A/N: Special shoutout to DschingisKhan and Raineh_Daze, two of my most dedicated reviewers on and ArchiveofourOwn respectively. Reviews very much help motivate me, and help me build and learn as a writer so I can improve myself and learn what others like, and what others see that I might not see. Your time is appreciated. And an additional shoutout to all my readers from across the world. I have readers from the US, to the UK, to France, Germany, Netherlands, Finland, Peru, Australia, Russia, Singapore, Canada, India, Philippines, Mexico, Panama, El Salvador, Venezuela, Japan, Colombia, Brunei, Argentinia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Ukraine, Bulgaria, and, according to the website, "Europe". I appreciate and am humbled by all of your guys viewership. Thank you!

Indigo's eyes- well, eye- snapped open with excitement as he practically leaped out of his seat in his office, his long cotton jacket falling off the backrest and onto the ground. "She's dead… She's DEAD!" He nearly screamed in joy, his snake-like grin threatening to snap his face apart. He snatched a towel off his desk and began to wipe some of the blood off of his hands and arms, his sleeves rolled up, while giggling madly, unable to stop himself, ignoring the whimpers of pain and fear from the naked and bloody figure strapped to the chair several feet from him.

"Yes… No matter where I look, she's gone! She's gone! And I was so worried, for nothing…" He giggled out, the laughter echoing across the room before he grinned even wider and turned his attention back to the pitiful creature next to him. "Break time over." His victim was still whimpering and sobbing pathetically as they looked up at his approach.

"P-please…"

"Shhh…" He placed a finger to their lips to silence them, his other hand stroking their cheek. "We're not done yet."

And the screaming resumed, as he continued his work.

Kuroko rested her chin on her desk in her new room and glowered at the row of prescription vials of pills that Heaven Canceller had sent over with her discharge. It had been a week since she'd gotten settled in, and more than once had read the instructions that had been left behind by the doctor regarding all the medications he'd left for her. A lot of them were "as needed", mostly to help her transition out. The ones that made her glower the most were the antidepressants. She'd at first been indignant that she'd ever need them… but two weeks in, and she'd already taken them twice.

Another sigh as she lifted her chin off of the table and leaned back in her chair. It was getting hard to feel motivated to get out of bed so she could drift through the day as an invalid who couldn't even feed herself.

"This sucks…"

"Sorrrrry!" Saten ran out of the kitchen covering her head with a donut in her mouth as she fled Maid Maika who was smacking at her skull with a broom.

"Stop stealing sweets before lunch!" The maid huffed at her as she gave up the chase, putting a hand on her hip, spinning in place and marching back into the kitchen to resume cooking lunch. Uiharu, who had been sitting at the Japanese-style kotatsu with her laptop on the table in front of her watching Saten flee, the donut-thief diving underneath the kotatsu blanket to hide herself from the broom.

"Really, Saten-san, when are you gonna learn-" Uiharu began before her face turned a bright burning red as she felt her skirt flip underneath the blanket.

"SATEN!" She screamed out in protest, throwing her hands down to push her skirt down under the blanket.

Saten snickered as she crawled out the other end of the blanket, her mouth mostly full of donut that she had inhaled, swallowing it down with some struggling.

"Sorry, sorry. Bad habits." She says, smiling a bit and putting her hands up together, looking at best marginally guilty. Uiharu just sighed and shook her head, unable to see Saten's guiltier expression. Saten was so used to being playful with Uiharu she kept doing sexually teasing things, and kept kicking herself after the fact. Uiharu never responded any different than she had reacted before Treefall, so it was so easy to forget and…

"Saten-san?" Saten jerked her head up as she realized she'd spaced out. Uiharu was looking at her with some concern. How was Uiharu, of all of them, the one who seemed completely unaffected by all of this?

"Sorry, I spaced out. So, how's-"

"How are you doing, Saten-san?" Uiharu asked suddenly, closing her laptop. Saten paused, taken off guard by the seriousness on Uiharu's face. Uiharu rested her hands in her lap in a polite modest posture as she kept her gaze on Saten.

"O-oh, just fine, you know, same old same old, pretty sure I'll be done with that therapy soon, so that's good-" She began, waving off the concerns.

"The therapy you haven't been going to?" Uiharu asked in a calm, but very pointed manner that hit Saten in the heart like a knife. A silence followed as Saten felt her facade crack, her mind trying to find something to say, but could only scrounge up the obvious question.

"How… how did you…?"

"Know you've been skipping? I worry. I worry a lot. I started watching the camera's to make sure you were getting to your appointments safely, and saw you going everywhere except your appointments whenever you said you were going to them." She answered, keeping her eyes on her friend. Saten leaned back and sat down on a pillow, looking into her lap.

Saten kept opening her mouth and looking up then closing it and looking back down. She had been caught in her lie, and had no idea how to respond.

"I don't… I don't understand how you can be so… Just, you." Saten said quietly, still staring into her lap. "You almost endured one of the worst things that can happen to someone. I just… I don't get it."

Uiharu let out a little wistful sigh. "You're changing the subject a little, but…" She smiled slightly to Saten. "I'm better because I took a lot of time addressing it. I spent months jumping at shadows, sleeping with the lights on, checking locks several times, never going anywhere alone; letting it eat at me. I couldn't live like that, Saten-san. I got help. You need to do that too." She explained, trying her best to catch Saten's eyes who, in turn, was doing her best to keep her eyes pointed at her lap.

They sat in silence for several long minutes before Uiharu got up and moved around the table and sat next to Saten, pulling her sideways into a hug.

"You're my hero, Saten-san. Always will be. So please, for me… Get the help you need." Uiharu said quietly, hugging her as tightly as tiny Uiharu could. Saten leaned into the hug, hanging her head down and letting her bangs conceal her face, not speaking a word, but nodding softly. Uiharu smiled as she responded to the soft gesture.

"Thank you."

Kuroko jumped a little from where she was sitting on her bed as she heard a knock at her door.

"Come in." She said, the door opening in response. Kuroko's face immediately warmed into a smile as Mikoto walked in, leaning on her crutch a little.

"Hey Kuroko. How are you doing today?" She asked as she walked inside, Kuroko bouncing on the bed a few times and using the bounce to hop onto her feet.

"Hanging in there. I'm supposed to get a call from the doctor sometime today about my test results. He said that they were running tests on my AIM field." She said, walking over and resting her head against Mikoto's chest. Kuroko, admittedly, had started doing this more and more often, mainly because Mikoto wasn't stopping her when she wasn't doing it.

"O-oh, that's… good." Mikoto stuttered out. "Um, Maika was making lunch, why don't we go eat? I'll feed you." Mikoto said, smiling, Kuroko pulling back with a soft, mixed smile. She hated to be fed like a child, but being spoon-fed by Mikoto… that was a fairly happy compromise.

"Sure."

As Kuroko and Mikoto got down to the sitting room where they'd made the habit of taking their meals, decorated with a holographic TV on a medium sized TV stand, a kotatsu with a dark blue blanket at the center, and several shelving units for the girls various belongings that had quickly become filled with random items that ranged between computer parts belonging to Uiharu, to Gekota merchandise that belonged to Mikoto.

Saten and Uiharu were already seated at the table, Saten looking like she'd just washed her face, and had waved off the questioning looks from both Kuroko and Mikoto. As the four got comfortable, Maika brought out their lunches, an easy-to-eat collection of bite-sized sushi made to ensure Kuroko could eat without difficulty, they began to relax and talk.

"So, I have to ask." Saten said, pointing her fork at Kuroko and Mikoto. "Since you two have gotten out of the hospital, neither of you have cut your hair yet. Do you plan to, or are you gonna try it at these lengths?" She asked. Indeed, Mikoto's hair went down all the way passed her lower back, and Kuroko's, which had formerly been to her mid-back, had grown all the way to the back of her knees.

"O-oh." Mikoto reached over her shoulder and played at some of the strands which had been pulled into a loose ponytail in the back. "I mean, I hadn't really thought about it much." She admitted, shrugging a bit. "Thinking of maybe cut-" She began to quietly say before Kuroko interjected.

"You look beautiful with such long hair." Kuroko smiled at her, the compliment remarkably innocent intention for Kuroko, who had looked away from her to lean down and sip from her drink straw after saying it. Mikoto paused in her thought about cutting it. Maybe she could do something else with it?

...Why had she suddenly reconsidered cutting it because of Kuroko's compliment? Clearly, there had to be a rational, non-emotional reason that was completely obvious that did not require her to be introspective.

Thankfully, Kuroko's ringing cell phone rescued her from this train of thought. Mikoto reached over and pulled the cell phone out of Kuroko's project as Kuroko raised her hip up to her and gave her a meaningful look, turning the phone on speaker for Kuroko and holding it for her.

"Doctor?" Kuroko asked softly to the phone's holographic display, which showed a line measuring sounds as it came across you often saw on MP3's.

"Good afternoon, Shirai-san. I have the results of your AIM test. Do you need a moment to get some privacy?" He asked in that grandfatherly way he had.

"No, it's fine. I want everyone here to know." Kuroko said, earning some surprised looks. Kuroko made no comment on them, simply staring down at the holographic display of her phone.

"Very well, Shirai-san…" He said, his voice somewhat heavy. Mikoto felt her heart pound a little. Something in his voice was worrying her. Deeply.

"We measured your residual AIM field in comparison to your previous System Scan that measured your powers at Level 4." He began, the sound of him shifting something on the other end. Kuroko leaned forward, and Mikoto could practically feel her heartbeat pounding from where she sat a foot from her.

"...I'm afraid to say that, despite numerous recalculations and checking of our instruments… Your AIM field is gone, Shirai-san." He said as softly as he could. There was an echoing silence through the room as Kuroko stared down at the phone, her jaw shaking a bit.

"I'm… Level 0?" She asked softly, clenching her jaw. There was a brief, hesitating silence on the other end of the phone.

"... No, Shirai-san. Even Level 0's have a trace field. I am deeply sorry, but…" He sighed on the other end as the entire room felt the temperature drop.

"...You are no longer an Esper."

Mikoto stood outside of Kuroko's closed door, leaning heavily on her crutch. Kuroko had quietly and politely excused herself from the table after hanging up the phone. None of her friends knew what to even say to her. Mikoto had departed not long after, and now stood where she was now, having stood here for the past fifteen minutes, her mind reeling and panicking and despairing.

She had done this. She had taken everything from Kuroko. Judgement. Her arms. Her powers. Once Tokiwadai found out… even her academic career. What could she do? What could she say?

She found herself raising her arm for what felt like the hundredth time to knock on the door, but this time, it instead opened with the automatic switch Kuroko had, Kuroko blinking in surprise as she saw Mikoto standing there with her hand raised.

"Onee-sama! I was just about to head over to the bath. Would you help me?" She asked softly, smiling at her. That smile hurt like a knife in the gut. How? How could Kuroko smile at her like that.

"S-sure." Mikoto said weakly, stepping back to let Kuroko through. The walk over to the fairly large bath-area that had been included in the house was silent, with Mikoto doing everything short of panicking. She stared at the back of Kuroko's head, her long hair bouncing a little as they walked downstairs and went around and behind the staircase. A small hall behind the stairs turned immediately into what could only be described as a private bathhouse. Mikoto had, originally, grown more and more suspicious at the amount of luxury that was in this house.

But those thoughts were as far as could be from her right now. Kuroko walked inside and lightly poked at a digital display with a toe next to the bath to get water running before turning to Mikoto.

"Onee-sama? Mind helping me undress?" She asked, turning to Mikoto who was doing her best to keep her expression from showing the darkness that was on her mind. Mikoto just gave a nod and walked over to Kuroko, helping her out of her clothes as best she could, blushing just slightly. Kuroko was remarkably quiet, her eyes a little distant.

"I'd appreciate it if you could help me wash up, it's a bit difficult." She said with a trace of embarrassment.

"S-sure, yeah…" Mikoto shifted around uncomfortably, undressing so she wouldn't get soaked herself, wrapping herself in a towel as Kuroko sat on a bath stool. Why? Why was something like this like pure torture? Kuroko wasn't trying anything lecherous or even making any comments. Not that Mikoto should be surprised, Kuroko should hate her more than anyone. Why would she even want to be near her?

"Onee-sama?" Kuroko looked over her shoulder, breaking Mikoto out of her dark pitying thoughts, who moved over and quietly began to wash at Kuroko's back. Silence stretched on before Mikoto finally had the courage to say something.

"...I'm sorry." she said softly, her arms sliding to a stop as she stared down at the wet floor, her hands shaking a bit. What Kuroko said next was… baffling.

"For what?"

Mikoto could only blink as she stared down. For what? FOR WHAT? How… But… How could she even…?

Mikoto's grip on the towel slipped as it landed on the floor and she looked up at Kuroko with a look of dark shock. "For… what?" Kuroko turned her head slightly, but Mikoto continued without interruption.

"Kuroko… I ruined your life. I ruined everything. I took away everything you cared about and worked for, because of my own foolishness, how… how could you say that? You… you above anyone else have the right to hate me-" She didn't get to finish that thought before a blur of movement surprised her.

Rather suddenly, Mikoto felt a sharp pain as she landed on her back hard, absently noting her towel falling open, her eyes squeezing shut for a second before she opened them. Kuroko had her knees on either side of Mikoto's hips, leaning down so their faces were inches from each other, Kuroko's long hair like a curtain on either side of their faces.

"Never say that." Kuroko breathed out to her, her light brown eyes meeting with Mikoto's chestnut. "Never." The ferocity in her gaze paralyzed Mikoto, and in that moment, she did not feel like the Railgun at all. She felt like Misaka Mikoto- a fifteen year old teenager, and nothing else.

"If you think, for even one single moment, that I regret what I did, that I regret losing my arms to save you or this city, that I hold second thoughts, then you are only revealing how secretive you are being with how much pain you are in. That day you cried in my lap, I didn't blame you then. I don't blame you now. Stop carrying that. Stop."

Kuroko said this all with a stern gaze and a physical closeness that caused Mikoto to only turn a burning red and weakly let out a squeak of a wordless reply.

"I am done crying. I am done feeling sorry for myself. This will NOT be the end of me, it will NOT. I am done letting the monsters who did this haunt me. And don't think, that for even one second, that you are one of those monsters. You are the most precious person in my life, who I will always love, even if you never reciprocate." Mikoto felt a stab of pain as she said those words, her mouth moving weakly, wordlessly. Kuroko held their gaze, almost unblinking, before she moved closer, her eyes half-lidded.

Was she going to-!?

But she didn't. She felt Kuroko's breath against her lips, but she didn't come closer. She waited. Nothing. Kuroko's eyes held the gaze, and for a moment, Mikoto saw the depths of sadness fill it. Kuroko closed her eyes for a second, taking a breath, before moving back. Mikoto felt her heart pounding in panic, felt a need to act, to do something, to do anything, she had to… she had to…

Mikoto closed the distance between them.