Roger sat in silence in the room. Moonlight streaming through the window allowed him some light to see by. Susanne and Meredith were both sleeping peacefully again. Well, Meredith had never actually woken up. For awhile, though, Susanne had been restless, unable to sleep. He was glad she was finally getting some rest. Tomorrow promised to be a long day.

Something was definitely off, though. Susanne had felt it. Had Meredith? That was why Roger had stayed awake. He felt he needed to be alert.

He stood up and walked over to the window. Not that he'd see anything unusual. There was nothing out there now that wasn't out there ten minutes ago. He sat down on the desk chair and gazed out the window. They hadn't heard anything from Anaera or Mercy for awhile. In this tiny room, the bed was perpendicular to the desk, so Roger was sitting right next to Susanne. He looked down at her, tucked a loose piece of hair behind her ear.

Having Dionysus and Celly show up this morning hadn't been very helpful. So Dionysus was making sure all the Otakus knew the Truth. He'd show up and tell the girls that they weren't real. And why? Roger had never been able to understand what the purpose of that was. Well, Susanne knew now. Dionysus seemed to think, though, that she didn't believe it. Roger could see that she wasn't in denial. She had other things to think about, though. Whether or not she was actually real didn't matter to her. She was real to herself, and she had things to do. Roger turned back to the moonlit view outside.

"Anata wa..." Roger quickly turned to look again at Susanne. She was again sleeping restlessly. "Sonna bakana..." Such strong language...

Now Meredith was also mumbling something, but Roger couldn't quite make it out. But the timing... it was almost as though they were having a conversation. He looked back at Susanne.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of light outside.

At the same moment, both of the girls sat straight up. Susanne leapt out of bed and tore the top blanket off, and Meredith was hurriedly putting shoes on. Roger grabbed the key, and the three of them ran out of the room and downstairs.

There, beneath the tree, lay the crumpled form of the Otaku Mercy.

"Kuso!" Susanne spat out as she dropped to her knees next to the unconscious girl. She and Meredith covered Mercy with the blanket and tried to care for the girl.

Roger looked around. Where the hell was her Guardian? Dionysus had been dropped by the council when they found out about his relationship with his charge, but this... Orion was going to have a lot to answer for.

Susanne and Meredith were still trying to revive Mercy. Roger bent down and picked her up. "Let's get her inside," he said. She had really gotten herself into it, Roger thought as he carried her up. She was cut and bleeding in several places, and she was bruised all over. Nothing seemed to be broken, but that would remain to be seen. But whoever had done this to her had dropped her off right here. They'd known they were giving her back to Susanne. They knew exactly where Susanne was.

Susanne had apparently been thinking the same thing. As Roger lay Mercy down on the bed, Susanne checked the clock. It was 4am. Too early to call, she thought. We'll just go over. "We're leaving," she said.

"What? Right now?" Meredith looked at her.

Susanne nodded. "C'mon, let's get dressed." She and Meredith both went to Susanne's closet. "Hello? Your own stuff please?"

"I don't feel like searching through my HammerSpace for it." Susanne crossed her arms and stared at her friend, and Meredith sighed and began digging through her HammerSpace.

Roger turned to look out the window once more while they changed. A thin line of brighter sky showed in the east. He wasn't sure where Susanne was going to take them, but he could guess.