And Emma said nothing. Nothing at all. She didn't even look at Fenix. Emma wasn't focused on anything in particular; she simply stared at the wall next to her bed. Her facial expression remained unchanged; her lips were barely parted, and her eyes half shut in a blank stare. Her breathing was shallow, but nothing was physically wrong with her. She was just unresponsive--in every way, shape, and form. And she'd remain that way for the remainder of the day, not moving or responding, even when asked what she wanted to eat.

It was unlikely that Emma even slept the night prior--or the night following, for that matter.

The following day was a busy one. Not Mayako or the Tsukimono's stopped in to check on them. Every so often, one or two of them could be seen going past the door, but there was a problem on their hands. One of the patients was relapsing in his recovery--a horrible, life threatening relapse. The Tsukimonos needed to work on him as quickly and efficiently as possible, while Mayako needed to be there to bring them supplies.

Of course, something no one else noticed by not entering the room-- something Fenix would be the first to see: the bed adjacent to him was empty. He was alone in the room.

"...Emma?"

But she didn't respond or so much as give him the usual annoyed look that told him she wanted to be left alone. Fine, ignore me. Getting anything more than irritation from her was like pulling teeth, and he wasn't up to trying at the moment.

It was a few minutes after he woke up before he even noticed it: the bed next to him was empty. That...made him uneasy, to say the least. No one ever said so outright, but he was certain they thought Emma would try to kill herself if she was left to her own devices--and the bandages that were on her wrists suggested she'd tried before.

Fortunately, having rested for several days, he was feeling a lot better. He still wasn't strong enough to walk without crutches, but he had more energy than before. Perhaps it was good to let his magic flow occasionally as he recovered...

He gathered that the doctors and Mayako were busy from the way they were running around, so unless someone stopped him on his way out he wouldn't mention anything; as much as he was sure they were worried about Mayako, chances are she'd been gone for a bit. If she was going to kill herself, she'd probably already done so. If she wasn't, though--or if she tried and failed--someone would need to find her.

Outside, he'd find nothing. It stopped raining shortly before Mayako went outside last night, and after twelve hours, that had all but dried up. The earth wasn't moist enough to leave footprints; the only ones that could be found--and perhaps followed by Fenix--were Mayako's last night, which lead to the church, and then over to the side of the church by the window, where a large number of empty bottles of liquor could be found in broad daylight.

But there was otherwise no sign of Emma--and Mayako hadn't shown Fenix around the village well enough for him to know it by heart. It also didn't help any that, were he to come across any residents, no one else would seem to know where Emma was, either.

But by the time he'd get back, the crisis would have long since been averted. Now, it was a matter of post-treatment, which could be put off, but seeings how the day seemed fine otherwise, the two doctors and their nurse had themselves busy with that. But due to the calm nature of it, it wasn't like Fenix would be interrupting much . . .

Where did she go? Though he admittedly didn't know her very well, Emma struck him as the type that, if she actually killed herself, would want people to find her body--perhaps as a testament to her warped view of the village and reality in general. But no one he asked had seen her, and knew neither her nor the village well enough to know where to look.

Ugh...guess it was dumb to think I could find her on my own. After a while he decided that without help it was pointless; if he were fully mobile, he could move fast enough to at least search around the village manually, but in his current condition even that wasn't an option.

So he dragged himself back inside; emergency or not, the doctors and Mayako needed to know. The former still seemed busy, but the latter didn't look like she was in the middle of anything too intensive. She'd notice his arrival long before he approached, but the first thing he'd say would be, "Mayako, Emma's not in her bed."

Mayako was just getting a new set of bandages for their patient. He didn't need a chance of bandages just yet, but the doctors wouldn't have minded them being on hand. Spare bandages were off in the supply closet, in sterilized containers. Since it wasn't too terribly imperative, she was able to relax a little, and slowly roll the necessary amount of bandages onto a separate spool.

That was about the time that Fenix showed up, interrupting her. She had her back turned to him, though, so when he spoke to her, he nearly scared her to death.

Shakily and hesitantly, Mayako turned around to look at Fenix. At first, what he said didn't kick in. She was just confounded by him scaring her. Nearly a few seconds passed, before she furrowed her brow, and while she had a hundred questions behind her lips, it didn't take longer than another second for her to quickly set the spool of bandages down and hastily move past Fenix, and down the hall, to the right, and to Fenix and Emma's room. Mayako walked much faster than Fenix would be able to keep up with on crutches.

When she was inside, Fenix, outside of room, wouldn't hear anything for a moment. But finally, he'd be able to hear Mayako gasp: "--oh God," followed in short by a momentary freak-out. "No, no, no-- nonononononononononono . . . God, no . . ."

And just a moment later, she was racing out of the room. Mayako nearly tripped the moment she was out, and lightly slammed shoulder first into the opposite wall of the hallway. That didn't stop her, though. She rushed to the room with Mr. and Mrs. Tsukimono--whom she frantically informed, regardless of the fact that there was anothe patient present in that room.

"I asked-"

But before Fenix could say anything, explain that he already looked around the village a bit and asked about Emma, or that he doubted she was dead yet because she'd surely want people to know she's dead if/when she killed herself, Mayako rushed out of the room and nearly bowled him over on her way to the where the doctors were. It annoyed him slightly, but it couldn't be helped, so he hobbled after her the best he could.

Urikuse was in the middle of a procedure with a patient, with Rebbecca assisting and supervising. When Mayako burst in, she probably intended to fill them in on the situation, but she was so panicked that neither could make out much of what she said.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down honey," Rebbecca said, gently ushering Mayako back out into the hall (and causing her to nearly run into Fenix a second time). "I can't understand you. Now, what happened?"

She was a little too rushed at first, that was true. Way too rushed, actually. It would've been a wonder if Urikuse or Rebbecca could have even understood a word of it!

Mayako tried to calm down. She took deep breaths-- in, out, in out --and even tried to count to ten in her head. This wasn't a matter of anger or anything, though! It was raw urgency! They had a serious issue on their hands, and she could barely even communicate it! Mayako shut her eyes tightly and tensed her hands into fists. The girl was shaking all over, and it was just getting worse.

Too much was happening recently. Mayako just couldn't take it. This was the worst of it, though. A suicidal patient, her only friend left in Hillcrest, had simply up and left.

"I-it's . . . it's Emma!" Mayako finally expounded, trying to enunciate to the best of her ability, "Sh-she's not in her room!"

"She is, is she?" Perhaps it was just that she was used to tense situations, even those involving close friends, but Rebbecca did not seemed very shocked by the news.

"I asked around a bit, but no one's seen her," Fenix offered from behind Mayako.

"I see." Crouching down a bit so that she was on eye level with the girl, Rebbecca placed her hands on her shoulders. "I know you're worried, but please calm down, Mayako. You know her better than I do; please start looking in places you think she'd go to. The only place I can think of is her house. I'll go see if anyone can come help for a more organized search."

"I'll go look to," Fenix stated, causing Rebbecca to frown a bit.

"You shouldn't be straining yourself, especially after how tired you've been the last couple days," Rebbecca replied, and something about the way she said it made Fenix uncomfortable. He wondered how much Mayako told her about what happened the other day.

"Every set of eyes helps, right?" Fenix countered.

"What should I do, dear?" Urikuse called from inside the room.

"Keep working, and just keep an eye out in case she comes back. Who knows? Maybe she's feeling better and just went on a walk," Rebbecca replied optimistically.

Mayako still looked as if she were on the verge of tears. She'd already lost everyone else in the village. The only person left she could genuinely call a friend was Emma. The Tsukimonos were like a family away from her family--but not quite, really. Mayako still wasn't ready to forget about her own family. Thoughts about them blocked any possibility of her taking as much of an appreciation for the Tsukimonos as she could have-- or, rather, as she should have. They'd done a lot for her, after all . . .

Nonetheless, she just couldn't help it. She was scared to death of losing Emma. That would've been the last straw for her. That probably would have made her no better than Emma herself--no, she'd be worse. Definitely worse, now that she knew the truth behind the afterlife, and what happened to those that killed themselves.

And Emma knew, too! Mayako couldn't understand why'd she even want to consider taking that route!

"O- okay . . ." Mayako sniffled.

Maybe she wasn't the best person to look for Emma at the moment--but she'd have ignored anyone who told her that. For the sake of a faux strength, Mayako wiped her tears away and tried to stand up tall.

"I-I'll t-take Fenix t-to Emma house-- a-and look there," Mayako volunteered, before turning back to Fenix. He might not be that fast on his feet, but he wanted to come along-- and besides, Emma's house wasn't that far away.

"Okay. And anywhere else you think she might go, too." And with that Rebbecca was off, to gather some of the neighbors and see if anyone could spare some time help search for Emma.

Fenix nodded in agreement and was prepared to follow Mayako, but it shortly became obvious that, even though he was fairly mobile with the crutches by now, she'd be much quicker without him. "You don't need to wait up for me," he observed; he was lacking strength, but not injured--at worst he'd just have to sit on the road for a bit to recover even if left on his own.

Besides, she no doubt wanted to rush as fast as she could to find her.

"I-it's okay," Mayako whispered meekly, "I-- I'll just . . . w-we'll just . . ."

Truth be told, Mayako was kind of afraid. What if Emma really was getting ready to do something drastic? Emma was actually stronger than Mayako, regardless of the fact that she was about four years younger. If she was dead set on something, Mayako wouldn't be able to physically stop her, not alone--

"We'll just walk together," Mayako declared as she sneaked in, under Fenix's arm, to sort of push his crutch away.

Fenix didn't need either of them. He'd be able to walk faster without them, if he used Mayako for balance. Determined as she was, she wasn't falling, and she'd be able to speed him up just a little, to arrive at a comfortable median between Mayako's maximum walking speed and Fenix's (current) maximum walking speed.

Realizing that she might have been acting a little hasty, she hesitated only to ask, "P-please?"

If Fenix were there, and Emma were really going to try and hurt herself, that would be two people trying to stop her. Their chances would be so much greater.

Fenix made no effort to resist her, though he did keep his other crutch in that hand, even if he wasn't going to use it for now, just in case Mayako ran off or something and he needed to move by himself.

"Sure," he assented when she asked for his permission, letting go of the crutch and reaching around her shoulders instead. Unlike his mentor and a certain other young man Mayako knew, Fenix didn't have any problems acknowledging when he could use assistance and asking for it or accepting it. He liked to do things on his own when he could, injured or not, but he had fairly realistic expectations of what he was capable of. He'd move faster with Mayako's help than he would by himself on crutches.

It occurred to him that she might not want to face Emma alone--he wasn't sure what help he could be if it came down to physically restraining her, but he could always offer moral support and advice, not to mention a set of sharp eyes.

It didn't take long to get to the Vaerbond ranch. At one point, it had been a splendor, a family owned establishment. The father ran it all, the son did all of the heavy work, the eldest daughter took care of the animals, and the younger daughter, the youngest of the owner's children in fact, raised a garden entirely on her own. Back then, it was a busy place. People came by to rent horses and buy produce direct, milk, eggs, and all the sort. It really was a busy place back then--and a great place to visit. So full of life and love . . .

Then, the father fell ill and couldn't work well anymore. Then, his son passed away. Then the father, too, passed away. Then, the eldest daughter left, and the only Vaerbond left in Hillcrest lost something in her heart, and wanted to end it all.

The ranch had seen better days. Cobwebs covered the ranch house's windows, with cracks in the wood of the house becoming more evident due to the utter lack of maintenance, and the garden just next to it was in just as bad of condition. All the flowers and vegetables were smothered by weeds, and further down the stables were empty. Everything was empty. Not even the pens had chickens left. No cows grazing the pasture allowed it to overgrow, leaving the site with the appearance of absolute abandonment.

Once upon a time, it was a great place to be.

But not anymore.

Mayako stopped as soon as she could see it all up close. For a moment, she didn't move. It might have confused Fenix a little, but Mayako had fond memories of this place. There was a reason she hadn't come back in awhile. More than likely, he'd even need to remind her the reason why they needed to press on. The sight of the Vaerbond ranch in such a state of disrepair was just . . . it was far too depressing.

So...this is where she used to live. Never having seen the place before all the tragedies struck, it was difficult for him to imagine just how far the place had fallen. But he could still see it wasn't a place to return to; it was no longer a home.

I wonder if she'd really come here. This abandoned...maybe even forsaken place, did it strike a chord in her? Or was it the kind of thing she'd avoid, wanting a more glamorous spot for her final resting place? But he still wasn't sure she truly wanted to die...

"We should go inside and look around," Fenix prodded, when Mayako didn't move for awhile.

"Th-there's o-only o-one way in a-and out," Mayako whispered to Fenix at last.

She gave him a hopeful look, but even Mayako couldn't pretend to smile under these circumstances. She was great at producing a facade, but as there were already tears stinging her eyes, but a facade, here, was nothing more than a losing battle.

Someone like Fenix would understand what she was getting at, though. It was a horribly depressing idea, but Mayako genuinely thought it to be a possibility, and just in case, it was best that Fenix guard the door.

She slipped away from him quietly and entered the house. The door was cracked open already, a telltale sign that someone had been there recently, but it could have been anyone. The house had been abandoned for so long that just about anyone could have broken in and stolen whatever they wanted . . . not that there was much of anything valuable left inside anymore. The Vaerbonds had their own personal effects, but rarely anything of monetary value.

The inside of the house was cold and bare. Family pictures, paintings and the like, were nowhere to be found anymore; they'd all been packed up and put in storage, the only valuable objects in the entire house, but for more than just monetary reasons. There were few traces left in the world of Remington Vaerbond and his father beyond those.

Dirt and dust covered every surface, all darkened by the drapes over every window. Mayako, briefly, took the whole tour over again--the same tour given by Sarah so many years prior. They were both five years old when Sarah gave Mayako the ground tour.



No, it wasn't. Not anymore. It was just an empty room with nothing more than a rocking chair and a bare book case.



Mayako ran her fingers over the counter. It wrapped around the entire room, but hadn't any utensils anymore. It, too, was dry and covered and dust.



It was just a small, empty room. Not even a bathtub remained.



Mayako didn't want to even touch the doorknob to Sarah's room.

Instead, she continued down the narrow hallway, ending at Emma's room: a door that was already partially opened. Inside, it was chaos. The drapes had been torn down, the bookshelves had been tipped over, books strewn everywhere, some torn, some just lying open, some just lying. There didn't appear to be anything missing, but the damage all looked recent. Mayako investigated briefly, but she couldn't quite get past a couple steps in. A bookshelf broken and lying on its side blocked entry for the most part. Mayako couldn't even see Emma's momento of her brother, usually on display on her wall.

Mayako sighed. If Emma wasn't here, but had already come out here, where could she possibly be? There was no trace of her in this house, but she'd clearly been to her room. She said nothing the entire time they were in the house, just frantically moving from room to room, even peering into Sarah, Remmy, and their late father's rooms--places there were otherwise off limits, out of respect for the departed and the dead.

And even there, there was nothing. None of those rooms had been opened before today. It was only Emma's room that was open and seemingly violently ransacked. Mayako returned from within the Vaerbond farm house empty handed. All she could do was

Outside, Mayako collapsed before the still open front of the door. She felt the urge to cry, an urge she had been holding back for the longest time, and was able to hold back for the longest time, but now it was coming back with a vengeance . . .