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Dissonance

Event X

Repercussion

Why was she even alive? Why had her consciousness not faded yet? Why was she forced to endure a reality she thought a dream, she being a dream from what she thought reality. Or was reality the dream and she was real, inside a dream that was...

She couldn't move, not even lift a single finger. Her body was not hers to begin with. She was merely the remains of a dream. She was floating in darkness, inside her own mind, unable to do anything, unable to accept or reject what had transpired. She was trapped between denial and acceptance, in doubt.

Doubt so powerful that her mind couldn't handle it. Trying to think about it resulted in endlessly running in a circle of doubt. Trying to accept what she had seen resulted in her very being refusing to do so. Trying to reject what she had seen was not allowed. The smell, the sound, the touch, the sensations were all there, more real than any dream she had ever seen.

Eas was asleep, resting from formulating plans to crush the remaining two Cures. But Setsuna was not given any such privilege. She had to watch, had to share Eas thoughts, unable to avoid even a single one of them.

Her hands were sticky with the blood of the one girl that had once brought salvation to her pained soul. It would stick there forever, reminding her of the greatest deed she had ever done in the name of Labyrinth. Love's very life had been in her hands, and she crushed it without hesitation.

A nightmare that was reality. Or was she the nightmare? Was it her who pained Eas, who was a thorn in her side, who showed her what could have been? But there was no doubt in Eas mind. Only cold and absolute loyalty. She didn't remember herself to be like that. Blindly following every order, mercilessly killing a Cure.

She never thought she could do that. The feeling of ending life was special. Like a big burly beast of shadows that ripped out part of her soul with it's big claws, to crush and maim it, devour it and spit it out, only to leave a crumbling self behind.

That was Setsuna. She was the crumbling self. Trying to resist was useless. No matter how much she tried, Eas would not let her move as much as a finger, won't let her utter even a single word of regret over killing Love. Her will was beyond iron, confining Setsuna to the worst prison there could be: Inside the body of the murderer of her loved one.

Her conscience was slowly fading, growing weaker with each passing hour. The inside of Eas' mind was cold, ruthless, trying to slowly get rid of her so that only loyalty to Moebius remained. She was just a ghost of a dream. Less real than even the afterglow of the memories one had after waking up.

There was just one thought that kept her 'alive' in there. That kept her awake, resisting total elimination.

"Help me, Love."

=== Dissonance ===

Lemonade didn't trust the quiet and peace. Not only did the exile not make a move yet, but the other Cure was also nowhere to be seen. And the oddities didn't stop there. The destroyed battlefield was changed. Not the way it did before but in a clearly sinister way.

"I feel like some kind of beast is gonna jump out at me any second." Lemonade stopped on one of the highest towers and looked around. It was much darker than she remembered from the day before. And worse yet, darker than when she first started running.

Something was not right. An eerie feeling, like she was wading through a deep swamp where every step could be her last one. There was danger in the air. And it wasn't just the treat of becoming stuck out there. It was actual blood lust.

"Who the fuck is stuck out here? Gives me the creeps..." Lemonade had barely finished her line when she felt someone staring at her. Turning around, she only saw shadows slowly obscuring the field. Whatever was lurking there, it was out to get her. And it was smart.

She was a skilled fighter and could hold her own in both a one versus one and a group battle. But she wasn't one to deal well being pressurized like that. Creating a chain in her hand, Lemonade's eyes tried to penetrate the darkness ahead. The light was fading with every second. She had to get out of there.

Jumping to the next platform, Lemonade felt something grab her ankle. Using her chain like a whip, she lashed out below her but hit nothing. There had definitely been something. Definitely. "What the hell is going on?" Lemonade was shivering. For the first time since they all arrived in that god forsaken place, she was afraid.

Her eyes moved hastily from one side to the other. She turned constantly, moving backwards only a few steps at a time. It was close. It was so very close, she could swear there was something wheezing out there, covered by the shadows.

It had gotten so dark, she could barely see five meters in front of her. None of the previous exile runners mentioned anything like that. Kurumi had been crazed, but this was different. "This is like a cheap horror movie... a cheap but very effective horror movie. I hate those." Lemonade tried to joke around to relieve some of her fear but it wasn't working. The wheezing was coming from every side. A pack of somethings was out there. She was certain of that.

Beasts that lived far outside the world, lurking between the stars. Maybe she read too much science-fiction, but it seemed all too real at the time. What was she supposed to do? She was confident she could win any one to one fight, confident she was able to defend herself long enough to get away. But that was only against an enemy she could actually see.

A sudden movement in a corner. Lashing out with her chain, she only hit air, missing whatever there might have been again. Urara looked from side to side and took two more steps backwards. It was too dark to see anything now. She was trapped.

Her brain stopped working when she bounced against something. Turning about and trying to capture whatever it was, she faced another Cure. One that surprisingly looked scared shitless. The face pale, an expression of horror on it, there was no doubt that it was the Cure from the other team and not the exile. A blue Cure.

"What is going on?" Lemonade looked at Ellen, who had trouble even standing straight. She was trembling, looking at the yellow Cure like she was a ghost. "I don't care about the dumb exile race right now. Here." Urara dropped her chain and looked at Beat, who seemed to recover just a tiny bit. "I'm Lemonade. From the light team."

"Beat. From the dark team. I... is this how the exile runs are? I didn't expect it to be like-" Ellen felt something touch her ankle. Something slimy, liquid like. With a squeak, she jumped at Urara, holding on to her.

"Get a grip! I know it's damn scary, but freaking out won't help us!" Lemonade wished that the runner from the other side had been someone with a little more composure. Though she couldn't really blame her. It was so dark, it was difficult to even see each other. And there was one hundred percent something lurking out there, ready to... do something to them.

"I don't give a crap about the exile at this point. I just want to get out of here in one piece. We need to get rid of whatever is out there." Creating two chains, one in each hand, Lemonade turned around. "Cover my back. I'll cover yours." Beat followed the order almost in trance, too confused and scared to object. She had never been good with scary things.

"My, my, aren't you the crafty one." A woman's voice was penetrating the shadows, seemingly from every direction all at once. "But do you really think you'll have much of a chance against me?"

"Seems to be that way. Why else would you be hiding? There only reason you're hiding in the shadows would be that you can't take both of us on at once."

"You have a sharp tongue. But I'm not foolish enough to give up my advantage." The voice echoed through the black mist around them.

Lemonade was confused. That was definitely not someone crazy or insane. Was that the exile or not? And was there a Cure who could hide so well in the shadows? As a warrior of light, that wasn't exactly typical. "You are foolish enough to face two of us in this desolate place, without knowing anything about us."

"Then we are on equal ground. For you know nothing about me either."

"I know you're a Cure. One driven mad by this place." Urara took the bet and hoped. Even if it turned out false, it would discern the identity of their attacker. "You're not Rouge, I know that much. So you have to be from the other team. Beat." Lemonade had to take control of the situation in order to get Beat to stop shaking. Kurumi had been the one to return from exile after Rouge left. That meant, the Cure that left before Beat was the one they were facing. Hopefully. But again, in this place, everything was possible.

"Setsuna." Ellen was watching both sides the front on her part, her eyes twitching as she tried to never leave a single part of it out of sight. "Cure Passion left before me."

Lemonade grit her teeth. She might have met her at some point but couldn't remember. Going by purely the exclusion method, Passion had to belong to Peach's team. Whispering, in hope of hiding her voice from whoever was lurking in the shadows around them, Urara asked Ellen another question. "Do you know anything about her powers? Could she do this?"

"I haven't seen her fight. But... this..." Ellen had a very, very bad feeling about the situation at hand. It reminded her of something she really wanted to forget and never remember again. The days she pursued the Melody of Sadness. "Passion and I both were enemies to us Cures at a time." Beat whispered and took a deep breath, trying to ignore the grim atmosphere.

"Eas." Beat said in a loud and clear voice. Silence followed. The shadows were wading in front of the two, like they were in a small hole at the bottom of a swamp, the thick and deadly moor ready to swallow them up. "Higashi Setsuna." Beat used Passion's other name.

Lemonade was confused and needed an explanation. "What are you doing?" She was still whispering, not taking her eyes off the shadowy walls.

"Passion originally belonged to the enemy. She told me. Her real name is Eas. Her human name is Higashi Setsuna." Ellen wasn't comfortable telling that just anyone, but the situation at hand didn't really leave her much choice.

"If this place woke her memories of that time... it would make sense." Lemonade bit her lip. "What a horrifying place." Raising her voice to almost shouting, Urara was ready to play a bit of mind games with whoever was attacking them.

"Makes you wonder how we know your name, doesn't it?" Lemonade grinned wide. It was a fake grin but she was quite convincing in her acting. "Not so scary now, are you?"

"Who the hell are you?" The voice was clearly agitated. "Nobody should know that Eas and Higashi Setsuna are the same."

Lemonade reacted barely in time, turning a little and extending her arm to Beat's chest, pushing her down as she let herself drop to the ground. A handful of small but razor sharp looking black jewels rushed right through the air where their throats had been a second ago.

"Who's scared of who now?" Urara lashed out with her chain to the point where the crystals had come from and actually hit something. "Got you."

Pulling on the chain, a silver haired woman with a hateful expression on her face was dragged out of the shadows, trying to break free. The golden chain was wrapped thrice around her, binding her arms to her torso. Urara was relieved she didn't have to fight out there. But there was something else that scared her quite a lot. The condition the enemy was in.

Every single speck of skin not hidden by the black clothes she was wearing was littered with deep cuts. Lemonade added one and one together and arrived at Milky Rose's special attack, the Abbadon. Given the way she had been when she got out, it wasn't out of the way to assume she attacked someone with it.

And the wounds didn't vanish like after a battle. Lemonade made quite the shocking discovery. Injuries sustained in exile were carried over in full. One more reason to absolutely avoid fighting to the blood out there.

No angry screams, no demands to be let free, Eas cursed herself for letting herself be taunted by the yellow Cure's sharp tongue. They would kill her, just as she had killed Peach. "Go ahead and finish me off. Others will take my place. Moebius has many who serve him."

Eas and Urara both looked surprised when Ellen slapped Eas face so hard that the black hairband she wore was thrown out of her hair. "Finish you off? Moebius? Get a grip Setsuna." Ellen wasn't going to let her new found love succumb to the demons of her past.

Eas looked unfazed by the outburst, but something was stirred on inside her mind. Something she had already forgotten. "Setsuna! Remember who you are! You were betrayed by Moebius, died and were revived because Love cared for you!"

"Don't be silly, girl. I am Lord Moebius most faithful servant, why would he betray me?. I was saved by Peach? Are you mad? I killed Cure Peach! With my own hands!" Eas shouted at Ellen, angry at the accusations the blue Cure was making.

"What is she saying? I saw Peach just a few hours ago. She was plenty alive and kicking. And annoying." Urara tightened the chain, making Eas groan in pain. "I don't know what kind of shit you went through or how strong the horror out here is, but you're wrong. Peach is alive."

"I'm not going to believe your lies." Eas wasn't going to fall for such a simple trick. Peach was alive? What nonsense. She had witnessed her last moments... her... death...

Her head started to hurt. How did she kill her? Had she not seen her own memories of fighting her? Yes... yes they were there. The battle. The exchange of blows. But how did she kill her? How? Why couldn't she remember? "Because I didn't do it." A voice in her head. She was still there? That annoying remnant from her dream.

Her memories were showing her conflicting images. One moment, she struck Peach down. The next, it was her who was struck down. The bloody corpse of Peach. The happy smiling face of a grown up Peach. Her head was trying to burst.

"She's fighting it." Urara could tell from the painful expression on Eas face that she was literally fighting herself.

"Take her out of here. I'll stay, so you two can leave. I can't just leave her here just to get away myself." beat looked on the ground, horrified by what happened to Setsuna. The way she spoke about Love and her past, it had been clear that she held bad memories. But she didn't know they were strong enough to cause something like that to happen.

"Are you mad? Look at her! The same thing is gonna happen to you! Milky Rose was on the edge of becoming a nutcase after being out here?" Lemonade wasn't oblivious to her intentions, but she still had to object.

"I know!" Ellen shouted at Lemonade and turned around to look at Eas, who was still fighting with her inner demons. "I can't imagine anything more horrible than knowing she'll still think she killed the one person she loves most. It hurts me to just look at her. Take her to the other gate. I'll go with you. You can chain me up to make sure I'm not going to pull one over you if you want." Beat was surprisingly serious when it came down to it. But she had always had an obsession with protecting those she loved.

Urara slowly shook her head in disbelief. "You're already crazy. But it's your sanity you're betting. I'll tie her up nicely. It's not my job what happens after that. Take her to the gate yourself." Clicking her fingers, Lemonade created a dozen more chains that wrapped Eas up quite nicely. "Take her. Do whatever you want. Leave her or stay here. It's your choice."

Jumping though the shadowy mist, Lemonade vanished, not without feeling incredibly bad about what she just did. But in times like these, she had to put herself first. Reality had screwed her over one time too many in the past. No more self righteous sacrifices.

Eas couldn't speak or even recognize what was going on around her. Memories were overriding each other, merging and becoming something indistinguishable from grotesque nightmares. She was... Eas... Passion... Eas... Passion. Her head felt like it was about to explode.

Picking up the woman covered in golden chains, Beat carried the shadow of the woman she had fallen in love with like a princess. Eas. The demons of her past she had left behind. "Setsuna... I'll get you out of here." Ellen knew that she too, had things she wanted to forget and how dangerous it was to stay behind to let Setsuna escape. But it was a decision she wouldn't doubt even for one second.

=== Dissonance ===

"You look terrible Urara. What's wrong?" Rouge was one of the people that had waited for the exile runner at the gate.

"Exile is a terrifying place. I saw what it did to Kurumi and Passion." Lemonade just stood there and shook her head. "I need a drink. A hard one. Which room is mine?"

Rouge knew Urara quite well and when that usually tough woman needed a drink, then things were really looking bad. She had met Kurumi too, but Urara must have seen something even worse than that. "I'll show you."

The other Cures present and now left behind were Egret, Moonlight and Muse. "This makes one thing absolutely clear. There is something out there in the exile that's tormenting whoever gets stuck. I guess it's supposed to ensure that everyone wants to be as useful as possible to their team and therefore least likely to be voted out." Muse looked at the gate with a hint of disgust. It was effective, but not good, motivation.

"It's effective. I absolutely don't want to get stuck out there," Egret said, earning an agreeing nod from Moonlight. "From what Lemonade said, both Milky Rose and Passion seem to have gotten stuck at some point. Passion was the one to leave before this... so she failed to get through when Rouge showed up here." They were not allowed to directly tell the other team such things, but it wasn't too hard to put pieces together and bend the rules that way.

"Beat left today, going after Passion," Muse said. She had talked to Ellen just before Hibiki and Kanade joined them to see their friend off. Ako had a feeling that Beat's decision to follow Passion was based on something specific.

"So either she or Passion are stuck now." Moonlight summarized. "You're looking really worried Muse. Do you think something will happen to Beat?"

"No. But I fear things might get really bad if Ellen gets stuck out there. She went through a pretty dark phase in the past. She used to belong to my kingdom, Major Land, so naturally I'm worried about one of my subjects."

"Spoken like a real queen." Moonlight turned around and looked at the now closed gate. The battles were one thing. A necessary evil so to speak. But the exile was nothing of the sort.

"There's no point in brooding over this." Egret looked back towards the living room. "Right now, we can't do anything about this."

"What about the wish granting?" Moonlight came up with an idea. "The rules didn't specify what we can wish for or not. It might be possible to change the nature of the exile with enough power. I don't think they purposely torment us. Human values, emotions and fears are simply alien to them. They must have created it as motivation for cases like Dream. That's what I think."

"Possible. But there is no real way to confirm this, is there? I don't think they'll just answer us if we ask." Muse faced Moonlight, intrigued by the theory.

"How about we just wish to know? Use the favor system and wish to know if it is possible to change the exile system with favor." Egret offered another idea. "I'm not sure it'll work. I didn't think about the favor system, but I believe it's better to try than give up. It's not like we want to use it to escape this place. It's simply to remove what makes the exile horrifying. It'll still suck really badly to be stuck out there all alone."

"It's worth a try. I'll try this later and tell you the results."

=== Dissonance ===

"She's still not responsive. She just wrings in pain and says random things. How's Love?" Inori let out a heavy sigh. The situation was really bad.

About twenty minutes ago, Miki barged into her room and dragged her to the gate. What Inori saw there left her speechless. Eas was laying on the ground, twitching and flailing, grabbing her head in pain. Love was right next to her, trying to hold her, trying to calm her down, without success.

Before either of them could interfere, Eas hit Love right violently in the stomach, knocking her flat out. It wasn't an aimed hit. It was just coincidence. Miki was quick witted and called Mint. But there was nothing she could do. The pain wasn't caused by her visible injuries but by something different.

She didn't seem to pose a threat, so they confined her simply to Passion's room, with someone always looking over her. Mint had relieved her from watch duty for now, so she could talk to Miki.

"She hasn't come to yet, but I think she'll take it badly. She always puts others first, you know that. How in the world did Setsuna turn into Eas to begin with?" Miki shook her head. To some things, she just didn't have an answer.

"I don't know. Maybe she never lost the ability to do so. I mean, she left for a while and went to Labyrinth to help them rebuild. Love was pretty sad back then. When she came back to live with Love, she was Setsuna. I never saw her transform into Eas, but that doesn't mean she couldn't." Inori shared her own theory with Miki.

"I bet Westar and Soular sent her back because she was missing Love. I think she was already having feelings for her back then. Regardless, what do we do? I can't really say for sure, but from the way she's acting, it seems like she's having an identity crisis."

"We don't know what happened to her out there. How did she even get out of exile? She couldn't even walk or talk." Inori was quite perplexed by it.

"You don't think someone..." Miki stopped talking midways. Their whole team was on the light side. Who else would sacrifice themselves to get her out of there?

"I don't want to think about it." Inori looked up when the door behind Miki opened. Love was still weak on her feet, holding on to the wall. "Love, are you okay?"

Being a Cure, they could take quite the punishment and damage. But that only applied when they were transformed. Without that power, a simple blow like the one Eas landed could cause quite a bit damage.

"How's Setsuna?" Love didn't care about the pain in her stomach. About feeling sick and wanting to throw up. About the burning headache. Her thoughts were only with the girl she loved. That was suffering much more than she was.

"Same as before." Inori barely said those words as the door behind her literally exploded. Three flashes of light and several more from the living room, more than half a dozen Cures stared at the blown out door.

"I'm... not... letting you... screw around... with my... mind..." Eas voice reached out to them. The hostility in it was tangible in the air, like a thick poisonous smoke. There was no doubt she was planning to attack them. And going for a kill. "I'm... Eas... Servant of Moebius."

"She's out of control. Restrain her!" White was the first to act and gave orders. Black and Blossom were the first to heed the command and jumped into the smoke. Not even a second passed between them entering and Black coming flying back out, crashing into the wall of the hallway.

The smoke dissipated slowly and revealed Eas trying to over power Blossom, who surprisingly managed to keep her in check just barely, being forced back slowly. "She's crazy strong...!" Tsubomi pressed out between gritted teeth while Eas forced her on her knee.

There was something unnaturally horrifying about Eas. Not the tears of blood she was crying. Not the insane look in her eyes. Not the distorted air around her. The true source of what terrified the others was that her body itself seemed unstable, constantly switching between Eas and Cure Passion.

"Stop her somehow! Dammit, if you could use Lemonade, she's not here!" White shouted more orders and prepared herself to take down Passion if necessary. She really didn't want to go that far, hoping to only knock her unconscious, but if she had to, she would prioritize the safety of many over one.

Aqua and Mint went up against her next. "Aqua, one my command, fill the shield."

Blossom was forced on the ground, Eas grabbed her by her hair and throwing her right at Milky Rose who was coming running down the hallway. "Multiplying... like roaches..."

"Now!" Mint created a spherical shield right around Eas, completely locking her in. Not a second passed before the silver haired woman tried to shatter the shield. Mint went on her knees the second the first punch connected. "What the... she's beyond strong!"

Aqua stood in front of the barrier and concentrated. She didn't have any specific attack to just spawn water, so she manipulated one of her usual attacks to collect much more energy, just to discard it constantly, creating water inside the barrier. Eas was quickly submerged.

And yet she didn't give up. Punching the barrier again, a thin trickle of blood started to run from her forehead. "I can't hold her...!" The third punch shattered the barrier completely, forcing Mint on her knees. Nobody wanted to use lethal force and they were much more reluctant to fight than when on the battlefield. Eas on the other hand was aiming to kill them.

Soaked to the bone, Eas stood up, her whole body shaking, her hands grabbing her temple, the woman screamed out in pain. Passion seemed to get control of the body for just a few seconds, then returned to Eas.

White saw no other choice. If she had to live with guilt in order to protect others, she would do so. "Everyone back off!" White aimed straight at the black clad woman. "I'm sorry. Whitelight Illu-" She hesitated. Not because there was doubt stopping her. But because Peach was walking straight up to Eas, without making any attempt to defend herself.

"You... You?! I killed you! You're dead! What is this insanity? What is going on?" Eas face was distorted in pain as she looked at Love. "Stay away.. stay away!" Trying to back off, her legs refused to listen. Passion was resisting her will.

Peach was just within range when Eas brutally hit her in the stomach, followed by putting her hands together and swinging them down on Peach's back, smashing her into the wet ground. Biting her lip so hard that she started to bleed from it, Eas lifted her right leg and kicked Peach. But the pink Cure still didn't defend herself. She simply took the damage and got up, slowly. Only one of the others could see Peach's face at the time and that was White. She was smiling.

"Get away from her Peach! That's no longer Passion!" White yelled, attempting to activate her blast attack. Berry stopped her, shaking her head.

Peach was now standing right in front of Eas, slowly laying her arms around the silver haired woman. "Remember who I am?" The world was standing still between Love and Eas. The words of the pink Cure reached the girl locked inside the cage of a nightmare, a prison she was trying to escape with all of her power. "You do remember. I know you do. We fought so many times, you hid who you truly were beyond a facade of loyalty. Your doubts buried by blind obedience, your desires locked away in a cage of fear of rejection. Eas is a part of you. A part you should never forget, you can't forget. She will always be there, the fierce girl who served only her nation. But you are not just her. Because that is not who you are, Setsuna."

"It is time to wake up Setsuna. Wake up and be yourself again. Moebius is long gone and Labyrinth is a much better place now. You don't need to serve anymore. There is no one to take your loyalty and bind you. There are many who accept you just the way you are. And I am here, to be by your side no matter what happens."

Just as she finished talking, Eas body went limp. She didn't return to Setsuna or Passion, but her violent onslaught stopped. Falling to her knees, Peach fell with her. Raising her head slightly, Love rose with her. "Love... I'm so sorry..."

"I know. It's over now. The nightmare is gone." As to seal her words with magic, Peach kissed her partner in front of several perplexed Cures, only to lose consciousness during it.

Nobody knew when Setsuna passed out, but the two of them were carried to Peach Room by their friends Miki and Inori.

Left behind were a few women who were quite happy that things were ended peacefully. Honoka knew that she would have blamed herself for the rest of her life if she accidentally used too much power and killed Passion.

"She was the exile. Has to be." White spoke to herself. "We can't leave things like that. Milky Rose. Passion. They both became real dangers to us and themselves after they were stuck out there." White shook her head and went to care for Black, who had already come to, rubbing her forehead.

"What happened?" Nagisa had been out the whole time. "I felt something grab me and throw me and then it went all dark."

"You looked really uncool, sweetheart. But you're not hurt, so I forgive you." Honoka was smiling gently and helped her partner up, looking at the ruined room. "Be happy you didn't have to see what happened. Eas, Cure Passion, was, well... brought down I guess, by Peach. They're both alive."

"Is everyone else okay?" Nagisa looked around. Aqua was caring for Mint, Hikari for Kurumi, Marine for Blossom.

"Physically, I guess so. But those who weren't afraid of the exile before, now they're scared for sure." And she was no exception.

=== Dissonance ===

Moonlight stood in the middle of her room, her eyes closed, concentrating on the one thing she wanted to know most right then. "Is there a way to change the exile?" A handful of coins in her hand, she was prepared to make a sacrifice to learn about it.

The coins itself started to heat up, too hot to hold. Yuri dropped them as soon as they started to burn her hand. But they did not fall. Floating, flying, like a dragonfly still in air, they kept their position, slowly melting, as if a invisible flame was heating them.

The liquid metal took shapes, curvy and wild, but clearly roman letters. Yuri had studied English before. But why English? It was one of the most commonly spoken languages in the world and sometimes considered to be the most universal language by people. Regardless, the burning hot metal spelled just three words. 'Yes, it's possible'

"How much favor do we need? In which way can we change it?" Yuri was ready to grab more coins as the existing letters were molten down again and changed shape to spell new words.

"Many. A person's life worth." The words remained only for seconds before they changed yet again, this time only building a single word. "Unknown."

Having exhausted the worth of the favor, the letters vanished like smoke into thin air, dissipating in seconds. Yuri wasn't exactly pleased with the answers. A lot of favor and the way they could change it was unknown.

On one hand, it made a lot of sense. The favor system had not been setup to interfere with the other systems and therefore even the powers had no answer to how it could be changed. Or they were just teasing her. Moonlight dismissed that possibility as nonsense and left her room, not very pleased with what she learned regardless.

The four Cures forming Splash Star as well as Muse were present in the living room. Itsuki was nowhere to be seen, which was also true for Rouge, Lemonade, Melody and Rhythm. It didn't quite matter at the time. The five present were playing a card game that Yuri didn't recognize.

"I just made the wish to learn about the possibility of changing the way the exile works," Yuri said in her usual calm voice as she sat down next to Muse, looking at her hands of cards. Four of a kind and a joker. Were they playing some variety of poker? "The answers were just as vague as I expected. It's possible to change the exile, but when I asked how much favor we need, it just answered 'Many, a person's life worth' and 'Unknown' as to what can be changed."

"At least that tells us that we can do something about it. Full House." Egret put down her cards. Three kings and two queens.

Saki and Michiru didn't even bother showing their cards. "Three of a kind plus joker." Kaoru looked at Egret who clicked with her tongue, visibly displeased with that turn of events.

"Four of a kind plus joker. My win." The adult Muse earned surprised and annoyed faces from the others. "That makes three in a row. You guys are terrible at this game." Ako's mean side was shining through again. "But if you want I could show you some tricks."

"The card game aside, what do we do about the exile?" Moonlight was intrigued by the game but wanted to have the matter at hand done with before she focused on anything else.

"I don't think we can do anything right now. A person's life doesn't come cheap. I guess it'll cost at least thousands of favor if not much more than that." Egret said and sighed. "Considering we still need a lot of other things, that's quite an exorbitant price. I assume the other side already has gotten a kitchen and most of us are pretty sick of eating the same thing every day. Changing the exile is important, but we have no idea how much favor we'll need. I hate to be the one to be materialistic in this situation, but it'll help our team quite a bit if we get some basic facilities before we save up to some unknown amount."

"I can't really argue with that. However, I think we should utilize as many people to fight as possible and disregard unfavorable areas or such. This isn't an issue we can just ignore. It concerns us all." Nobody opposed Moonlight's idea. Nobody was thrilled or looking forward to getting to be the exile. More fights meant more exchanges, but also more favor. It was a double edged blade.

"You could almost think this is one of their plans... Make us afraid of the exile so we aim to change it by amassing favor through a lot of fighting. That's the ultimate goal. To make us fight to create more energy that will be used to restore balance." Muse didn't like the idea of the powers setting up such an elaborate plan.

"If you think about it like that, it does make sense. I'd rather not believe that though. The exile really is the only unreasonable part of this. We're not running in danger of starving or dying of thirst. Each of us has a room. We get favor regardless of winning or losing. Facilities aren't cheap but not unreasonably expensive either. Disregarding the exile, it's not as bad as I first thought. Sure, it bad to be cut off in some otherworldly place with no contact to friends or family, but at least they won't be in any danger." Egret replied, the others giving consenting nods.

"While we're here, who should fight? I will go in any case, but there are only three others that can fight, and I'm not sure Lemonade is in any condition to do so." Yuri knew what exactly that implied. Dream had to fight. That would likely end in real chaos.

"Are you sure about this? Making Dream fight doesn't sound like a good idea." Muse looked at Yuri while she dealt cards for the next round.

"She's not going to get around it forever. She has to accept the situation, she's not fourteen anymore," Moonlight said what everyone was thinking. True enough, the only one obstinate enough to refuse to accept the situation at hand was Dream. "If necessary, I will drag her out of her room to the battlefield. The red light should do the rest." Yuri wasn't going to compromise.

=== Dissonance ===

Setsuna felt like her head was on fire. She knew exactly what happened. Every little detail of how she had acted, of how she had let herself be controlled by a nightmare. How she hurt the others. How she hurt Love.

Opening her eyes, she looked straight at Love's sleeping face. As if she hadn't felt bad enough on her own, guilt was making her truly miserable. Moving about and trying to get up, she had problems making her body listen to her. Every muscle, every tendon, every bit of her body was aching and sore.

"You should rest." It was Miki's voice, coming from behind her. She was sitting on a chair she had brought from the living room. "Do you remember what happened?" Berry wasn't going to blame her friend for what happened, but she wasn't going to let her forget about it either.

"I remember everything. It was worse than hell. I'm not going to make any excuses, but it was horrible beyond anything I could have imagined." Setsuna shook her head, a single strand of silver hair falling in her face. Looking down on herself, she was still Eas but in control of her own body and mind.

"I was surprised. I didn't know you could still take that form." Miki noticed that Setsuna was clearly a little disturbed that she was still in her original body.

"For some time, I thought I couldn't turn back. Ironically enough, one of my abilities as Passion allow me to use abilities of the past. I call it 'Memory'. I can turn into Eas when I use it, but I can't use any of my Cure abilities like this." Setsuna sighed. "Love knew all along. She told me that Eas was a part of me I could never let go of. Back when I first became Passion, I thought Eas was truly gone. But with the years, I discovered that it was just me locking her away." Setsuna shook her head. "I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"I'm surprised you're not blaming yourself for what happened. I expected you to be really distraught over hurting Love." Miki could be tactful when she needed to, but she preferred to be honest with her friends.

"How long do you think I've been with her Miki? I know her so well now... probably better than either you or Inori. Of course I blame myself for attacking her and the others. I hate myself for giving in to the nightmare. But being miserable over it will only make Love feel even worse. She always puts others first. You should know that well."

"You changed since I last saw you. Love is still the same as ever, so I thought you would be too. But you're thinking like an adult now." Miki smiled and looked down. She was impressed.

"Love once told me, she'll be happy as long as I am happy. How is she? I hit her pretty hard and I can barely move." Setsuna tried to lift her arm, but the pain that came with it stopped her pretty quickly.

"She was transformed, so she didn't take a lot of damage. She'll be back on her feet in no time. I never expected I'd see Eas fighting Peach again. One time was really enough."

Setsuna was quiet for a few minutes, not moving, only breathing calmly. Miki first thought she fell back asleep. "The exile is beyond horrifying Miki. I woke up, inside Eas mind. An Eas that still served Moebius, that killed Love. Do you know what it felt like when I had to watch that?"

Miki didn't answer. That exceeded her worst imaginations. Setsuna took another deep breath. "It felt like someone ripped my heart out and crushed it. I was told my entire life as Passion had been a dream I had during a long rest after killing Peach. It was so incredibly real. No nightmare can compare to this Miki. I've never been so scared in my entire life. I never want to go through that again."

"I knew it was bad... but that..." Miki remembered something. "Setsuna, how did you leave the exile area?"

Setsuna gasped, her eyes going wide. She had completely forgotten about her during all the chaos. "I was... chained up by Lemonade. Beat took me to the exit and stayed behind... Ellen... why did you have to do that..." Setsuna buried her face in the pillow. Wasn't it enough that she had feeling towards her that made her feel guilty of violating Love's trust? Why did she have to prove how much she cared by sacrificing herself to stay behind in a place like that?

"Beat?" Miki tried to recall which Cure that was and to which team she belonged. "Is that one of the Cures on Rhythm's team?"

"She belongs to the Suite team. All four of them were there and she still followed me... what should I do..." Setsuna didn't want to tell Miki about the forbidden kiss she had shared with Ellen in a moment of weakness.

"This sounds like something I shouldn't pry into. But if that girl followed you and sacrificed herself to get you out of the exile, I can tell you must mean quite a bit to her. Talk to Love about this when she wakes up. I'll need to get some fresh air. Figuratively." Miki stood up and left the couple alone in the bed. It didn't bother her at all to see Love and Setsuna sleep together. She had always thought they were doing it at home.

Going outside, Miki found Inori leaned against the wall next to the door. "Eavesdropping?" Miki grinned and watched Inori pout.

"It's stuffy with so many people to be in the same room. Anyway, what do you think?" Inori had that one look in her eyes and Miki knew right away what she as getting at.

"I wasn't going to pry into this but with you and Love as my friends, it'll be impossible not to anyway. Beat, huh... I don't think I've ever seen her. Setsuna called her Ellen. I'm not sure what to think. If she knew Setsuna well enough to make the sacrifice, it's odd that she stayed behind after seeing what happened to her out there."

"I can't imagine what Setsuna must have felt like during all of this." Inori had heard everything. About the horrible sights Setsuna had to endure. About how she remembered everything.

"Maybe that's for the best." Miki turned around when she heard someone walk down the hallway. It was Honoka.

"Are they up yet? One of them will need to go with you two to the fight tomorrow. I'm worried about their health, but we already decided the number of participants." White had been in charge of making quite a few difficult decisions in her life. She was used to it.

"Setsuna won't be able to go anywhere today. I don't know about tomorrow. The battle is still about twenty hours away, give or take, so they should have enough time to recover." Miki was worried about the two. More about their relationship than their participation in the upcoming match.

"We're going to start making dinner in a bit. Kurumi and Hikari offered to make pasta for everyone. The kitchen is pretty decent, I have to say. It cost the team an arm and a leg, but we can finally get some real food." Honoka could cook but wasn't really all that good at it.

"I wonder how long we're going to be here." Inori sighed and walked past Honoka, in the direction of the living room. After several days of ready made food, she wanted to see someone cooking.

"Who knows. For the time being, we should get things fixed up so that we're set to stay a while." Miki followed her friend, White walking next to her.

"I wonder if we can't do something about the exile. I don't want another accident like today." Honoka was reminded closely of how she almost blasted Eas to bits every time she saw one of the Fresh team.

"Everyone is scared of the exile now. As if it wasn't enough to be stuck all alone out there, no, they also torment you psychologically. I think it's taking things too far. It's almost as- watch out!" Miki was not quick enough to react.

Inori had walked just a bit ahead of them, looking back and listening to their conversation. That she didn't watch where she was going had resulted in a huge crash. At the same time as Inori reached the corner to the living room and, now too, the kitchen, Nagisa had collided with the yellow Cure, both of them going down.

"Nagisa... watch where you're going." Honoka was scolding her partner after helping her up. The black Cure had a huge red mark on her forehead.

"Sorry Pine... I was kind of in a hurry." Nagisa smiled awkwardly and vanished in the general direction of the bathroom.

The vet was rubbing her forehead, groaning. "What is her head made of? Concrete? She could run against a wall and be fine."

"A little exaggerated, but Nagisa's really, really tough. Out of everyone here, probably the toughest. She's a little dense sometimes." Honoka smiled at Inori. "Don't hold it against her please."

"I'm not that kind of person, don't worry. Is that just me or does it smell really good from the kitchen?" The living room had previously had a huge open space, which was now completely taken up by the kitchen. A simple wall with two windows and a large door separated the cooking from the living area.

"I smell it too. Honoka, you said they were gonna make pasta?" Miki had barely finished talking when their attention was shifted to the kitchen door. An angry looking Milky Rose, complete with head cloth and apron, was kicking out Marine.

"I told you twice not to touch the sauce. Now stay out of the kitchen." Slamming the door shut, Marine walked over to the table where Blossom, Mint and Aqua were sitting and talking.

"I win." Tsubomi smiled, each of the other two handing her one coin.

"I didn't think she'd get kicked out that quickly." Mint looked at Erika, who sat down next to Tsubomi, looking a little bit annoyed.

"Erika's really good at anything if she puts her mind to it, but she's hard to work with if you're trying to follow your own pace." Tsubomi smiled while Erika started to pout.

"What are you doing?" Honoka, together with Miki and Inori, had arrived at the table. "Making bets how long Marine can stay in the kitchen without getting the cooks angry?"

"Sure, just make fun of me. It's not like I have feelings or anything." Erika was pouting even more now.

"Nobody's gonna fall for that Marine. Everyone here knows you're not the type to pout." Karen leaned back and had a confident grin on her face. "Thinking about it, I never expected to just sit down with eleven other Cures and have dinner. If we disregard the environment we're in, it's actually quite fun."

"Karen get's lonely really quickly, so this is perfect for her." Karen achieved heavy blush status just as Komachi finished babbling out her secrets.

"Komachi! Why you!" Komachi simply covered her mouth and giggled, with everyone else looking amused at Karen's embarrassed antics.

"Karen is right. Disregarding the fighting and the exile, this isn't so bad. Everyone is mature enough to not hold grudges over the fighting, and it's fun to get to know everyone better. Despite all of us being Cures, we didn't really know anything about each other. I would've never expected Karen to be a big eater for example." Marine commented, a malicious grin on her face as she looked at the other blue Cure at the table.

"Komachi! You've been telling people all about me, haven't you!" Karen's face was now closely resembling a tomato, with Komachi almost bending from laughter.

"There is still time till dinner. Want to play something to pass the time?" Miki sat down next to Karen, who was hiding her face in her hands, getting patted on the back by Komachi.

"I wanna hear how you and Nagisa hooked up, Honoka." Marine blurted out, making Tsubomi blush. She really was straight forward when it came to those things.

"Sure. It's not something we hide anyway. We live together, and it's pretty obvious to anyone who sees us, I guess." Honoka sat down one seat away from Tsubomi.

"I'm kind of interested as well. You two get along so well, was it always like that?" Inori sat down next to Mint, putting her elbows on the table and resting her head on her hands.

"It's not that fascinating a story, really. Where do I start? I guess I can give you a brief summary of the beginning." Honoka was the center of attention now. "We went to the same school but really didn't know each other when we became Cures. I had never really had a thing for guys, even back then, but Nagisa seemed to have a crush on one. I really liked her even back then, but I thought nothing would ever come of it. I mean, she was liking a guy, and when you're fourteen years old, it's seems pretty crazy to like another girl."

"But things just went on and on. We got stronger and eventually beat Valdez, the boss of the bad guys we were fighting, Hikari became part of the team and I was approaching my sixteenth birthday. Nagisa had seemingly given up on her crush a long time ago at that point and we were literally doing everything together. She worked really, really hard to go to the same high school as me. I had to tutor her for weeks, every day, for hours. Just remembering it gives me a headache. But it was really sweet how she pulled through because she wanted to be with me." Honoka made a break. "I'll get something to drink." Standing up and walking over to the kitchen, Honoka realized they had forgotten to include tableware into their wish for the kitchen.

Hikari and Kurumi had thought ahead and gotten some from the team favor. Two dozen glasses, just as many dishes, knifes, forks, spoons and trays. Drinks were still limited to tea, coffee and water, but that was already much better than before. It was almost... comfortable.

The kitchen was rich with the smell of sauce and noodles, Kurumi and Hikari both only giving Honoka a brief glance before they continued their work. Honoka was very surprised to see Milky Rose working as hard as that, considering what she heard from Nagisa after Karen had talked to her.

"Looking forward to the result." White smiled and watched the two of them prepare quite the amount. Well, there were twelve people to feed after all. Grabbing a tray and putting twelve glasses on it, Honoka then put the same tray at one of the windows, opened it and called out to the table. "Can someone get this? I'll bring the tea. Or does someone want coffee?"

Miki stood up right away and went to get the glasses, with nobody saying a peep about wanting coffee. Returning to the table with three large cans of hot tea, White sat down and had a drink first of all things.

"Where did I stop?" Honoka looked in the round. Inori was the first to answer.

"Nagisa studied hard to go to the same high school as you." The yellow Cure answered just as the kitchen door opened.

"Can someone that actually knows how to cook come and help out? We underestimated the amount of work a little." Kurumi seemed rather humble, which surprised Karen so much that she just stared at the purple haired girl.

"I'll go. I'll get the story from Miki later." Inori got up and waved, vanishing into the kitchen.

"As soon as we started our first year of high school, I knew I wanted to go out with Nagisa. I just didn't know how I should make her realize that I was interested. Around that time, Mai and Saki, Bloom and Egret from the other team, got together so I asked Mai all about it, since Saki and Nagisa are kind of similar in a lot of aspects. Like how they are a bit slow on the uptake when it comes to romantic stuff." Honoka grinned and took a sip of tea. It was actually quite fun to tell people of how she got Nagisa to go out with her.

"Mai simply took Saki to a specific spot, kissed her and asked her out, but I knew that wasn't really an ideal way to get Nagisa to notice. The school we attended was Matsudaira High private academy. Nagisa almost literally spent every other night at my place to study because she wasn't able to keep up with class." White was watching everyone's faces. They were actually looking pretty interested.

"I can see where this is going." Miki grinned and looked to Karen, who shared her grin.

"Just after the first mid terms, and Nagisa barely making the cut, I asked my parents for my own place. It was kind of becoming a bother to them that Nagisa was staying over so often, and I started to want some privacy." Honoka continued.

"I can really understand that. Although I still don't have any privacy when Love is around. None at all." Miki shook her head with the last few words and earned laughs from around the table.

"Because my parents were pretty proud that I kept getting grades that made the top of my class and managed Nagisa's grades on top of that, they actually paid for my apartment. Wasn't that much or big, but it was my own place. You can probably guess that it didn't take a month before half of my drawers and closets were actually full of Nagisa's stuff and she stayed over just about every single day because it was much closer to the school. We practically lived together back then."

"Sounds like a lot of stress for you." Karen said and thought how it was all but easy to live with Kurumi.

"Nagisa's pretty chaotic, but she does tidy up when I tell her to. She's not lazy at least. Though, I was having a really hard time restraining myself. I really just wanted to go and jump Nagisa and have it over with. But I couldn't do that. So I used a really mean trick on her." Honoka lowered her head, faking an evil expression.

"One morning, Nagisa woke up with a real headache from studying too much. And I told her she was talking in her sleep. Of course, people would ask what kind of things they've been saying. I told Nagisa that she was asking me out in her sleep. Her face was so fiercely red, I really believed she would explode any second. I was just doing it to actually hit on the topic and tell her I wouldn't mind going out with her, but she actually came on to me, grabbed my hands and confessed to me. She turned my own game on me without even realizing."

"That's funny but also... sort of anti-climatic." Karen wasn't too impressed with that end.

"I didn't say it was an exciting story. It's just... I guess mostly normal. Since we already kind of lived together, we just kept things as they were. Except we had more space, now that Nagisa was sharing the bed with me. Since then, we moved twice, still live in the same town, and had a couple big fights. I can't imagine my life without her though." Honoka looked in the direction of the hallway, where the object of her undying love was just joining the group.

Sitting down next to Honoka, Nagisa found everyone to be staring at her. "Honoka... why is everyone staring at me? What did you tell them?"

"Just how we met and got together, sweetheart." Honoka smiled, laid one hand on Nagisa's cheek and kissed her right in front of everyone, without even the tiniest amount of shame. She loved Nagisa and would freely admit that to everyone.

"It was horrible that you lied to me like that. I confessed on the spot and everything." Nagisa pouted after they stopped their kiss and looked at the table. "But I don't regret it. I love you, Honoka, I don't mind saying so."

"They're a really great couple." Komachi was whispering to Karen while Marine was bugging Honoka with some rather person questions and Miki just watched, amused at Blossoms somewhat useless attempts to stop her friend.

"Yeah. I wish we could be like them." Karen was smiling with her eyes closed, holding the green haired woman's hand under the table. Being able to openly talk about their relationship like that was really nice.

"Enough questions. What about you Marine? No special someone in your life?" Honoka shoved the girl away, giving her a knowing look.

"I bet she'd just scare everyone off that showed genuine interest." Nagisa was making a pretty mean comment, having not forgotten the sight of Erika carrying away the passed out Tsubomi.

"Takes one to know one." Marine sneered, completely dodging the subject, and watched Black lower her head.

Inside the kitchen, three women were hard at work, having their own talk topics. "I was surprised when I heard you two would cook for us. You're a really quiet person Hikari so I didn't think you'd volunteer. It's... a lot better than Marine cooking I guess. I can only imagine what kind of weird result her cooking would end up as." Inori was crying rivers, cutting one onion after another.

"Ah... I work in a shop that sells takoyaki to people. I'm used to cooking for people. I also cook often for Akane. She's the woman who took care of me when I first got to the human world. Well she still takes care of me." Hikari was tasting the sauce for the pasta again, still not quite satisfied.

"I learned a trick or two from the chefs at the royal court of Palmier. I just don't have a lot of practice, but this isn't really a hard meal to make." Kurumi was watching over three different pots with noodles, paying close attention that none would boil over. She didn't want to be the first to cause an accident in the kitchen.

"Say Kurumi. You went out with Karen, didn't you? Aren't you going to try and get her back?" Pine put the hacked onions aside and got another one. Her tears were running down her cheeks like miniature rivers.

The purple haired woman was quiet for a while, Inori realizing a little late that it was likely a very sensitive topic for her. Both Hikari and Inori looked at Kurumi, who seemed to be deep in thought over something.

"I think even if I tried, it wouldn't work. I blew my chance. I love her, but..." An awkward silence dominated the room, only disturbed by the sound of boiling water, sauce in a fry pan and onions being chopped. "What about you Inori? No tragic drama in your life?"

"Aside from the occasional emergency when a puppy swallowed a kids toy, no. No drama in my life. Sometimes I wish there was, but I seem to have real problems finding the right person." Inori didn't pry further into the situation with Karen. "What about you Hikari? With friends like Nagisa and Honoka, there should be someone."

"Kurumi," Hikari replied, not quite following the conversation. She looked up and watched her friend turn completely scarlet. Inori was whistling in respect and grinning wide, fully aware that it was probably not intended to sound the way it did. "What's wrong?"

"Hikari, you should pay a little attention to the conversation." Inori could barely contain herself when she looked at Milky Rose.

"Eh? What did I say?" Hikari started to get flustered while Milk was focusing her attention back on the pots. "Kurumi, what did I say?" The blond woman tried to get one of the two to answer her, but neither seemed in any condition to do so. "Geez, you're both mean!"

=== Dissonance ===

"I wonder if it was the right thing to do to get a kitchen. Well, I can't say I regret it. I haven't had french fries in forever." Itsuki picked up a single fry and put it between her lips. "They're really good. Who made these?"

"Saki and I did." Just as she replied, Mai stole a fry from Saki's plate with a single lightning fast move. "If you want it back, come and get it." Imitating Sunshine, Mai put the fry between her lips, copying the old game with chocolate sticks.

"Keep it." Saki gave Mai an amused look. "I still have enough."

"You two remind me of that one time when Hibiki and Kanade couldn't agree on who got the last mikado stick. So they-" Ako was in the middle of talking when Hibiki and Kanade both started to shout, stand up and wave at Muse, trying to stop her, both of them vehemently blushing.

"Stop it Ako!" "Don't tell them that, it's embarrassing!" The two of them were in total harmony, much to the amusement of almost everyone else.

Beyond the laughing, Urara and Rouge were sitting left and right of Nozomi, whom they had pulled out of her solitary self imprisonment and forced to eat with everyone else. From where the two stood, they both thought that Nozomi must have secretly wanted to join the others as she didn't resist at all. She was still looking gloomy because of the situation everyone was in, but at least she didn't make a fuss.

"You need to get a grip Nozomi. Everyone else has accepted the situation is making the best out of it. Sure, it sucks to fight the others, it sucks to get stuck in the exile, but we're working on fixing the second issue, and we won't fight forever. Stop behaving like you're fourteen already." Urara didn't put it quite as nicely as Rin would have, but the redhead certainly agreed with what she was saying.

"It's crazy how you two can accept a situation like this." Dream didn't even look at her two friends, just calmly picking up fries with her fork. She had skipped more than just one meal since they arrived, so she was really hungry.

"Don't you see that it's crazy to resist it? They wouldn't put us here without any kind of security if it was so easy to get out. It's not fun to beat up other Cures, but it sure could be a lot worse than this."

"Like what?" Nozomi didn't believe in any situation that could be worse than the one she was in.

"Fight to the death. No favor system. Everyone separated from each other. And that's just the first three that come to mind." Rin was joining the argument now, supporting Urara. They had to get Dream to accept the situation or things would be really messy very soon. She was scheduled to participate in the next fight together with Rouge and Moonlight. Lemonade didn't want to fight because she had been in the last fight and two in a row were a little much.

Nozomi said nothing and just looked at her empty plate in front of her. "Thanks for the meal." Taking her dish and walking to the kitchen to put it away, she left without another word. She wouldn't fight. Even if the majority voted to decide her as one of the combatants, she wouldn't fight.

"I already feel sorry for you Rin." Urara sighed and picked up a fry with just her fingers, slowly munching on it. "She'll be a real deadweight, or worse, if she keeps it up like this. The next chance, they'll vote her out."

"I hope it won't come to that." Rin emptied her glass of water and rubbed her forehead. She was getting a headache just thinking about it.

Ako was happily telling everyone else on the table about the little accident Hibiki and Kanade had when they were deciding who got the last chocolate stick. "So Ellen suggested that they'd just eat half each. Instead of just breaking it in half, Kanade put it in her mouth, thinking that Hibiki wouldn't dare to get half of it that way. And she was so completely wrong." Muse grinned, watching Kanade blush even more.

"Hibiki snapped after the stick like a real predator. And with a little too much momentum. Instead of just getting half the stick, she got all of it, Kanade's lips and who knows what else as she pushed her down. Leaving Kanade like a ripe tomato, Hibiki didn't even notice. It was hilarious to watch." Ako watched the two girls, who looked just like they had been caught after a runaway marriage.

"Saki and I have plenty of these stories too. Who is gonna wash dishes? Any volunteers? A dish washing machine wasn't included with the kitchen.

"I'm used to it, so I'll do it." Hibiki just wanted the dinner to be over with before Ako got the idea of telling any more embarrassing stories.

"I'll help." Kanade shared that notion wholeheartedly. Apparently it hadn't taken long for the news that they were now a couple to spread.

"For some reason I'm really sleepy..." Saki handed her dish over as Kanade collected those of the other row, resting her arms and head on the table.

"Oh, is that so? I guess you'll go straight to sleep today then." Mai moved her lips in a seductive way to say the last few words. The entire table broke out in laughter when Saki moved up like a switch that had been flipped. The purple haired woman was really excellent at manipulating her partner a little.

Taking her hands and walking off with her, they wished everyone a good night. The group dissipated rather quickly, Muse leaving with Moonlight and the Kiryuu's, Lemonade and Rouge talking a bit more at the table, Itsuki leaving on her own.

Even though Kanade and Hibiki were all alone now, they couldn't get a single word out. Despite the two of them loving each other, they were all of a sudden embarrassed, not quite ready to act the way Saki and Mai did.

"I wonder how Ellen is doing. Lemonade said she met her in exile..." Hibiki knew how skilled a fighter Lemonade was, so that statement worried her. What if Ellen was stuck out there, all alone?

"If it's not her, someone else will be stuck. I really hope it's not Ellen but I don't feel comfortable knowing someone will have to spend the night out there, all alone."

=== Dissonance ===

Ellen was trying to play her guitar, sitting on the edge of the highest tower. Not even once had she been so scared of the night. There was barely any light to begin with, but now, the shadows were towering over her. Alone in that vast a place, Ellen was scared to the core.

Even though she expected it, even though she knew it would come, the magnitude of what was happening shocked her. Dozens of people were appearing right beside her, a large crowd, filling the tower platform. She could touch them, hear them, smell them. They almost pushed her down the edge, excited to see something, the mob flocking to the front. And then Ellen saw what she didn't want to see.

Herself. Far above the tower was another platform, having seemingly appeared out of nowhere. And on it was an apparition, a mirror image of herself. Glowing golden eyes, a vicious grin on her face, she looked down on the people that looked up to her. Her face was full of contempt. She didn't see the people wanting to hear her singing as anything but insects.

Ellen grabbed her head in pain as the fake spawned a massive transparent black sphere around her, wild with notes. And the music started. Mirror Ellen whirled around, touching, ripping, strumming notes, moving them in packs, creating streams inside the sphere.

A chorus started just as she opened her mouth. And Ellen found herself to be no longer on the ground but far above the tower, looking down upon the insects, tiny like dust, worthless like dirt. She was smiling, singing with all her power. It was another song she didn't know, she had never learned. The same otherworldly language.

Strumming a single loud tone, she started to sing.

"Rrha ki ra harr exec, En yehar~, Rrha ki ra harr exec hymmnos PAJA, En yehar nha near yor!"

A powerful intro that was making the masses cheer and shout, rising their hands. The climax was reached as she finished her line. Ellen slammed the ground with her right fist, grabbed a string of notes and whirled it around, accelerating the music to a higher level. Not standing still, she continued to whirl, arrange and reject notes, a massive chaos extending around her. A chaos completely under her control.

"Was ki ra selena anw hymmnos PAJA - En ma ki ga chs syec van nel an hymme endia – En ma ki ra ks syec parge tes ar hymme mea – Was ki ra exec hymmnos PAJA – Was ki ra exec syec parge tie, gott yor!"

Ellen watched in horror as the first people started to drop to the ground. Shew exactly exact what that song was doing. It was literally removing the heart, the souls, of people that heard it. She was purging them from the world.

Ellen and the fake spun around even quicker, playing the notes like they were part of her body. Ellen had never been scared of music before, but a song that could rip out the souls of people was changing that rapidly.

"I'll dance dance" The language no longer alien, the pain in her head was getting worse. The more difficult the song became, the more it hurt. She could feel blood run out of her nose, and her throat was on fire. She continued to dance, sing and laugh at the fools that would listen. "I'll dance in this feast unto death. Dance in this evils' night."

"I'm a dancing Song Princess - You're my sacrifice – enjoy the show – give yourself to meNow! Dancing to the countdown of your death, it's your fate!" More people were dropping rapidly, but more kept appearing, stomping on the corpses below their feet. The masses were mad, only listening to her voice, to her song, completely ignorant of the dangers. Ellen was smiling on the outside, but inside, she was sick from the horrifying scene.

"If exhausted, you'll be dragged into the darkness with this sealing song of mine. Beg your god, to take your body and soul. Pray, for my song shall purge you now." Ellen could barely see anything now. The pain was obscuring her sight, and the music was slowly getting quieter. It took her a few more seconds before she realized what was going on. And the voice inside her own head, the voice of the fake, told her it was true. 'You shall be purged. And I shall be you'.

"Purge the heavens, purge the earth, purge the world, purge myself. The gods in heaven, the gods on earth, the gods of all things, hear my prayer. Purge away all those impure, make the world clean." The song was becoming incredibly violent, a chaotic chorus accompanying the fake, empowering her song.

"In this melody of this hymn, in echoes of nothingness, be enchanted and sleep forever, purged ones! Leave from this world, and dream eternally under Hades." Ellen tried to resist, tried to stop her voice from working, but she was powerless against the Hymn. What fearsome power it had. Just as the next verse started, she passed out, her mind no longer able to function, her sanity no longer able to watch the sacrifices listen to her song, dying a pointless death.

=== End of Event X ===