As it stood, Amy probably should have been stumbling into the house, barely able to stand without her sisters help. She'd done as asked and had managed a few small naps here and there during her time at the hospital, but that didn't mean she wasn't tired. She was mostly running on more caffeine than was probably safe for a person, especially of her build, to consume. She wasn't wired, in fact she felt she was nearing a crash, but she would hopefully be asleep before she started feeling bad.

If she were lucky she wouldn't be dreaming that night. When she started at the hospital after getting her honorary medical license she'd seen a lot of things that kids her age shouldn't have been seeing. With the gangs in Brockton Bay, those things only got worse over time. The last few weeks, though, had really raised the bar on horrifying shit she'd seen on the job. The worst part, something the doctors would never be able to understand, was that she saw it all from the inside too. They knew, of course, that she could see it, but they'd never really understand that that entailed. Being able to see, with a touch, how shrapnel had pierced someone and what that did to them or feeling the bones and sinew stitch themselves back together under her power was a completely different beast than seeing the damage from the outside in.

She cut that train of thought as she made her way inside with Vicky right behind her. She'd worked until the doctors kicked her out since she shouldn't have been there as long as she was. They'd had to do that a lot recently, forcing her to leave the hospital when someone realized how long she'd been there with few to no brakes. They appreciated the help, as they said many times, but she simply wasn't allowed to work that long. She always felt a twinge of guilt leaving the hospital despite knowing there were people she could be helping, but she didn't want them to grab security on her. Or worse, have Lady Photon come pick her up.

She stopped as she saw Carol and Mark sitting in the living room apparently waiting for the two of them. For a moment she started to panic, feeling as if she'd done something wrong. She was ready to try to offer any explanation for anything, but her sisters hand on her shoulder calmed her down. She took a deep breath to slow her heart rate a bit, but it shot right back up when her sister spoke.

"Sit down, Ames. I think it's time we all had a talk." Vicky's voice was the kind of calm and placating she used when she had to tell people they were beyond even her help.

"What's this about?" She asked.

"Sit down and we'll talk about it. Vicky said, floating into the living room and sitting in Mark's recliner while she hesitantly sat at the end of the couch next to Carol.

"So, any reason you've kept us up this late? I have to be at work early tomorrow, Victoria." Carol sighed.

"We need to talk about how dysfunctional this family is." She said.

"Dysfunct—, this is ridiculous." Carol scoffed.

"Um…" Amy started, "Can this wait until tomorrow?" She was really not up for this right now. She was far too tired to navigate this the way she usually would.

"No, it's not, and no, it can't. I've noticed over the last few weeks we're barely a family. Dad hasn't been taking his meds, mom always feels like she's close to snapping about something, and you, Amy never open up about your feelings. That's not even to mention you're all Neglectful of Amy." Vicky said.

"Neglect—, where is this coming from, Victoria? I do not appreciate these accusations!" Carol snapped.

"They're true." Vicky said. "You treat her like she doesn't matter. She treats herself like she doesn't matter. Frankly, I think you should all be in therapy. Either alone or as a family. There are a lot of issues here and I'm worried we're going to hit a breaking point soon."

"Why bring this up now?" Mark asked.

"Like I said, I think things are getting out of control. I want to get to the bottom of it so we can start fixing things. You're problem is the least damaging to the family, I think. You should still go to therapy, but if you take your meds regularly I'm sure you'd start to feel better."

"I am not neglectful!" Carol said.

"Yes you are, mom!" Vicky said louder than she probably meant. "You're always working and you rarely ever spend time with the family. I can't remember the last time we had a meal together, much less talked."

"I've been busy with work." Carol defended.

"Vicky, please stop." Amy said.

"No. Your issues are the worst, Amy. You really need to take a break or find a way to relax. I talked to Dean when I realized something was wrong. All he said is he thinks you're burning out. I'm inclined to agree with him. You barely take care of yourself."

"I can help people. They're more important."

"No they're not!" Vicky snapped, standing up. She was floating a few inches off the floor. "Not to me." She said lowly. "You're my sister, Amy. I'm always going to want to see you happy. I hate it when you work yourself so hard you can barely stand like right now. I just want to help you and I can't do that unless you talk to me."

"Vicky…" Amy pleaded. She really was not in the place for this right now.

"Mom, can you tell me why you're always so cold to Amy?" Vicky asked.

"I'm not cold to her." Carol said.

"Yes you are. I've noticed how much differently you treat me compared to her. Is it because she's adopted?"

Carol glared at her daughter but didn't say anything for a few moments.

"This is ridiculous, Victoria. This is over and you're grounded for the week for—."

"… She didn't want me…" Amy mumbled, making the two look at her.

"What'd you say, Amy?" Vicky asked gently.

"It's because she didn't want me." Amy said a bit louder.

"How do you know?"

"I've heard her say it before. On the phone with Aunt Sarah once. They were talking about me. Arguing, I think. Carol said something about how she was forced to take in a "villains daughter". She never wanted me in the first place. It's not that she hates me, it's that she doesn't care." Amy explained hollowly. She just wanted to sleep and if this would get her there faster, she'd deal with the consequences in the morning. Ironic how Vicky was telling her to sleep earlier and was keeping it from her now.

"Is she… Is that true, mom?"

Carol looked like she swallowed a lemon and refused to say a word. Amy, starting to let her lack of sleep get to her and feeling a bit of anger at being forced to go through this when she didn't want to, started to let her feelings flow.

"It's true. I was scared of you finding out for a long time, too, because I thought you'd see me different. Part of why I push myself so hard is because I found out about that. Like I'm trying to make up for something I didn't even do. But it's not just, Carol, Vicky. It's everything!" Amy's voice grew in emotion and volume as she spoke, going from a soft whisper to normal speaking volume. "I'm tired of all the praise and attention I get. I'm tired of always having to look over my shoulder because I can't heal myself. I'm tired of healing in general! I hate that I feel like everyone is expecting so much from me and I can't live up to it! I hate feeling like a failure every minute I'm not out helping people! I hate that I feel like I'm always trying to prove myself to Carol! That I'm nothing like whoever my dad was! I hate the way she treats me! I hate that I don't have anything for myself! I don't have anything but healing and I hate feeling like that's all I am and all I'll ever be! I hate I don't have friends to talk to. They're all your friends, Vicky! And I hate that I love you as much as I do! I really, really love you, more than I should as a sister and I hate that! I hate myself for that! And—."

Amy stopped, having finally run out of breath. She had started shouting at some point and her throat hurt. Everyone was staring at her in shock and horror and she realized what she'd said.

"I'm gonna stay with Aunt Sarah." She said quickly, jumping up and running.

"Amy, wait!" Vicky tried to go after her but was stopped by her father.

"Give her some time, alright, Vicky? If she's as stressed as you think, sometime away from home to decompress a bit might help her." Mark said sadly.

Amy was out the door and two blocks over before she finally stopped running, having gotten winded. She took a moment to catch her breath and started walking again. She was a flurry of emotions, but more than anything she felt drained. It was a recurring thought, one she often pushed away, but now more than ever she just felt like dying. The words she said, especially to Vicky, were more than she could handle. She let everything out and now she just wanted to fade away to dust because she wasn't ready to deal with the fallout of it.

She stopped at a bus stop and sank into the bench.

"Why can't things ever be easy." she groaned.

Sitting at the bus stop drowning in her emotions, Amy suddenly felt like her problems were small. Like they were far in the past and didn't mean much. She felt like she could solve them with a small bit of effort. But more than that she felt a compulsion. She tapped the air, watching with intrigue as the air split apart, opening up like a mouth to reveal a dark hole with a dim light somewhere on the other side. She was nervous, but felt, rather knew, that there was nothing that could harm her on the other side.

She walked quickly through the pitch dark hallway to get to the other side. She stepped into a room with black marble floors and no walls that seemed to open up into space with a purple tint. She immediately saw several people standing around a table, the most notable of which was:

"Purity?" She asked hotly.

"Panacea?" The tall girl with black hair said. She turned to the others, "You guys take off, I'll talk to her."

"You sure?" The brunette asked.

"Yeah." She nodded.

The other two opened portals just like the one she had and took off through them while the supposed lead pulled a box of cigarettes from somewhere as the table shifted into thrones with her as the highest one. She snapped her finger and lit her cigarette with blue flames.

"So, you going to explain?" Amy asked.

"We've met before." She said after a moment. "In that alleyway a few weeks back."

Amy was confused for a moment. "You're an Espada?" She asked, before really taking in the girls appearance, specifically the outfit she was wearing. "You're Sacrosanct."

"Yeah." She nodded. "I gotta say, you were an unexpected addition."

"Addition? To the Espada? I'm not joining your team. Especially if you're working with the Empire!"

"We're not working with the Empire." She snapped, making Amy take a step back. She sighed, sitting back and breathing. "I shouldn't have snapped, my bad. We aren't working with those assholes. We're working to get rid of them at the moment. Purity left the Empire a while ago, but since she never changed what she did no one really knows that. Samael knows her outside her cape identity. They had an argument about her not actually changing like she said she was trying to. We're giving her a chance to be better. It's slow going, but she's not calling me and grew slurs anymore, so progress."

"You think just because she's trying to change she deserves a chance?! You know what she's done to people?! She's—."

"Yes, I know. I wasn't any happier about it either. In fact, I very nearly stomped her face in the first time we met. However there are some extenuating circumstances that make kicking her difficult."

"Like what?" Amy crossed her arms indignantly.

"Like the fact that she very nearly went back to the Empire. I'd rather not have back under Kaiser's thumb. At least with us she's actually working to do some good instead of preaching the hate with Kaiser. There's also the fact that if she were jailed that would create significant problems in Samael's home life. I won't go into too much detail, but it's better than the alternative. It's also another powerful piece out of Kaiser's reach." She explained.

"So you think you can turn the vicious Nazi night light into something more human?"

"I sure fucking hope so." She sighed. "So, what brings you here? People usually only show up in Las Noches when they reach a point of… let's call it enlightenment." She paused to take a drag off her cigarette. "Family stuff?"

Amy was silent. She wasn't going to go spilling her heart out to some stranger. Especially not one that let Purity on their team.

"Whatever," She shrugged, "Don't tell me. You're one us now, so I'll give you the rundown on what that means. For one, you've got new powers. The base powers are Blaster, Mover, Brute under PRT ratings. You also have a set of personal powers that relate to a theme. That's usually what you were feeling the strongest when you got your new powers. For example, mine is loneliness. You also have a number tattooed somewhere on your torso. No, it won't go away, it just shows up with the powers." She raised her left hand to show her own. "I won't make you join, you're free to do what you want with your new powers. Just don't tell anyone about us or this place. Finally, you have to imagine where you want to go before you open a portal or it will take you the last place you opened one. If you're not in here than this is where it will drop you by default. Get it? Got it? Good."

"I'm going to need more explanation than that." Amy said.

"There's not much more to explain. That's about everything I learned since getting my powers. I can't really help you figure out what your powers are based on. That's all up to you."

Amy sighed. "Fine. So what about this place? You called it Las Noches?"

"One of the others came up with that name. I had been running with a Spanish theme specifically to stand out against the other Cape groups in the city. Since it's always technically night time here, they decided to go with Las Noches."

"And I'm free to come here whenever?"

"Sure," she shrugged, destroying the butt of her cigarette, "Not like I can stop you from popping in. Same with that little blonde girl."

"Little blonde girl?"

"Yeah. Won't tell you her name cause, well, not my place to name drop people I barely know, but chances are you'll run into her eventually if you come here often enough. I usually end up here to smoke and think most nights so you'll probably see me often if you come after eleven pm. The others don't really spend too much time here. They've got more important things to do than introspection."

"Was that a joke?"

"It was! Glad you caught that." She smiled.

Amy sighed again. "So you don't have anything else to tell me?"

"Nope." She shook her head.

"And you're not with the Empire?"

"We're taking those fuckers out real soon." She smirked viciously, showing her teeth.

"As long you don't make more work for me." Amy sighed. And she was surprised she actually meant it.

"Well, we won't be involving non-gang members, but I can't predict what Kaiser's gonna do."

"Fair enough." She sighed again.

"Well, I'm going to bed for the night." She opened a portal and stepped through. "Catch you later, PanPan." She said as it snapped shut.

"Wait, what'd you— and she's gone." Amy sighed to herself. "I guess I better go too."

Amy tapped the air again, opening a portal and walking through, ending up down the street from her aunts house. She walked up to the door and was surprised when it snapped open before she had a chance to signal she was there.

"Amy!" Crystal pulled her into a tight hug. "Vicky called and said you were on your way. Mom and Dad went out to see if they could find you. I'll text them you're here. I'll go set up the guest room for you. You can stay as long as you need to, kay?" She said as she dragged Amy into the house.

"Thanks." She said lowly.

She might not feel ready to deal with her problems, but she felt less weighed down by them. It was… Nice. To finally feel like there wasn't so much pressure on her. For once she was actually looking forward to tomorrow.

AN: And Panacea officially has her powers. This chapter ended up causing me some trouble because I wasn't sure how to characterize Amy's aspect of death (Aging) as emotions. I decided to do this by instead giving her traits that come with aging instead: Patience, Wisdom, and Stubbornness. She hasn't picked up much of the third one yet, but as her power settles she'll start picking hills she'll easily die on much like Theo is more comfortable speaking his mind and standing his ground because he knows he has power now.