And Dionysus was hot on her heels.
He continued to follow her in her panicked flight. He never called out her. He didn't ask her to stop. He simply followed, waiting for her to stop of her own will. He was sweet like that sometimes. I'm not going to cry, she told herself. I am *so* not going to cry. There's nothing worthy crying over. Yeah, so what if I was stupid? So what if I ruined a relationship with someone I love? So what if I've got a pounding headache and feel under the weather? I'm not going to cry. As if. I was dumb. I'll deal. That's the way things are.
Bob suddenly appeared in her path as she rounded a corner. Her gave a startled exclamation of "Mistress Celeste!" before she decked him and kept running. Behind her she could hear Bob protest and then the quick sound of something snapping. She didn't have to look behind her to know that Dionysus was still following her. Why did I do that? She wondered belatedly. I've never treated Bob like that before. Why am I still running? I have to deal with my problems, not run away. Oh, yeah. Keep telling yourself that, Celeste. You've been a coward for a long time and you aren't going to change now.
With each pounding step, Celly's confusion grew. Her mind was mixed up with too many thoughts... too many fears... too many what-ifs. Inside, she could hear the part of her that was Otaku telling her to simply get rid of all of her problems with a fight. A battle. If it gets in your way, get rid of it. Go out... do some senseless destruction... get rid of your enemies... get rid of your fears... just be Otaku. But, no... she had other plans. She would unleash something that would rock Bishounen World to its core. Still, the desire to fight remained. To stare down her opponent on the battlefield. No holds barred. To fulfill her purpose in the Game. But... to take the fight into her own hands... to lose herself in the heat of battle and adrenaline... that course of action was starting to look better to her with every step she took.
The stress was getting to her... too long... it had been too long for her to back to the life she once knew, blissfully ignorant of the world around her. She knew that intellectually, but her heart still longed for the happiness of that ignorance and her soul yearned to fight. Too many ways... too many directions... too many paths to take...
A pair of hands shot of nowhere, effectively stopping her. She struggled against the hands blindly, wrenching herself around to face the one who had captured her. When she realized who it was, she stopped fighting, wrapped her arms around his neck and started to babble.
"Nii-chan! Nii-chan! Oh nii-chan, it's all wrong! Everything is all wrong! It's been too long. I've been here too long! It wasn't supposed to be like this... I wasn't supposed to do those things. But I was weak and stupid and now it's all wrong!"
Mamoru looked down in shock at his sister, who was trying to fight the madness that surrounded her. She didn't cry... but she kept up the endless stream of fast-paced babble. He could only hug his sister, offering her his silent support. And as she poured out her fears for him, Mamoru's anger grew. This was wrong, he knew that to depths of his soul. Celeste was being slowly torn apart by the same forces that had brought her to this new plane of existence. He looked up to see Dionysus come running around the corner and skid to a stop. Dionysus had worry etched all over his features, and Mamoru knew that Dionysus didn't want to add to all of the stress that had been slowly accumulating on Celeste's shoulders.
"... too long, Nii-chan... too long... I can never go back... never... I wish... but it's all too much! You have to help me make it stop, nii-chan... you have to help me make it all stop!"
Mamoru caught the strange note in Celeste's voice. He looked down to see her tugging at his sleeve, a weird glint in her eye.
"We'll make it all stop, nii-chan... that's what all of this is for! We'll make it all stop! No more fighting... well, I sort of like the fighting... great exercise for the abs... keeps the weight off... I need your help, nii-chan. Will you help me? Oh, this is going to be fun! Lots and lots of fun...!"
Okay, this is really bad, Mamoru told himself. Imouto-chan is suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. I guess all this time in the Game has finally caught up with her. She doesn't have Terra to fall back on and now she might lose it for real. He grabbed Celeste's shoulders and gave her a good, firm shake. "Imouto-chan! Snap out of it!"
Celeste shook her head. "What the hell happened to me?"
"You're under a lot of stress from the Game, imouto-chan. You were babbling. I'm surprised you aren't getting migraines."
"Oooww... is that what this weird headache is? I feel all tired... and I've got a headache like you wouldn't believe." As if to punctuate her point, she staggered and nearly fell over.
Mamoru sighed. He picked Celeste up in his arms.
"Nii-chan! I'm not a little girl! Put me down!"
"No, you're not, but it's obvious that you can hardly stand on your own two feet. I think you are in serious need of a change of scenery."
"But I have work to do here!"
"Not in the condition you're in. You'd sooner pass out. Is there any place safe we can go?" There was no answer and Mamoru noticed that Celeste had crossed her arms and was pouting. She had apparently decided to be non- cooperative. "Well... damn..." he muttered.
"We can go to the Mori," Dionysus suggested.
Mamoru looked at him quizzically. "The Mori?"
"The Otaku no Mori. It's Ce-ko's bar in Konan. It's the safest place for us to go."
"Sounds like a good idea. Let's go."
From his arms, Celeste razzed Dionysus. "Traitor..." she muttered.
TBC...