Susan couldn't blame Pia for her haste; she knew only too well the desire to put a place behind herself after an experience like this. She kept pace with her friend, choosing paths that would bring them out of the forest closer to a dorm entrance nearer to Pia's room. As they crossed a particular stream, she thought, I'll have to show her that clearing some day. I think she'd like the scenery. Now, however, wasn't the right time for it.

They got back to the dorms not too long after the sun had fully set. As they got to Pia's room, Susan handed her the spare keycard. "I borrowed this from your neighbor. Probably should've asked your permission to do that in this sort of situation a while ago, but..." She paused and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, but I was just so worried about you."

"That is all right.. You know, I should get an extra for you to keep.."
Pia doubted that would be a problem. With girls getting assaulted and having their clothes torn off, it was probably not unusual for key-cards and such to be 'displaced', fairly regularly. At least no-one reacted when she had asked for a new one, although she suspected they may be listed as demerits.

Rather swiftly, she went into the room and grabbed what she thought she might need. Just a few things, quickly gathered. She felt like she really needed to hurry. It had been a trying day, and she was not sure how long she would be able to keep going. If she was going to collapse, it was going to happen soon.

"Susan..", she began, returning to the door. "I..I am really sorry for worrying you.. I really am.. I should.. I.. uh.."
Pia's voice felt thick and sluggish in her throat. She did not know what she meant to say. She was just so tired, and so grateful for Susan to be there.

"Thank you for worrying about me.. You are really brave, you know that."

"I..I am really sorry for worrying you.. I really am.. I should.. I.. uh.."

"It's alright. It's not your fault. If anyone should apologize, it's the things that do this and whoever lets them run around loose here." And if there was anything I could do to make them pay...

"Thank you for worrying about me.. You are really brave, you know that."

Susan smiled and kissed Pia quickly. "Thank you. 'Brave' sounds a lot better than 'crazy,' which I've been called at times for doing whatever I can to protect my friends." And that was for taking on one of the star linebackers in high school, not for risking a monster-filled forest.

As they reached her room, Susan unlocked the door and went in first. If they'd been anywhere but this school, she'd have let Pia enter first, but she wanted to protect the other girl if there was a monster waiting for her. While that had happened once before, the room was empty today. "Come in, make yourself at home."

"Call it crazy.. call it brave.. It is a noble thing." Pia said. 'Noble' was not a word used often these days, but it fit. Susan struck Pia as one of the few persons who would stick up for someone else just because they were victims and that was the right thing to do. It was a rare trait, and one that should be cherished.

When they came to Susan's room, Pia felt the strength drain from her arms and legs. It was like she was physically getting weaker. She had been buoyed by adrenaline and the desire to reach safety. Relative safety, no place was safe here.

Now she was here, and Pia found she had not the will to keep going any more. She just stood there, in the middle of the room, not having the energy to motivate herself further. She staggered over to the bed, then sat down.
Pia reached up, hand to her face, and found that her cheek was wet. There was a tear there. She had no idea when she had started doing that. She did cry from time to time, but rarely in the presence of others. Now she was just shivering, eyes running, like control was slipping out of her hands.

It wasn't until Pia sat down and began crying that Susan realized just how badly this attack had affected her friend. She sat down next to the other girl and put an arm around her. "It's alright. Let it all out; I won't think any less of you for it," she said as she held the blonde to her. A place to stay so you're not alone, a shoulder to cry on, and maybe some company at night. I just wish there was more I could offer you. Something to protect you, not just comfort you.

A shoulder to cry on was all Pia needed right now. Snuggling close to Susan, Pia let her eyes gush, tears running down her cheeks. It was not a loud cry, just short sobs in bursts and quiet sniffles. She leaned as close as she could, like she wanted to curl into a little blonde ball and hide in Susan's arms forever.

"Sorry.. I.." her voice was choked by a small sob. "It wasn't.. it wasn't so bad, relatively speaking, and I.. I am so relieved."

Throughout her life, Pia had done the majority of her crying alone. Hidden tears in her own room, away from the eyes of others, or desperate wails between the walls of her dorm room, when the terrors and tribulations she endured had taken too much out of her, and she just collapsed, surrendering all self control.
This wasn't like that, this was a good cry, something she could do because someone was there to keep her up, keep her from sinking. This was tension flowing out of her, out of her eyes and away.

"It.. It is always worst the night after." Pia said, pushing away her glasses and wiping her cheeks. More tears flowed to replace the ones she had wiped away, but not as much.
She let herself slide, head in Susan's lap.
"I am just so glad you came for me.. I am so glad I don't have to spend the night alone. Alone and scared."
Pia sniffled a little gain.

Susan simply held her friend, occasionally making a sympathetic or agreeing sound, as Pia cried herself out. Right now, that seemed to be what she needed the most, to let her emotions out while she felt safe.

Eventually, her tears subsided and she slid her head into Susan's lap. "I am just so glad you came for me.. I am so glad I don't have to spend the night alone. Alone and scared."

Susan brushed her hand across Pia's cheek, wiping away her tears. "Of course I came for you. I've always tried to be there for my friends if I knew they were in trouble, and I'm not going to let this place change that. Especially not for someone as... important to me as you are."

"I'm important?", Pia sniffled, smiling weakly. "That.. that is.. thanks.."

Pia did not often get a chance to realize that she was someone who actually meant something to others. Largely, it was her own fault. Pia constanlty downplayed her own role in just about any social situation, a habit established long before coming to Shokushu. Being the meat in the flesh grinder the school really was did not help either.

So she was happy to hear those simple words. Happy, but it opened up for a lot of confusing questions. Just what kind of realationship were she and Susan entering into. Friends, lovers, both, neither..
Pia did know she cared deeply about Susan, though. She had liked the girl from the start, and there was some.. strenght of character there that Pia admired. Maybe that was the importnat thing? Susan made Pia feel good. Apparently, the feeling was mutual. Maybe that was enough?

"You are important to me.."
And then there was the mess of Pia's relationships. Her apprenticeship with Kanoe, for instance. Would Susan even approve? She supposed she had to tell her. And her doomed relationship with Cala.. Almost one year after, and she still felt pangs of regret.

"I'm not sure I am worth it, though.."

"I'm sure you are," Susan said in a serious tone, then added more lightly, "unless you're secretly a serial axe-murderer or something."

If she'd known exactly what was causing Pia to think that way, she would have had some difficulty avoiding laughing. She knew Pia had had a short but intense relationship with another student before the two had met; it wouldn't be a surprise that she wasn't over it yet. Besides, Susan had had other relationships herself. Pia already knew something about Linda, from before Susan had even come here, and she might have guessed about the long-missing Malina, whose possessions still occupied part of the room, but there were also Ryu and the Kiras twins, although both of those were more casual friendships with benefits than anything else. Pia was something more than that, she hoped.

"Seriously, meeting you is one of the few good things that's happened to me here. I don't make friends easily, and it's harder when there's a fear that someone could disappear overnight as if the island had swallowed them up." And it might have, for all I know. "Despite that, almost since we first met, I've thought of you as a friend... maybe even something more. I can't see any reason why that wouldn't be worth it."

"Me? An axe murderer? Well, I am from the cold north. Maybe I got some residual berserker genes. If I start frothing, just stand back an point me in the way of a monster or the staff and you'll be safe."
Pia smiled a little. The image of herself wielding a battle axe and chasing down creatures and their helper was not particularly realistic, but it was a nice revenge scenario.

Her mirth stilled a little, though. A fear someone might disappear overnight.. like the island had swallowed them up. One night they will come for me too.. unless I can stop them.
But it was not only fear for herself that made Pia suddenly look worried. She reached out, touched Susan's face, stroked her gently. Someone would not just say something like that for no reason.
"You lost someone.. didn't you?"

Susan nodded, a wistful expression on her face. "My... roommate, Malina." She nodded towards the other bed that was in use. "We met not all that long after I came here. I'd already learned about the monsters, and I didn't want to be alone in my room right then." No need to explain that that was because I'd just had my first roommate vanish. "We met in the common room, hit it off pretty quickly, and went back to her room for the night. I moved in with her the next day, and... well, it was a short relationship, but it was intense." She colored slightly; she'd almost gone into a bit more detail than Pia was likely to want to know. "Maybe it would've burned out if we'd been together longer. Who knows? One day, she just never came back from classes. I've been hoping she'll return one day— there are rumors it sometimes happens— and I hope someone is here for her, even if I'm not, if she does. But it's been so long..."

Pia sat up, her looking at Susan with big eyes. She felt for Susan, and for Malina. Now she wrapped her arms around Susan, holding her and stroking her.
"I hope she will be back.. I really do..".

Poor Malina. Whoever she was, Pia had a little too much of an idea what might have happened. For reasons of their own, some of the monsters had been a little open mouthed with future plans involving Pia. She did not know all the particulars, but she knew many girls would never see home again. But she knew there were other places girls were taken too. There was the place with the restraints, the cameras end the drugs. And the basement. If this Malina had been taken there.. the poor girl might be traumatized, but there might be a chance of her returning.

"..and if she does, she will need someone kind and loyal, like you." Pia paused a little. "Do you love her?", she asked, but she believed she knew the answer. "This place.. It tears apart so much, so much that could be beautiful and good."

"Do you love her?"

"I... think I did... do." There was hesitation in her voice, as if she wasn't certain of her answer. Partly, this was because their relationship had been too brief to be sure it wasn't just lust and infatuation that hadn't been able to fade due to the manner of their separation. However, there was also a worry that Pia might feel she was intruding on a relationship. Nothing could be further from the truth; since arriving here, Susan had found that she could love more than one person deeply without losing her feelings for any of them.

"This place.. It tears apart so much, so much that could be beautiful and good."

There was something in Pia's tone that said she was speaking partly from experience. "It does, but if we were somewhere else, I'd probably never have met her... or you." She kissed Pia quickly. "But, you sound like you've lost someone, too." After talking about Malina, the least she could do was offer to take some of Pia's emotional burden, if the blonde wanted to talk about it.

"Uh, well.. sort off. I did not loose someone.. that way. I mean, I don't think she is gone." Pia said. She was very unsure about how to speak of it, really, but it was better Susan heard things right from herself. "I don't really have the right to complain.. she was not swallowed up or anything."

"A while after coming here.. after I had realized what was going on, I met this girl. Cala is her name. I was lonely then, and she was very beautiful and.. she seduced me. But we were stupid about it, and got caught by a head girl. Things turned bad then, even worse because Cala and the head girl had some sort of.. they had a past. So in the end, Vera, the head girl, she.. she kinda raped me, sort of. And that was when Cala got angry on my behalf. That was brave, braver than I would have been, and I think that was when I fell in love with her."

"Of course it ended badly. She was punished severely, got the fighting spirit knocked out of her, and was taken away. Now she is Vera's personal servant or something. The worst is.. she might be better off there. Maybe she is at least a bit safer. She has to be."

Susan winced as Pia described what had happened to her and Cala; she hadn't realized that the story would involve something similar to what had happened to Pia today. She did admire Cala for what she'd done for Pia; whether or not she knew the secret of the school, she must have known taking on a head girl was asking for trouble.

"I'm sorry," she said as Pia finished her story, "and I hope that you're right about her being safer; she sounds like a good person." She held Pia a little tighter before adding, "And don't think you're wrong to complain; having someone taken from you like that still hurts. Even if you know where they are, even if you know they're safe, they're still being kept from you." If the other girl remembered the story of why Susan had ended up at Shokushu, they were probably at the end of the stories of lost loves.