while Serena sat at the bedside, still not in any condition to provide a proper report.

"I see, we're sorry this happened to you young miss, we'll let you know the moment we learn anything." One of the cops said as he finished writing down Ayane's account of the events.

"Thank you officer, now if you'll excuse me, my friend needs me." Ayane said, bowing to the officers and entering the hospital room, taking a seat beside Serena. "Hey… you holding up ok?" she asked, putting a hand on Serena's lap

Serena nodded "I'm ok for now…" she said, her voice was hoarse from all the crying, and her gaze was dull and lifeless, as if she was just functioning on autopilot, "Did the officers have any information about the attacker?"

Ayane hesitated, giving Serena information on the villain might help her out of her current state, but it could also prompt her towards seeking out revenge. It was risky, but it wasn't like she had information on where to find him, so it was worth it. "He goes by the villain name Darwin, he's a violent extremist who's been responsible for a string of serial murders along with his cult of followers. You heard his ideology yesterday. His quirk appears to be a power up type, but he always runs away when confronted by pro-heroes, so not much is known about the details."

Serena nodded "he gets stronger the more he gets hit… I picked up on that yesterday" she said, her tone of voice unchanged "you should let the cops know that. His punch the first time after I hit him, and the next one after I kicked him, the second one was faster and stronger."

"I see… I'll let them know on our way out then" Ayane said, sighing in a mixture of disappointment that Serena hadn't seemed to recover from the news, and relief that she wasn't rushing off to fight the villain.

"I'm going to kill him." Serena said bluntly, her expression didn't change, but there was a sense of certainty in her words that made Ayane stiffen. "If Mom doesn't wake up before I find him, I'm going to kill him." Serena said again

"Serena… you can't… you don't even have a provisional hero license, and even then killing villains is frowned upon at best." Ayane said "I know you hate him but…"

"I don't care." Serena said "this isn't about my career as a hero… this is personal… nobody hurts the people I love and gets away with it."

"Serena, if you hunt him down and kill him as a civilian it'll be even worse!" Ayane protested, grabbing Serena's hands and holding them tightly "please, let the teachers and authorities handle this."

"Do you plan on getting in my way Ayane?" Serena asked, her deadpan voice unchanging as she stood up, pulling her hands free. "I don't want to fight you over this, but I won't let anyone stop me, not even you." Serena began to walk towards the door of the room, but Ayane stepped in front of her.

"You're not thinking straight, you're full of grief and anger and you're going to do something you'll regret forever" Ayane said firmly, holding the door closed and staring down Serena "please… don't do it…"

Serena hesitated then pushed past Ayane "I have to…" she said "I can't just sit here and let someone else take him down. I'm grateful that you're trying to look out for me, but I have to do something." Serena shoved Ayane aside, gently enough to avoid hurting her, but hard enough to force her away from the door so she could leave.

"Serena…." Ayane said quietly as she watched the door close behind her friend. She looked down at the ground and clenched her fists in frustration. Was there truly nothing she could do here?

"Oh my, it's much worse than I thought" Shin said from behind Ayane, making the girl jump.

"Headmaster? How'd you get in here?" Ayane exclaimed as she whirled to face Shin.

"I'm not actually here this time" Shin said "this is me projecting my image into your mind from a distance, only you can see or hear me right now."

"Ah, then why are you here?" Ayane asked

"I've been observing through the security cameras to assess Serena's mental state and determine just what measures should be taken to keep her in check" Shin said "it seems we'll need to take drastic action to snap her out of it, come to campus and meet up with Law and me, we'll explain the plan in person there. If this works we should be able to get her back to normal, but this plan hinges on you and your relationship with her."

Ayane nodded "then you have a plan? Fine, I'll do whatever it takes. I'll see you soon. What about Serena in the meantime though?"

"I'll be having Leona's coworker work with her on investigating the location of Darwin, he'll help us determine his actual location, but keep Serena clear of it and lead her down some false trails while we get ready." Shin explained "now hurry to campus, maintaining this projection at such a long range is difficult."

With that Shin disappeared before Ayane's eyes. Ayane closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Serena helped me out in my time of need, now it's my turn to return the favor… I won't fail… I'll make this right. Just hang on Serena… please don't do anything stupid before I can save you from this nightmare."