And they were gone, but it might have been as if they were never there; they were ghosts to her, the haunting of pain and madness. She took a few steps after them, her legs too slow, then halted in the hallway, hands at her sides for a moment.

But not alone. Never alone, with so much pain and madness echoing around her.

She turned her head, slowly, to look at Suigintou. Her hair fell across her face, for a moment hiding her ink-filled eyes.