"Asami! Where are you?!"

Her pace was slowing far too much for her liking, but she had already been looking for at least ten minutes. And by the trail she was leaving behind, plus her dizziness, she doubted she could keep this up much longer. Most of the pain was shut out now, all but a dull ache she could easily deal with. It was hard to adjust to using one eye, but she could deal with that too. What was making her panic, was the fact someone dangerous was strolling around campus. Something she had a part in creating.

Zeph's steps faltered and she tripped over her own feet, sending her sprawling into the grass. A soft grunt and she shakily pushed back to her feet. There was no time to waste. She had to find Asami. She had to end this. The sheers hung loosely in her hand, only for self defense, if needed. The way Asami was acting though.. she'd definitely need them when she caught up to her.

Now even thinking was getting hard. She couldn't keep focused at all. Where was she again? Her blurred vision swept over her surroundings. Statues.. Bushes.. Miator. The courtyard. The redhead swayed to the right and reached out to brace herself against a stark white bust, smearing red over its prestine surface.

"Mmn.. sorry.." Was slurred out and she rubbed her sleeve against the stone, further smearing it. She snorted softly and turned back around toward her destination, the dorms. Someone else would give it a better cleaning later anyway.

It was natural for Arceia to be out and about at this hour. She had much to do and little time to do it with after all. And she had a family to get home to. Mouths to feed, cases to file through, homework to grade, all the beautiful bonuses of teaching. And running a school. And we'll... Being a workaholic. However, she stopped this time. She stood silent for a moment and heard the dull scream of a student in the distance. As cliché as that sounds, it was distinct and hard to not hear.she bolted immediately toward the sound, and ten minutes or so later she found a trail.

Blood.

Immediately she was dialing emergency services. Walking and talking, trying to get someone to come help. She took note of every single time the blood seemed to pool more. This meant the person was wobbly. This was even worse, considering how short time likely was. A blood transfusion would definitely be needed. She made sure to note that to the authorities.

After hanging up and telling them to meet her in the courtyard, she spotted the girl.

Of course it was her.

Of course this would be who was mortally wounded.

"Zephyra! " she called out, giving little time to allow a response before standing in front of the girl. It was then that she took note of the damage.

Of course that was the exact wound she had.

And were those shears in her hand?

"You... Had better not have done this to yourself. Actually at this point I don't even know if that's better or if someone else doing it is. But you need to sit down. There's an ambulance on the way."

June can not see this right now. She would likely do some things that would get her fired.

The girl had started to turn around to see whom was calling for her, but she swayed and reached out for something to steady herself. Man, her head hurt. And that statue is really dirty.. She tried to use her sleeve to clean this one off too. Then suddenly Arceia popped out of nowhere. Probably just a blood loss hallucination or something.

"I don't have time to sit down, Arceia.. Asami is out there somewhere. Gotta keep moving. What? No. I didn't do this. I'm not stupid. I thought hallucinations during injuries and extreme.. extreme.. uhm.. conditions were supposed to urge you on. Not make you sit down. No thank you. I'll keep moving."

A hand raised to touch against the makeshift bandage over her eye and her belly gave a sickening flip. Not good. Instead of lowering herself to the ground, her knees gave way as dry heaving sapped more of her energy. The girl groaned as she clutched at her head. Her ability to turn off certain sets of pain was growing thin with her energy and the pain was coming on in waves. Each new wave brought another flip of her stomach and round of heaving.

"J-june." Tears started rolling down her blood smeared cheek as she tried to keep it together. At least as together as a borderline comatose could. "Where.. is June?"

This girl was a mess... Is this what she did to June all those years ago? She never did think about that. This was hell. This was pure, unfiltered Hell. Hopefully very soon the ambulance would arrive, but until then she had to keep Zeph awake but also make her stay put. What was the best way to do that?

And for that matter, Asami was on the loose?she did this? Arceia always thought the girl was just stuck on herself, not crazy. Then again, this girl was probably having some waves of confusion. Maybe it wasn't Asami. Still, someone was on the loose and dangerous. This, she couldn't leave untouched. She quickly sent a text to her other staff members to call the police and issue a total campus lock down for now. Every student would be made to stay in their room until the staff and the police figured this out.

There was more to notice as well. More to piece together. Shears means she had to have come from the greenhouse. That must be where the assault took place. She made sure to include that in the message.

"I've got the entire Astraea staff on alert, the girls are getting out on lock down, and the police and ambulance are coming. Just... Stay awake, but stay put. I need you to conserve energy."

The girl seemed to still have thoughts of June. That was bad in this moment... June couldn't see this. She just couldn't. Not until everything was safe. If she knew what had happened to her girlfriend...

There likely wouldn't be any Asami left.

"June is helping us find her. And with June on the case you know it's a sure catch. " she answered. Come on, think! How can you keep this girl with the living while the ambulance arrives?

" Hey... Do me a favor and come here okay? I've got some clean clothing to help with the mess."

It was equally that and the fact that she needed to take those Shears from the girl. There's no telling how dangerous she herself could be with them.

"You sure are one bossy hallucination.. I sit down like you want and now you want me to go to you.."

Her good eye fell shut as she tried to breathe through the pain and nausea. Fingers curled in the grass and the shears were clutched harder. Her mind was screaming move at her, but her body just wouldn't follow her commands. Was this what it was like to die? A thread of hopelessness wrapped around her heart. What kind of protector was she? She was going to die before she even had the chance to see everything come to fruit. Raion was going to be pissed. A low laugh shook her shoulders as her friend popped into her head, her slightly snarky voice cursing her for leaving her behind with no help.

"Yo, hallucination." Her laugh suddenly cut off as she looked up at Arceia with a surprisingly focused gaze. The shears in her hand suddenly flipped, putting the blades up by her arm. A defensive position to block. "Help me up."

A blood covered hand reached out for her, waiting to be pulled to her feet. The renewal of her need to live seemed to give her a burst of strength. Or maybe it was shock. Even if Arceia refused, she would clamor to her feet, not even swaying this time as she looked off toward the dorms. Then she slowly swept her gaze across campus. There was a monster in Asami's skin. That's the only thing that could explain this. A monster she had to remove. It was her duty to the hill. She didn't bother speaking anymore. It'd be a waste of emergy. Instead she started across the courtyard, leaving the pool of her own blood behind. Her mind was starting to collapse in on itself, leaving only the training she had beaten into her at her grasp. And a stupid sense of immortality. She couldn't die until this was solved.

Oh, HELL no.

"You need to stop." she made sure that was made very clear, and approached the now standing woman to hug her. A hug like one would give their own relative. A daughter even.

"Shh... I've got it under control. You need to stay with me and wait for the ambulance. Asami won't hurt anyone else, you have my promise."

As if to comfort her, she began stroking her hair and humming. She had a more motherly side than people really knew.

Thankfully, the ambulance lights could be seen very close by.

The tall girl froze in her hold, going stiff. Words were said, but they were all muddled in her head. She frowned slightly as she tried to make sense of them, but it was as if Arceia was speaking a different language. Her frown deepened as pain lashed from her right eye straight into her skull where it echoed dully.

"Get off." Her voice was dull, serious and gruff. One hand slid between them and pushed against her abdomen. "Don't get in my way."

The lights of the ambulance didn't even register as she dropped the shears. All that was on her mind was getting out of this vice like grip that was keeping her from her fate. Her now free hand grasped one of the arms that were holding so tightly and she spun outward. Then she rolled her shoulders forward and used the leverage she had to pull Arceia to her. The way her eyes were glazing over showed she wasn't even here. Some other image played before her and this was an easy move. They'd never expect it. One knee dipped down then she shoved up to her full height so the woman would roll across her back and land on the grass next to her.

What she didn't expect was the strain it put on her body. It had never been that hard before.. Maybe her partner had put on weight. Oh well. She started to stride forward, but not even her first step was taken. Her out of focus gaze lost its light as she toppled forward, sprawling on the lawn without a word. The last thing on her mind was how June would be disappointed with her for not finishing her job of making the campus safe.

Okay, so she was going to be difficult. Whatever. Arceia was more than capable of taking the hit in wait for the ambulance to arrive. And as she did, it did, and sure enough they stopped her in her tracks. Following them very closely was the police, and closely behind them was a blonde girl in Arceia's car. Seems she managed to alert her wife of the matter and urged her to get here too. Why though?

She knew there would be a needed chaperone for the hospital. She knew there would need to be a lot of explaining. She was willing to be there for that, especially when it came time to talk to parents. She would do so with little difficulty as soon as things calmed down. But first, a text to June.

'Wherever you are right now, get Luria and stay indoors. We had an incident on campus. The staff are working to getting everyone into lock down but I need you to hide. Someone is after you."

How did she know? Well it wasn't hard to figure out. She knew Asami, and she knew her hatred. She also knew that Zeph was desperately calling out for June. It was easy to piece that together.

As the ambulance loaded the girl into it, Arceia got into the driver seat of her car with her wife in the other side, and all except the police left the scene.

It wasn't hard to load the girl intk the ambulance since she had used the last of her strength against Arceia. They still restrained all of her limbs incase she awoke a d started to fuss. The ride wasn't very eventful, just a blood loss victim going into hysteria as the shock set in even more.

After arriving at the hospital, they moved her straight for surgery, practically running for the sterile rooms. Only pausing to move her from gurney to a hospital bed. It took a bit longer than expected since as soon as Zeph was released she began lashing out at nurse's. Some may have been hurt, but does it truly matter? They strapped her back in the hospital bed like a mental patient. Limbs splayed and cinched to the metal bars. Her chest, waist and forehead even had straps running across them. Once they had her settled somewhat, an IV was placed along with other medical apparatuses.

By this time, black was beginning to line her vision once more and she had to focus on breathing rather than frantically babbling. Why didn't they understand? She had to go stop her. She had to stop all of this. It was all her fault. Finally tears starting pouring from her remaining eye and her sobs echoed down the hall as she was rushed into the center of the hospital.

It wasn't hard to locate exactly where she needed to go, but she did have to remain delicate with the situation. Arceia sure had a funny way of keeping things vague when necessity struck. After asking for further verification about the attacker, she was granted the information that Zephyra was hospitalized due to the attacker.

She could feel a dull ache in her head at the sound of that, and dark thoughts coming to her, but she pushed them aside. Not today. She wouldn't break today. Instead, she bolted to the hospital after coaxing the information out of Arceia, Luria coming along for safety purposes. She didn't live on campus so it was easy to avoid the lock down. Rather, she found herself wondering more if she would have the time to get there at all.

She followed the sounds and, after finding the right room, took in a deep breath. She was only allowed to visit because she was the girl's teacher, and Luria only allowed because she was her worried classmate. The two of them opened the door slowly, and right away June could tell there was a familiar problem at hand.

"Hey." she finally whispered out. "Dunno if you're awake or not. Sorry I'm late."

Thats all she could manage.

By the time June and Luria arrived, she had already been through surgery and placed in a room. Everytime someone walked into the room she faked sleep so they would simply glance under the gauze covering half of her face then step back out. Supposedly the anesthesia was to still be in full affect so the nurse's never commented and the police stationed outside her room left her be. She had yet to speak with anyone so when June's voice touched her ears the redhead jerked then quickly turned on her side. Zeph didn't want her love to see her like this. She didn't want to show her weakness to anyone, let alone her.

"Go away.." Pale hands drew the blankets up to her chin as she curled into a fetal position.

It was her fault that she was like this, she could have easily stopped Asami. The surprise and her unwillingness to hurt the girl worked against her though. At least June was safe now.. but still. She absolutely could not see her in this state.

"No."

A simple enough reply but one that carried a certain weight with it. For one, she was refusing to leave. Another, she was refusing to be alone herself and cope with this solo. That was just begging for something bad to happen if she found the criminal before the police did. Instead, she sat herself down on a chair in the room right next to the bed.

"YYou need to rest, but I need to talk to you. This is a mix isn't it?" she laughed.

"Who did it, how are you still conscious, and how badly do you want their bottom kicked?"

Not a thing stirred on the bed, just the slow rise and fall of the blanket showing she was still breathing at least. The silence lingered for a few moments as she pondered a few postions. Then the bed shifted slightly as she hugged her knees tighter to her chest.

"I woke up when they brought me back to the room. I don't want anything kicked. She wasn't in her right mind. It isn't her fault."

She knew June didn't like Asami to begin with so she didn't say her name. It would be more likely that June would sprint out of the hospital after finding out. She wanted to be left alone, but not so bad that she would send her love out after a once upon a time romantic interest.